DC Authors' Houses Kim Roberts and Dan Vera The addresses listed below were once home to notable authors in the region who have since passed away. We list only houses that still stand. Most are privately owned, and only a few are marked by plaques. We tried to include authors from a wide range of time periods. When we started this project, driving around the city hunting down addresses, we were pleased to see how it transformed our sense of place. A nondescript block suddenly becomes fascinating when we can imagine it through the eyes of an author we admire. DC is alive with such beneficent ghosts. Please note: Click on photographs to see at larger size. Joseph Auslander/Audrey Wurdemann Auslander was the first person to serve as Poet Consultant at the Library of Congress and the longest serving (1937 to 1941). His wife, Audrey Wurdemann, won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1935 for her book Bright Ambush, and was the youngest winner of that award. Together they wrote short stories and novels. 3117 35th Street NW, Cathedral Heights neighborhood, DC. Natalie Clifford Barney The American expatriate feminist and lesbian poet whose salons were infamous for drawing modernist artists (and which she hosted for over 60 years in France) spent early years in this house with her mother, the painter Alice Pike Barney. "Studio House," 2306 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Sheridan Circle, DC. (202) 328-2840. Now the Embassy of Latvia; listed on the National Register of Historic Places; marked by a plaque. Gwendolyn Bennett Bennett was active in the "Harlem" Renaissance period, writing poetry, fiction, and journalism, as well as creating visual art (painting, drawing, and working in batik). She lived in DC as a child (1907-1910), and moved back as an adult, when she taught in the Art Department at Howard University (1926-1929). Her parents rented this house in 1909, when she was seven. 1454 T Street NW, greater U Street neighborhood, DC. Daniel Berrigan A poet, Roman Catholic priest, and peace activist, Berrigan and his brother Philip lived and worked out of this house in the 1960s. 1620 S Street NW, East of Dupont circle, DC. Ambrose Bierce Journalist, poet, short story writer and satirist, Bierce lived in DC from 1899 through 1913, renting at four different addresses. While in Washington Bierce completed his Devil's Dictionary and his word usage compendium Write it Right. The Olympia Apartments, 1368 Euclid St. NW, Columbia Heights neighborhood, DC. 18 Logan Circle NW, Logan Circle neighborhood, DC. 1825 19th St. NW, DC, Dupont Circle neighborhood, DC. El Dorado Apartments, 1321 Fairmont St. NW, DC. Elizabeth Bishop Bishop served as Consultant in Poetry for the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950. During that period she lived in this building which housed Bertha Looker's Boardinghouse. 1312 30th Street NW, Georgetown neighborhood, DC. Carl Bode Bode, a university professor and poet, lived in the area from 1947 until just before his death in 1993. He published three books of poems, a biography of H.L. Mencken, and edited the collected poems of Henry Thoreau. Bode founded the national American Studies Association. 7008 Partridge Place, Hyattsville, MD.   Sterling A. Brown Brown was born in DC and lived in the city from 1901 to 1918, and from 1929 through his death in 1989. He taught at Howard University and was the city's first Poet Laureate. 1222 Kearney St. NE, Brookland neighborhood, DC. Marked with a historic plaque. Rachel Carson This simple, post-WWII ranch house was designed by Carson in 1956, where she lived and wrote until her death in 1964. The Rachel Carson Council, housed here, works to preserve Carson's legacy through publications, education, and events. Rachel Carson Council House, 11701 Berwick Rd., Silver Spring, MD. (301) 593-7507. A National Historic Landmark, not open to the public.   Katherine Garrison Chapin Poet Chapin was married to Attorney General Francis Biddle. She held a literary salon in the 1960s in this house till her move in 1971. A Fellow in American Letters at the Library of Congress, Chapin served as patron to many artists including Owen Dodson, Langston Hughes, Archibald MacLeish, and William Carlos Williams. 1669 31st St. NW, Georgetown neighborhood, DC. Ed Cox A poet, teacher, and social activist, Cox lived at these addresses in the 1980s until his early death at age 46 in 1992. He is the author of three books of poems, one published posthumously. Chateau Thierry Apartments, 1920 S Street NW, Dupont Circle neighborhood, DC The Miramar Apartments, 1301 15th St. NW #720, Scott Circle neighborhood, DC. Caresse Crosby Crosby, born Mary Phelps Jacob, was the editor of one of the earliest literary journals based in DC, Portfolio. Crosby was also a memoirist, gallery owner, and the inventor of the first modern brassiere to receive a patent. She lived in DC from 1937 to 1950. 2008 Q Street NW, Dupont Circle neighborhood, DC. William Waring Cuney Cuney, a "Harlem" Renaissance-era poet and musician born and raised in DC, lived in this house with his parents and twin brother from 1908 through 1926. 503 Florida Ave. NW, DC.   Ann Darr Darr, author of ten books of poems, taught at American University and the Writers Center. 4902 Falstone Avenue, Chevy Chase, MD. Tim Dlugos A poet and AIDS activist who was studying to join the Catholic priesthood at the time of his death in 1990, Dlugos spent formative years in DC, living at this address from 1973 to 1975. 1437 Rhode Island Ave. NW, Logan Circle neighborhood, DC. John Dos Passos Dos Passos (best known for his influential novels Three Soldiers and Manhattan Transfer) lived in this house as a child. 1201 19th St. NW, Dupont Circle neighborhood, DC. Frederick Douglass Museum and Hall of Fame for Caring Americans The Museum contains Douglass memorabilia, and art, photos and stories about role models and humanitarians. Housed in the first Washington DC home of Frederick Douglass. 320 A St. NE, Capitol Hill neighborhood, DC (202) 544-6130. Frederick Douglass National Historic Site From 1877 to 1895, Cedar Hill was home of the nation's leading 19th century African American spokesman, and the author of My Bondage and My Freedom and Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Administered by the National Park Service, this site contains many objects that belonged to Douglass, and a recreation of the "growlery," his outdoor writing studio. 1411 W St. SE, Anacostia neighborhood, DC (202) 426-5960. Paul Laurence Dunbar and Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson This celebrated literary couple lived in DC from 1898 through 1902. Both were published poets; Dunbar-Nelson was also a short story writer and journalist. They lived in the house on the southern end of this row. 1934 Fourth St. NW, LeDroit Park neighborhood, DC. Jessie Redmon Fauset Fauset lived in DC from 1909 through 1919, teaching at the prestigious African-American M Street High School (later renamed Dunbar High). She rented rooms in the 13th Street house from 1912-1915, and the T Street House from 1918-1919. Fauset, a novelist, moved to New York in the 1920s, and became literary editor for The Crisis, the publication of the NAACP, where she published and mentored many younger writers of the "Harlem" Renaissance (including Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, Countee Cullen, Arna Bontemps, and Langston Hughes). 1812 13th St. NW, DC. 1716 17th St. NW, DC. Roland Flint Flint taught at Georgetown University for nearly 30 years ( from 1968 to 1997) and served as Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1995 to 2000. 8605 Milford Ave., Silver Spring, MD.   Charlotte Forten Grimké Grimké was a poet and activist who worked for the abolition of slavery, women's rights, and suffrage. She lived in DC from 1871 until her death in 1914. 1608 R Street NW, Historic Striver's Section neighborhood, DC. Edward Everett Hale The short story author and Unitarian clergyman lived here while serving as chaplain of the US Senate from 1903 to his death in 1909. 1741 N St. NW, Scott Circle neighborhood, DC.   Edith Hamilton A classicist and educator whose book Mythology, published in 1942, remains in print after six decades, Hamilton lived in DC for twenty years, until her death in 1963. 2448 Massachusetts Ave. NW, north of Sheridan Circle, DC. O.B. Hardison Jr. Noted Renaissance scholar and author of two books of poems, Hardison was Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library from1969 to 1983. 1708 21st St. NW, Dupont Circle neighborhood, DC. Langston Hughes Hughes lived here with his mother and younger brother Kit in 1925, at the beginning of his career, in two unheated rented rooms on the second floor. 1749 S St. NW, greater Dupont neighborhood, DC. Zora Neale Hurston A novelist, short story writer, and anthropologist, Hurston rented a room in this location in 1922 or '23 while a student at Howard University. 3017 Sherman Avenue NW, Columbia Heights neighborhood, DC. Randall Jarrell Jarrell lived here from 1956 to 1958, while Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress. 3916 Jenifer St. NW, Friendship Heights neighborhood, DC.   Georgia Douglas Johnson This was the site of the "Saturday Nighters," a Literary Salon active from the 1920s into the 1940s, making this house the most important "Harlem" Renaissance location in DC. Johnson was a poet and lyricist who lived in DC from 1901 until her death in 1966. "Half-Way House," 1461 S Street NW, greater U Street neighborhood, DC. Lee Lally Lally was a founding member of Mass Transit, a group of poets active in DC in the 1970s. The author of These Days and an activist for feminist causes, Lally lived at this address from 1972 to 1980. 4110 Emery Pl. NW, Friendship Heights neighborhood, DC. Sinclair Lewis The first American writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, Lewis lived and worked in Washington, DC in what would be his most productive period. He wrote his classic books Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith while living in the capital. 1639 19th St. NW, Dupont Circle neighborhood, DC 3028 Q Street NW, Georgetown neighborhood, DC. Alain Locke Locke's anthology The New Negro was the definitive text of the Harlem Renaissance. Locke lived in DC from 1912 until his death in 1954. 1326 R Street NW, Logan Circle neighborhood, DC. Marked by a historic plaque.   Clare Boothe Luce A published playwright and journalist, Luce also served in the House of Representatives (R-CT). She was later named ambassador to Italy and Brazil. Wardman Park Apartments, 2660 Woodley Road NW, Woodley Park Neighborhood, DC Watergate Apartments, 2639 I St. NW (private). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Archibald MacLeish The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and playwright lived in DC from 1939 through 1949, serving as Librarian of Congress, among other prominent government jobs. 1520 33rd St. NW, Georgetown neighborhood, DC. Joaquin Miller Cabin Miller, the "Poet of the Sierras," built his modest log cabin atop Meridian Hill in the late 1860s, now the site of Malcolm X Park. The Park Service later moved it to this location in Rock Creek Park. It is now the site of a summer outdoor poetry series administered by The Word Works. Miller was a colorful character who wrote poetry and essays. He worked at various times as a mining-camp cook, lawyer, journalist, Pony Express rider, and was once jailed as a horse thief. Rock Creek Park, Beach Dr. and Military Road, Picnic Grove 6, DC. (202) 895-6070. Administered by the National Park Service. May Miller A poet and playwright who was an active member of the DC literary community from the "Harlem" Renaissance period through her death in 1995, Miller was the most widely published African American woman playwright in the 1920s and 30s, and published seven volumes of poems beginning in 1959. 1632 S Street NW, DC. Richard Bruce Nugent Nugent lived here with his grandmother from 1924-1926. Nugent was the author of "Smoke, Lillies, and Jade," a short story published in Fire! in 1926, widely considered the first published Black gay fiction. 1231 T St. NW, Greater U Street neighborhood, DC.   John Pauker Pauker was the author of three poetry books and editor of the journal Furioso. He lived at this address until his death in 1991. "More Fun House," 3006 Porter St. NW, Cleveland Park neighborhood, DC.   Saint-John Perse Perse, born Alexis Saint-Leger Leger, lived in exile from France in DC from 1940 (when he was stripped of his citizenship and possessions by the Vichy government) though 1967. He worked at the Library of Congress. Perse was a former French diplomat and a Nobel Prize-winning poet. 1621 34th St. NW, Georgetown neighborhood, DC 2800 Woodley Rd. NW, Apt. 404, Woodley Park neighborhood, DC. Katherine Anne Porter The Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and short story writer lived in DC and College Park, MD from 1959 until her death in 1901. 3106 P St. NW, Georgetown neighborhood, DC. 3601 49th St. NW, American University neighborhood, DC.   Ezra Pound Pound, winner of the Bollingen Award, was imprisoned here for treason for 12 years, from 1946 to 1958. St. Elizabeth's Hospital, 2700 Martin Luther King Ave. SE, Chestnut Ward, DC. (202) 645-4999.   Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Rawlins (best known for the novel The Yearling, which won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1939) was born in this house in 1896, and lived in DC until leaving for college in 1914. 1221 Newton Street NE, Brookland neighborhood, DC.   Willis Richardson Richardson was one of the most prolific playwrights of the "Harlem" Renaissance period. He lived in DC from 1898 until his death in 1977. 512 U Street NW, LeDroit Park neighborhood, DC. Mary Roberts Rinehart Prolific detective novelist Roberts lived in DC from the early 1920s through 1935. Embassy of Zambia, 2419 Massachusetts Ave. NW, north of Sheridan Circle, DC. (202) 265-9717. Robert Sargent Sargent, the author of eleven books of poems, lived in DC from the 1950s until his death in 2006. He was active in the Capitol Hill Poetry Group, and served on the Boards of the Folger Poetry Committee and The Word Works. 815 A St. NE #2, Capital Hill neighborhood, DC. Hilary Tham The author of nine books of poems, a memoir, and a collection of short stories, Tham was editor-in-chief of The Word Works and poetry editor of the Potomac Review. She lived in the DC region from 1973 until her death in 2005. 2600 N. Upshur St., Arlington, VA.   12th Street Y Briefly the home of Langston Hughes at the beginning of his career. See the excellent displays on the first and second floors. Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage, 1816 12th St. NW, greater U Street neighborhood, DC. (202) 462-8314. A National Historic Landmark.   Phillis Wheatley YWCA Named for the first published African American poet (1754? - 1784), Wheatley was brought as a slave to Boston in 1761 and published Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in 1773. The Y was briefly the residence of Zora Neale Hurston in 1924, while she was a student at Howard University. 901 Rhode Island Ave. NW, Shaw neighborhood DC. Not open to the public.   Also of Interest: Juan Ramón Jiménez Hall Academic hall named for the winner of the 1956 Nobel Prize for Literature. The Spanish poet taught in the Foreign Languages department of the University from 1943 to 1951. There is a plaque at the entrance featuring a translation of one of Jiménez's poems. University of Maryland, Juan Ramón Jiménez Hall, College Park, MD.   Katherine Anne Porter Room Part of the special collections of the University's libraries, the Porter Room contains Porter's personal collection of books, plus an oil portrait of the author and select personal belongings. The University also hosts the Katherine Anne Porter Society. University of Maryland, McKeldin Library, College Park, MD. (301) 405-0800.   Washington National Cathedral Poets & Writers window, south side, side aisle, Bay #2 (going from W to E). Dark blue color, includes Milton, Dante & Beatrice. Needlepoint kneelers in St. John's Chapel, to the right of the high altar, dedicated to American authors: Longfellow, Whitman, Poe, Dickinson, Millay, and Emerson. 3101 Wisconsin Avenue NW, DC. (202) 537-6200. Kim Roberts is the author of two books of poems, most recently The Kimnama (Vrzhu, 2007). She edits Beltway Poetry Quarterly and co-edits The Delaware Poetry Review. Her poems have appeared in journals beginning with every letter of the alphabet. Her website: http://www.kimroberts.org. Dan Vera is a poet and writer living in Washington, DC. He's the editor of the Gay culture journal White Crane, co-founder of VRZHU Poetry Press, founder of Brookland Area Writers & Artists, and a member of DC Poets Against War, and the Triangle Artists Group. His poetry has appeared in Delaware Poetry Review, DC Poets Against The War, Konch, Shaping Sanctuary, and Pacifica Radio’s nationally broadcast Peace Watch program. His website: http://www.danvera.com. Published in Volume 9, Number 3, Summer 2008. To read more by these authors: Kim Roberts Dan Vera Dan Vera: The Evolving City Issue Dan Vera: Split This Rock Issue