Photo credit:
Nicole A. Diehlmann, 08/10/2020
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Congressman Parren J. Mitchell House
Inventory No.:
B-1373-2
Date Listed:
6/29/2023
Location:
1805 Madison Avenue, Baltimore, Baltimore City
Category:
Building
Period/Date of Construction:
1974-1986
Boundary Description:
The nominated property at 1805 Madison Avenue occupies a rectangular lot and is identified legally as Baltimore City Tax Map 14, Ward 14, Section 13, Block 0331, Lot 003.
Related Multiple Property Record:
Civil Rights in Baltimore, Maryland, 1831-1976
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Description:
The Congressman Parren J. Mitchell House at 1805 Madison Avenue sits near the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and Laurens Street among a collection of similarly styled rowhouses. The three-story, red-brick rowhouse was constructed circa 1886 in the Queen Anne style on an 18 x 128-foot lot and faces southwest. The building is a contributing resource within the Old West Baltimore National Register Historic District (NRHP#04001374/B-1373). Given its strong association with Congressman Mitchell, the house is now being nominated individually. The three-story, two-bay dwelling is constructed of red brick and has a wood cornice over a band of uneven brick corbels with brick brackets. A projecting brick belt course runs above the third-story windows. Diamond-shaped decorative terra-cotta tiles are centered in each bay between the belt course and the corbels. The rowhouse holds 3,402 square feet, containing three bedrooms and four baths.
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Significance:
The Congressman Parren J. Mitchell House at 1805 Madison Avenue in Baltimore City is significant under Social History and Ethnic Heritage for its association with Parren J. Mitchell, a prominent civil rights activist and Maryland’s first black congressman. It meets the requirements of “Properties Associated with Prominent Persons,” outlined in the “Civil Rights in Baltimore, Maryland, 1831-1976” Multiple Property Documentation Form, and was identified in the document as an individually eligible resource. The period of significance begins when Congressman Mitchell acquired the house in 1974 and continues through 1986, when he sold the property. It is the property most clearly associated with his productive years, connected to his time in Congress when he worked on groundbreaking civil-rights legislation. Despite the passage of major civil rights legislation in the 1960s, small minority businesses were still treated unequally regarding access to financing programs and federal contracting. As explained in the MPDF, Congressman Mitchell implemented programs that would level the playing field for small minority-owned businesses.
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