18 The White House,
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
The home of the president, where Ellington’s father occasionally did catering jobs, is where Richard Nixon gave the musician and international ambassador the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a gala event and late-night jam session on the Duke’s 70th birthday, April 29, 1969.
19 Duke Ellington
Memorial Bridge
The span on Calvert Street NW between Connecticut Avenue and Columbia Road was
named in his honor in 1974, the year he died.
20 Duke Ellington School of the Arts, 3500 R St. NW
Founded in Georgetown in 1974, it was also named after the musician who wrote more than 1,500 pieces of music and changed American music. The classroom bell there famously evoked one of the best known Ellington songs, “Take the ‘A’ Train.”
21 Duke Ellington Building, 2121 Ward Ct. NW
The office building containing a post office takes up the site of Ellington’s birthplace. A plaque denoting the birth was installed in 1990 and a mural above it by Aniekan Udofia was completed in November.
22 The John Wesley AME Zion Church, 1615 14th St. NW
The church favored by his father is where Ellington first heard age-old hymns and spirituals in complex arrangements. Extensive renovation were recently completed on the 1894 building, and it is reopening Sunday.
23 The 19th Street Baptist Church, 19th and I streets NW (southwest corner)
Before it moved further north on 16th Street in 1975 (while confusingly retaining its name) the church that has long figured in the culture of the city and was originally known as the First Colored Church of Washington in 1839, was the house of worship favored by his mother Daisy Kennedy Ellington, where young Edward also attended Now an office building housing the 19th Bar on the ground level stands on the site.
24 Armstrong Manual Training School, 1400 First St. NW
Though the other school for African Americans, Dunbar, stressed academics, Ellington chose to learn the more practical arts, in the manner of Booker T. Washington. He became adept enough in design to win a scholarship from Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, but, deciding to concentrate on music, declined the scholarship and even dropped out of Armstrong three months before his 1917 graduation. Currently home to the Ernest & Virginia Amos Campus of the Dorothy I. Height Community Academy Public Charter Schools.
25 Henry Grant home,
1114 Fairmont St. NW
Ellington took piano lessons from Henry Grant, a major figure in D.C. music who taught at Dunbar and led the all-high school orchestra, helping create a sound in Ellington’s mind. Ellington stayed in contact with him, consulting with him after he bought his own house in the neighborhood, and later after he moved from town.
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