1943-1966 headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
COUNCIL HOUSE HISTORY
The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) was founded by Mary McLeod Bethune in 1935 while she was living in New York. A year later she moved to Washington, D. C., after joining the National Youth Administration (NYA) at the urging of Eleanor Roosevelt. Soon thereafter, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed her to lead the Negro Affairs division of the NYA, making her the first black person to head a department of a federal agency. In the meantime, she continued to run the NCNW out of the living room of her home on 9th Street.
It wasn’t until 1943 that the organization raised the funds to purchase a townhouse at 1318 Vermont Avenue to be used as its first official headquarters building. In addition to office and meeting space, it served as Bethune’s home for six years and had boarding rooms for female members who were visiting from out-of-town. The living spaces and Bethune’s office were on the second and third floors, while the ground floor was used for business.
The townhome continued as the NCNW’s headquarters until it caught fire in 1966, long after Bethune’s death in 1955. While the fire was contained to the basement, smoke and water damage were severe enough that the NCNW had to move to a new location. The house sat empty until it was placed on the Washington D. C. Register of Historic Places in 1975, which prompted the NCNW to raise funds to repair and renovate the home. In 1979, it opened as a museum and archive for the organization’s collection of documents. The National Park Service acquired the townhouse in 1991 and renamed it Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site. It opened to the public in 1995.
The National Council of Negro Woman is still an active organization today. And despite the word negro falling out of favor in the 1970s, it is still used in the title of the organization. Today the NCNW headquarters is at 633 Pennsylvania Avenue.
For more information on Mary Bethune and the Council House, watch one of the videos on the Bethune Documentaries web page here on National Park Planner.
OPERATING HOURS
- Open year-round on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 9 AM to 5 PM
- Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day
Hours can always change, so be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Operating Hours and Seasons web page for Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site.
GENERAL VISITATION INFORMATION
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site is located in downtown Washington, D. C. Avoid driving to the site if possible because there is no parking other than on the street (which is hard to find) or in expensive parking garages. Use the Metro. The closest stop is the McPherson Square station. It is a half-mile walk from there to the Council House, which should take the average person anywhere from ten to fifteen minutes. The U Street and Shaw / Howard stations are .7 mile away.
The house is not accessible for those in wheelchairs or who cannot climb stairs, and there are no handicap parking spaces near the house.
COUNCIL HOUSE TOURS
Visitors to the 1943-1966 headquarters for the National Council of Negro Women can see the interior of the townhouse on a Ranger-guided tour. Participants will learn about Bethune’s life and the NCNW as they walk through the five rooms on the first and second floors that are open to the public. Tours are given every half hour, with the last tour at 4:30 PM.
A tour lasts about a half hour and is limited to 25 people. Under normal circumstances, tours are not going to fill up. However, the house is popular with school groups, and when such a group does show up—which is quite often—standard visitors may have to wait for a tour. Thus, be sure to call the Council House at (771) 208-1583 if you plan on visiting during a school day to make sure the coast is clear.
FIRST FLOOR
The main room on the first floor of the Council House is the parlor where guests were greeted and entertained and where meetings and lectures were held. It is furnished as it might have been when in use by the NCNW. However, only the two end tables in the room (roped off and on either side of the entrance in the photo below) and the chandelier (which supposedly came from the White House) are original to the room. The rest of the furniture is period antiques similar to what was once in the room based on historical photographs. The organization moved out in 1966, and the house sat empty for nine years. Nobody was thinking that one day the house or furniture would be of any importance.
Parlor in the National Council of Negro Women’s 1943-1966 headquarters building, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
Much of the furniture in the parlor was donated by Abraham Lichtman, a wealthy movie theater owner and an early owner of both the historic Lincoln Theater and Howard Theater in Washington (he purchased both around 1926-27). He was one of the few white business owners who welcomed and served black clientele. He was also Jewish, and Jewish organizations in general were supporters of the Civil Rights Movement. The menorahs on the fireplace mantel were a gift to the NCNW from the National Council of Jewish Women.
Parlor in the National Council of Negro Women’s 1943-1966 headquarters building, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
The only other room on the first floor open to visitors—aside from the gift and souvenir shop—is the board room / dining room. The table and chairs in the room are original to the house. These were a gift to the NCNW from William L. Dawson, a member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois. He was the first black congressman to head a congressional committee (1949, Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments).
Boardroom in the National Council of Negro Women’s 1943-1966 headquarters building, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
SECOND FLOOR
There are three rooms open to the public on the second floor, one being the President’s Bedroom. This is where Mary McLeod Bethune lived from 1943 until she retired in 1949 and moved out of the house. Despite the name President’s Bedroom, no other president of the NCNW ever occupied the room or lived at the Council House. Up until Bethune’s death in 1955, the room was actually kept available to her for whenever she visited.
The house served as the NCNW headquarters for another eleven years after Bethune’s death, so nobody knows what ever became of the original bedroom furniture. Most of what is in the room today was donated by the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, the second African-American sorority founded in the United States. However, the bed on display, while not Bethune’s, was in one of the third-floor boarding rooms that were set aside for visiting black female guests who could not stay in local hotels due to segregation. The third floor is not on the tour.
President’s Bedroom in the National Council of Negro Women’s 1943-1966 headquarters building, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
Bethune also had her personal office on the floor, and it too is visited on the tour of the Council House. None of the furnishings in the room are original to the house or belonged to Bethune. Like the bedroom, most everything was donated by Delta Sigma Theta.
Mary McLeod Bethune’s personal office in the National Council of Negro Women’s 1943-1966 headquarters building, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
A third room on the floor is furnished as an office for the NCNW.
Office on the second floor of the National Council of Negro Women’s 1943-1966 headquarters building, Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site
SCHEDULING YOUR TIME
Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site is one of the less involving units of the National Park system. Most people will be in and out in a little over an hour.
With a few exceptions, use of any photograph on the National Park Planner website requires a paid Royalty Free Editorial Use License or Commercial Use License. See the Photo Usage page for details.
Last updated on December 9, 2025
