{"nrhp_refnum":"03001427","name":"Odd Fellows Hall","other_names":["Dhr#100-5015-0005"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"411 S. Columbus St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Alexandria (Independent City)","county":"Alexandria","state":"VA","lat":38.80326882400004,"lon":-77.04893149199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-01-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story brick meeting hall at 411 South Columbus Street in the Bottoms, an old African American neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia. A one-story building from 1864 was enlarged in 1870 by George Seaton.","why_significant":"It is one of the only surviving structures from 1790 to 1953 associated with African American communal organizations in Alexandria. It hosted secret societies, benevolent groups, festivals and social events, and it was one of few non-religious buildings that could hold large groups regardless of race. Funding for the 1870 enlargement came from the Freedmen's Bureau.","narrative":"Odd Fellows Hall, at 411 South Columbus Street in Alexandria, Virginia, is a two-and-a-half-story brick building in the Bottoms, one of the city's oldest African American neighborhoods. It began as a one-story brick building in 1864, possibly built for an African Methodist Episcopal church. In 1869 James Webster, Robert Darnell and John Credit formed the Odd Fellows Joint Stock Company and bought it. Local master carpenter George Seaton enlarged it in 1870 with Freedmen's Bureau funding, adding a slate mansard roof and Second Empire detailing. For more than a century it served as a meeting place for fraternal and benevolent societies founded by and for African Americans, and it hosted festivals and receptions. Few non-religious buildings in the city could hold large, racially unrestricted gatherings. Meetings ended in 1974, and the building was converted to five condominiums in 1984-85. The interior was heavily altered, but the facade keeps its original character, and the hall remains important to local African American history.","period_of_significance":"1869-1953","architect_builder":"George L. Seaton","architectural_style":"Second Empire","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Rehabilitated in 1984-85 and converted into five residential condominium units after standing vacant for several years; meetings ended in 1974.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:03.543012-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/12/6785/41678512/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/03001427.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03001427/142441f0c2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03001427/142441f0c2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"The original uploader was Ser Amantio di Nicolao at English Wikipedia.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OddFellowsHallAlexandria2009.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">The original uploader was Ser Amantio di Nicolao at English Wikipedia.</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:OddFellowsHallAlexandria2009.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000928","name":"Alexandria Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/alexandria-historic-district-66000928/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41678512","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odd_Fellows_Hall_(Alexandria,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7077345"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/alexandria/odd-fellows-hall-03001427/"}