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WILLIAM BUTLER HOUSE

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c. 1857. 148 Duke of Gloucester St.
  • (Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie)

Builder, businessman, and possibly former enslaved person William Butler was one of the wealthiest African American men in Annapolis when he purchased this recently constructed house in 1863. The elegant three-story Italianate town house was an unusually urbane example of the type for Annapolis in this period. The brick facade is topped by a bracketed wood cornice and features three bays with tall segmental-arched openings. During his career Butler built several residential rows in Annapolis, most notably the two-story, frame grouping at 111–119 Market Street. In addition to becoming one of the wealthiest men in Annapolis of any race at the time of his death in 1892, Butler was the first Black man in Maryland to hold municipal office, serving on the Annapolis City Council from 1873 to 1875. The house remained in the Butler family until 1922, when it was sold and converted into three apartments, with a third story added onto the original two-story rear ell.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie
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Data

Timeline

  • 1856

    Built

What's Nearby

MAYNARD-BURGESS HOUSE
JOHN RIDOUT HOUSE
CHARLES ZIMMERMAN HOUSE
MAIN STREET BUILDINGS
RIDOUT ROW

Citation

Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie, "WILLIAM BUTLER HOUSE", [Annapolis, Maryland], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MD-01-WS71.

Print Source

Buildings of Maryland, Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2022, 71-72.

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