Click on an image to enlarge.

Then (left): Though photographed ca. 1900, the house (left) wasn’t much different from when Mary Surratt ran a boarding house at 604 H. Street, NW. She became connected to the Lincoln Assassination because she rented rooms to John Wilkes Booth and his conspirators prior to the attack on President Lincoln. Image from the Library of Congress, Brady-Handy Photograph Collection.

Now (right): The main entrances have been moved to the ground level rather than the second. While largely intact, there is not much of historical significance beyond the shell and the address. Currently, both the Surratt house and the structure to the west of it have Chinese food services on the ground floor.

Kent Boese posts items of historic interest, primarily within the District. He’s worked in libraries since 1994, both federal and law, and currently works on K Street. He’s been an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner serving the northern Columbia Heights and Park View neighborhoods since 2011 (ANC 1A), and served as the Commission’s Chair since 2013. He has a MS in Design from Arizona State University with strong interests in preservation, planning, and zoning. Kent is also the force behind the blog Park View, DC.