William Sidney Pittman and Portia Washington Pittman House Site

William Sidney Pittman and Portia Washington Pittman House Site. 505 Eastern Avenue. The Pittman House was designed and built as a family home by architect William Sidney Pittman in 1907, the year in which he married Portia, daughter of the his former mentor Booker T. Washington. Pittman (1875-1958) attended Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and received a degree in Architectural and Mechanical Drawing from Drexel Institute in Philadelphia in 1900. He returned to Tuskegee to teach until 1905, at which time he opened his own architectural office in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington D.C. After their marriage in 1907, the Pittmans moved into the house that he had designed in the developing suburb of Fairmont Heights. (The house was known as “Little White Tops” possibly the name was derived from roof decorations that have long since disappeared.) Actively involved in the progress of the new community, William Sidney Pittman established the Fairmount Mutual Improvement Company. His wife, a professional musician gave frequent recitals at their new home. The Pittman House was significant because it was designed and occupied by one of the area’s first and most prominent black architects. Damaged by fire, it was demolished in 2013.