Anacostia Community Museum

The Laboratory building began as a prefab metal building in 1974 but was formalized in 1984 with expanded gallery space by architectural firm Keyes, Condon, and Florance.

Its name evolved, too: from Anacostia Neighborhood Museum at founding, to Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture in 2006, and finally to the Anacostia Community Museum, returning to and sharpening its original focus on the Anacostia community.

By 1988 when our project began, the building had grown into a mish-mash of the original metal structure, a newer masonry gallery wing, and an elevator addition that served only part of the building.