City Of Alexandria To Buy Freedom House For $1.8 Million

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Freedom House, a historic building once part of the headquarters for the largest domestic slave trading firm in the U.S., will be bought by the City of Alexandria for $1.8 million. The city plans to preserve the building at 1315 Duke Street, now a museum and National Historic Landmark.

Freedom House was owned by the Northern Virginia Urban League before it reached an agreement for the city to purchase the building. In February 2019, City Council approved a plan for the Office of Historic Alexandria and for Northern Virginia Urban League to receive a loan. The city stepped in as Northern Virginia Urban League had been struggling to make mortgage payments on the property.

The city's purchase agreement is pending approval by the Planning Commission and City Council in February.

"The Northern Virginia Urban League is pleased to reach this agreement with the City to place Freedom House in the public trust and ensure its important story will continue to be told," said Diane McLaughlin, chair of the board of directors of Northern Virginia Urban League. "The League will continue to focus on its primary mission to enable minorities and other disadvantaged communities to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights."

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's latest budget proposal recommends $2.44 million for Freedom House to renovate and restore the existing building and build out the content of an expanded museum on the first and second floors. The city hopes to establish a partnership with the state as well as private grantors and donors to fund the restoration and museum expansion. ACT for Alexandria is holding an online fundraiser for the preservation of Freedom House.

The Freedom House Museum recalls the history of the slave trade and how Alexandria was involved. The museum's current exhibit is in the basement of the museum, which was part of the larger complex used by a slave trading firms between 1828 and 1861. Among the slave trading firms was the prominent Franklin and Armfield, which operated there from 1828 to 1836. The slave trading firms forced enslaved adults and children from the Chesapeake Bay area to travel by foot or ship to slave markets in Natchez, Mississippi, and New Orleans.

The Northern Virginia Urban League acquired Freedom House in 1996, dedicating it to Rev. Henry Louis Bailey, a former slave that returned to Alexandria and founded several churches and schools in Virginia. The city will allow the Northern Virginia Urban League to stay in the building's office space for five years.

Freedom House Museum is open Fridays and Saturdays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and costs $5 for admission. For more information, visit www.alexandriava.gov/FreedomHouse.