Martin Luther King Jr.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic place contains many buildings important to the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. HABS has documented seven sites within the National Historic place, including the house where he was born in 1929 at 501 Auburn Avenue. Built in 1895, this frame two-story Queen Anne home is where Martin Luther King, Jr. spent the first 12 years of his life. The home is now a museum and daily ranger-guided tours are available.

The surrounding neighborhood contains a variety of houses ranging from Victorian style houses built by Alexander Hamilton, an African American who owned his own construction company, to shot gun houses, and two family row houses built in the 1920s. HABS documented several houses along 400 and 500 blocks of Auburn Avenue in 1985. The restrained Queen Anne style home at 514 Auburn Avenue is an integral part of the National Historic Site and a good example of the residential architecture present in the district. Built ca. 1893, its most prominent occupants were the Shaw and Saunders families. In 1985 the house was renovated by the National Park Service and much of the original wood molding and fireplace mantels remain.