Convent de Bon Secours
building in Washington, D.C., United States of America
Convent de Bon Secours is an early-20th century residence located in the Tenleytown neighborhood in the Northwest Quadrant of Washington, D.C. It has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 2004.
History
The Congregation of the Sisters of Bon Secours was founded in France in 1824. They came to the United States in the 1880s and came to Washington in 1905 during a typhoid epidemic to provide healthcare. They were particularly beneficial during a Spanish flu outbreak after World War I.
Upon arriving in Washington, D.C., in 1905, the Sisters moved into the old rectory at St. Ann's Church in Tenleytown. Between 1927 and 1928, the Italianate style convent was constructed to be the chapter house for the Washington, D.C., location for the Sisters. The 2+1⁄2-story structure clad in buff-colored brick was designed by Irish-born architect Maurice F. Moore. The building is composed of a main dormitory section with a hipped roof, a chapel, a small arcaded tower, and rear loggias that are reminiscent of a Renaissance cloister.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Convent de Bon Secours” is building in Washington, D.C., United States of America. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Convent, Secours and building, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “building in Washington, D.C., United States of America” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5166167. Authority coordinates are 38.948, -77.081. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2004, 1824, 1905 and 1927.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Convent de Bon Secours”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Convent de Bon Secours primary sources, Convent de Bon Secours archive and Convent research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Convent de Bon Secours” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.