Hathaway restores Juanita Jackson Mitchell office in West Baltimore
Hathaway’s rehab of Juanita Jackson Mitchell’s old law office now ties West Baltimore history to legal and community space at 1239 Druid Hill Ave.
Rev. Alvin C. Hathaway Sr. has restored the former law office of Juanita Jackson Mitchell at 1239 Druid Hill Ave., at West Lanvale Street, turning a West Baltimore storefront into the latest anchor in the Freedom Square vision he is building around the block. The project, completed in the third quarter of 2024, puts a long-quiet historic address back into active use.
Mitchell’s name gives the site its weight. Born Juanita Elizabeth Jackson on Jan. 2, 1913, in Hot Springs, Arkansas, she moved through Frederick Douglass High School, Morgan State College, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland School of Law before being admitted to the Maryland bar in 1950. She was the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Maryland School of Law, and her office on Druid Hill Avenue became a major center for civil-rights organizing in Baltimore.
The restoration reaches beyond commemoration. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has highlighted the effort to restore Mitchell’s Baltimore law offices, and Baltimore Heritage identifies 1239 Druid Hill Avenue as the Mitchell Family Law Office, noting that early owners included Charles C. Cook and Herman S. Platt. Cross Street Partners said the redevelopment was completed in Q3 2024 and was designed to preserve the historic asset that once served as Mitchell’s law office, while the firm also worked on the project as development consultant, financial adviser and owner’s representative for Beloved Community Services Corp.
The site is also being folded into a living service network. The restored law office was described as the future home of the ROAR Center, and ROAR’s materials identify 1239 Druid Hill Avenue as its location while listing its current services at 520 West Fayette St. in Baltimore. ROAR says the restored building is intended to become the new Juanita Jackson Mitchell Legal Center, with space for education, wellness and other community-oriented functions.
That mix of preservation and use is what makes the Freedom Square effort more than a tribute to one pastor’s vision. Hathaway has also been tied to other West Baltimore revival work, including the transformation of P.S. 103 in Old West Baltimore, and local coverage has noted his announcement of a $300 million development in West Baltimore. At 1239 Druid Hill Ave., the question is no longer whether the building can be saved. It is whether the address can keep producing services, activity and civic presence that residents can use.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
