In 1996, a group of eleven Bangladeshi Muslims living in the Washington DC area unofficially founded the Bangladeshi Islamic Center. In February 2002, that group officially founded the Baitul Mukkaram Masjid on a residential street in Arlington, VA. The group purchased a former church building that had been converted from a 1920 residence to use for their mosque. The one-story building is faced in brick, with a tower (the church's former entrance) in front, topped with a green dome with a crescent finial. The entrance to the mosque is to the side, in the portion of the building that appears to be the original residence.