Jackson Place
Jackson Place, located across from the White House, forms the western border of Lafayette Square between Pennsylvania Avenue and H Street, NW. The block is lined by several townhouses, which date back to the late 19th century. The block is situated on land once owned by the Decatur family, until 1869 when they sold it to Lorenzo Sherwood, who in turn sold the land to John Knower.[1]
Buildings
Decatur House
Benjamin Henry Latrobe designed the Decatur House, located at 748 Jackson Place. Completed in 1818 for naval hero Stephen Decatur and his wife, Susan, its distinguished neo-classical architecture and prominent location across from the White House made Decatur House one of the capital's most desirable addresses and home of many of the nation's most prominent figures. Later residents included Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, and Judah P. Benjamin. The Decatur House is now used as a museum.
736 Jackson Place
736 Jackson Place was originally built around 1870 for Cornelia Knower Marcy, the widow of Secretary of War William Learned Marcy. In the 1880s, Michigan Representative John Newberry and Senator James Blaine lived in the house. In 1887, Representative William Scott bought the house. The house was remodeled in 1895 by Carrere and Hastings.[1]
The townhouse served as temporary quarters for President Theodore Roosevelt and his staff, while the White House underwent renovations from June 25 to November 6, 1902. Roosevelt only stayed there briefly, before heading off to Oyster Bay, New York. On October 3, 1902, Roosevelt held a meeting in the house to deal with the anthracite coal strike occurring in Pennsylvania.[1]
The townhouse was bought in 1919 by the Women's City Club of Washington, which remained there until 1944. The house was then sold to the National Lutheran Council of the United Lutheran Church of America.[1]
712 Jackson Place
712 Jackson Place was built in 1869 for Admiral James Blair, but was soon sold to Henry Rathbone. Rathbone is known for accompanying President Abraham Lincoln to Ford's Theatre on the night of the assassination. During World War I, the building was home to the Committee for Public Information, and for a brief time it housed the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.[2]
Other
The corner townhouse at Pennsylvania Avenue housed the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace for several decades, up until the late 1960s. Since then, the townhouse has been used as an annex to the Blair House.[3]
Proposed demolition
In 1957, the Federal government acquired the townhouses on Jackson Place. The government had plans to demolish the buildings to make way for construction of a new Federal office building on the land. In 1962, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy intervened and the project was canceled.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d "History of 736 Jackson Place". General Services Administration. 1995.
- ^ a b "712 Jackson Place" (PDF). White House Fellows. August/September 2007.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Reed, Robert (1980). Old Washington, D.C. in Early Photographs: 1846-1932. Dover Publications. pp. p. 129.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help)