Woodrow Wilson House (Washington, D.C.)

Woodrow Wilson House
Location 2340 S St., NW
Washington, D.C.
Coordinates 38°54′50.22″N 77°3′6.12″W / 38.9139500°N 77.0517000°WCoordinates: 38°54′50.22″N 77°3′6.12″W / 38.9139500°N 77.0517000°W
Area less than one acre
Built 1915
Architect Waddy Butler Wood
Architectural style Georgian Revival
Governing body Private
NRHP Reference # 66000873[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP October 15, 1966
Designated NHL July 19, 1964[2]

The Woodrow Wilson House was the residence of the Twenty-Eighth President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson after he left office.[3] It is at 2340 S Street NW just off Washington, D.C.'s Embassy Row. On February 3, 1924, Wilson died in an upstairs bedroom.[3] It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964.[2][4] The National Trust for Historic Preservation owns the house and operates it as a museum.[3]

History

The house was built by Henry Fairbanks in 1915 on a design by prominent Washington architect Waddy Wood. President Woodrow Wilson bought it in the last months of his second term as President of the United States as a gift to his wife, Edith Bolling Wilson.[3] He presented her the deed in December 1920, although he had never seen the house.[3] The former president and his wife moved into the home on Inauguration Day,[3] which in 1921 was March 4 (not the current date of January 20). Wilson made several modifications to the house, including: a billiard room, "stacks" for his library of over 8,000 books, and a one-story brick garage.[3]

It was from the balcony of the house that Wilson addressed a crowd on November 11, 1923, as his last public appearance.[3] While the Wilsons had few guests, former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and former French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau did visit the ailing former president there.[3] After Wilson's death in 1924, Edith Wilson lived there until her death on December 28, 1961. She hosted First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy for a brunch in the formal dining room. Edith bequeathed the property and all of its original furnishings to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.[3]


References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Woodrow Wilson House". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved September 5, 2009.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 "National Park Service – The Presidents (Wilson House)". Nps.gov. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
  4. ↑ Blanche Higgins Schroer, Carol Kolb, and Steven H. Lewis (March 17, 1977). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Woodrow Wilson House" (PDF). National Park Service. and Accompanying three photos, exterior (front, rear and garden), from 1975 PDF (32 KB)

External links