Cutts-Madison House

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Cutts-Madison House
National Register of Historic Places
Historic District Contributing Property
National Historic Landmark District
Cutts-Madison House (west side) towards Madison Place NW

Cutts-Madison House (west side) towards Madison Place NW

Cutts-Madison House (District of Columbia)
Paris plan pointer b jms.svg
location Washington, DC
Coordinates 38 ° 54 '1.4 "  N , 77 ° 2' 3.9"  W Coordinates: 38 ° 54 '1.4 "  N , 77 ° 2' 3.9"  W.
Built 1818-19
Architectural style Colonial style
NRHP number 70000833
Data
The NRHP added August 29, 1970
Declared as  CP May 22, 1970

The Cutts-Madison House (also known as Dolley Madison House) is a colonial-style residence at 721 Madison Place NW in Washington, DC The house is best known as the residence of the former first lady Dolley Madison , who lived here from November 1837 until her Lived death in July 1849.

The Cutts-Madison House was listed as a Contributing Property of the Lafayette Square Historic District on August 29, 1970 on the National Register of Historic Places with the number 70000833. This Historic District, including the Cutts-Madison House , had already been recognized as a National Historic Landmark in May 1970 .

Edification

On March 31, 1793, US officials in charge of the sale of federal land in the District of Columbia decided to sell 221 square to Samuel Davidson. Davidson died in 1810, so his sons and two daughters inherited his property. Richard Cutts acquired lots 12, 13, 14 and 15 of square 221 from the heirs on October 3, 1818.

Cutts built the house for himself and his wife Anna Payne Cutts, sister of Dolley Payne Madison, in 1818-1819. The house had a gable roof , bay windows and chimneys at the north and south ends of the house. The outside was originally plastered gray . The front of the house faced Lafayette Square. The lot the house was on was spacious, with lots of space on all sides. Unpaved roads led to the west and north of the house, and a large garden with flowers and fruit trees was east and south of the house. The garden extended south to Tayloe House at the south end of the block. At the time, the house was considered to be one of the most "pretentious" residences in the city.

In 1828 the city had the road in front of the house gravel.

Residents

Dolley Madison

Cutts financed the construction of the house with a land charge. The bank that held the land charge sold it to former President James Madison on August 22, 1828 for $ 5,750 . When James Madison died in 1836, the land charge went to Dolley Madison. The death of her husband left Dolley Madison in a financially difficult position, so she took up residence in the house in November 1837 to cut costs. Presidents James Monroe , John Quincy Adams , Andrew Jackson , Martin Van Buren , William Henry Harrison , John Tyler , James K. Polk and Zachary Taylor visited them at the house, as did John C. Calhoun , Henry Clay and Daniel Webster . However, Dolley Madison's financial troubles persisted. Madison also owned Montpelier , her husband's country estate in the Piedmont of Virginia . Finances in Montpelier were in poor shape and Dolley Madison moved to Montpelier again in 1839 to try to keep the manor. She rented the Cutts-Madison House but was unable to hold Montpelier. She moved back to Washington in 1843 and sold Montpelier in 1844.

Upon her return to the Cutts-Madison House, arsonists set the shutters on the back of the house and Dolley Madison had to be awakened by a servant so she could get to safety. The fire was extinguished quickly and the damage to the building was minimal. Mrs. Madison was able to return to her bedroom that night.

Dolley Madison lived in the Lafayette Square house until her death on July 12, 1849. Her only heir was John Payne Todd from her first marriage to lawyer and Quaker John Todd. On April 3, 1851, Todd sold the property to Charles Wilkes .

Charles Wilkes

Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes acquired the house in 1851. Wilkes moved the entrance from Madison Place NW to H Street NW and had the entrance porch on the west side of the house, facing Madison Place NW, converted into a window. The gable roof with the roof surfaces facing east and west was removed and replaced by a flat roof. An auxiliary building was erected at the rear and a large window was integrated into the south facade. Wilkes also had the windows on the first floor enlarged so they all reached the floor.

A number of other notable people lived in the house in the 1850s and 1860s. After William Gore Ouseley was appointed Special Envoy for Central America, he rented the house in 1858 and gave lavish parties before heading to his target region. General George B. McClellan used the house as his Washington headquarters during the Civil War after the First Battle of Bull Run from July 26, 1861 until he moved it to his new headquarters on the corner of H Street NW and 15th Street NW at the end of October the place of today's Sofitel Lafayette Square Hotel - relocated. After the Civil War, the house housed the French Claims Commission for a short time.

Wilkes mortgaged the house in 1855. Gas lien passed through various hands over the next 15 years before George B. Warren secured the lien in 1870. After Warren's death in 1880, it went to his daughter Phebe Warren Tayloe. She died in 1882 and her niece Elizabeth H. Price now held the lien. Price sold it to Edward Tayloe Perry in December 1884. In the meantime, Charles Wilkes signed the house over to his wife and three daughters in 1870. The admiral died in 1877 and 1886, the Wilkes family sold the house for 40 000  $ to the Cosmos Club . The sum was enough to pay off the land charge held by Edward Tayloe Perry.

Cosmos Club

Plans for the first floor renovations of the Cutts-Madison House that the Cosmos Club carried out in 1886

The Cosmos Club immediately increased the height of the third floor by raising the roof. A large meeting room was added by adding a 7.21 m long extension to the south side of the house with skylights.

Further improvements were made in 1893. The building was connected to the power grid and electrified, the heating system was expanded and a much-used area of ​​the house was given new equipment. The extension with the assembly hall was extended by two floors, with a large room on the first floor and four meeting rooms on the second floor. A toilet was installed on the top floor of the old part of the building, above the existing toilet on the first floor. The garden on the east side was removed and a three-story extension was created here. This contained an entrance to the building from H Street NW on the ground floor, a cloakroom and a connecting door to the assembly hall on the south side of the building; the second floor contained further meeting rooms and on the third floor a conference room was created for the management of the club. The basement of the original building has been renovated and structurally upgraded. A kitchen, a toilet and access to the annex were created. The purpose of the extension was to give visitors (such as members of the National Geographic Society ) the opportunity to enter the building and use its premises without disturbing the members of the Cosmos Club. The total cost of the renovations was $ 15,000. The extension was planned and supervised by Hornblower & Marshall, and the work was completed in January 1894.

In 1903, Henry Reed Rathbone's Cosmos Club bought 25 Madison Place NW, the building just south of Cutts-Madison House, for $ 33,000. This property and a neighboring one to the south were demolished in 1909 and replaced by a five-story building.

The Cosmos Club left Cutts-Madison House in 1952 and moved into new headquarters in the Townsend Mansion at 2121 Massachusetts Avenue NW. At that time, the US government acquired the structure and used it as an office building.

Federal property

The Cutts-Madison House ( corner ), with the darker Cosmos Club ( right ) and the National Courts Building ( behind )

In 1900, the United States Congress passed a resolution establishing the US Senate Park Commission (also known as the McMillan Commission because of its presidency of Senator James McMillan [ R - Mich. ]). The task of the commission was to mediate between the competing visions for the development of the capital district, specifically regarding the National Mall and the areas adjacent to it. The Commission's proposals, known as the McMillan Plan , included the demolition of all of the buildings around Lafayette Square and their replacement with tall neoclassical structures with white marble facades for use by various government agencies. For a while it looked like the Cutts-Madison House would not be preserved. The William Wilson Corcoran owned house in 1615 H Street NW about was torn down in 1922 and by the neoclassical headquarters of the United States Chamber of Commerce replaced. The Hay-Adams Houses had the real estate entrepreneur Harry Wardman demolished in 1927 and the Hay-Adams Hotel was built instead. At 1616 H Street NW nearby, the Brookings Institute bought the back garden from the private owners of Decatur House and built an eight-story modern office building. Several million US dollars were spent in the 1950s on plans that would have all structures on the east side of Lafayette Square demolished and replaced with a white, modern office building that would have housed government offices.

Shortly after the announcement of these plans, resistance formed against the demolition of the Cutts-Madison House and other buildings in Lafayette Square. Senators James E. Murray and Wayne Morse , several members of the House of Representatives and residents of the District of Columbia took action to repeal the laws that allowed the demolition of these buildings. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) dedicated the February 1961 issue of its journal to a “Lament for Lafayette Square”. The AIA set up a committee to create plans to save these buildings and adapt the new structures to match the style and atmosphere of the old buildings.

The newly elected government of John F. Kennedy indicated on February 16, 1961 that they would endeavor to preserve the existing historic buildings on Lafayette Square. In November 1961, the Committee of 100 on the Federal City , an influential group of notables from President Kennedy, demanded that all of the remaining historic buildings in Lafayette Square be preserved and restored. In February 1962, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy appealed to the Director of the General Services Administration (GSA) Bernard L. Boutin to stop the demolition and adopt a different plan. "The demolition people haven't started yet, and by the time they do it can be saved," she wrote. Mrs. Kennedy hired the architect John Carl Warnecke , a friend of her husband's who was in town for the weekend, to create a design that would include the new structures and the old ones. Warnecke developed the basic concept during that weekend and worked closely with Mrs. Kennedy over the following months to complete the design draft. The design was presented in October 1962 to the public and the Commission of Fine Arts , which had to decide on each plan, and the commission decided on the design draft, supported by Mrs. Kennedy.

Warnecke's design was based on the architectural theory of contextualism , in which modern buildings are harmonized with the urban forms that are common in a traditional city. According to Warnecke's design, not only were the first modern buildings erected in Lafayette Square, but these structures were the first in the city to use contextualism as a design philosophy. Warnecke's design for the National Courts Building created a wide, low-rise structure of red brick that provided a relatively unobtrusive background for the lighter-colored apartment buildings like the Cutts-Madison House. The Cutts-Madison House, the Cosmos Club building and the Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House were connected and a courtyard was created between them and the National Courts Building.

Since then the Cutts-Madison House has been part of the National Courts building complex.

Ghostly apparitions

Since the mid-19th century, eyewitnesses have claimed to have seen the ghost of Dolley Madison, laughing at passers-by in a rocking chair on the western side where the entrance porch used to be.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e Miller, Albert D. Distinguished Residents of Washington, DC: Science-Art-Industry. Washington, DC: National Capital Press, 1916.
  2. ↑ a b Benedetto, Robert; Donovan, Jane; and Du Vall, Kathleen. Historical Dictionary of Washington. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. ISBN 0-8108-4094-4
  3. ^ A b c d e f g h Smith, Hal H. "Historic Washington Homes." Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington. 1908.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Allgor, Catherine. A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation. Reprint ed. New York: Macmillan, 2007. ISBN 0-8050-8300-6
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Bednar, Michael J. L'Enfant's Legacy: Public Open Spaces in Washington. Baltimore, Md .: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8018-8318-0
  6. ^ Entry of the Historic District on the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed May 1, 2016.
  7. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: District of Columbia . National Park Service , accessed August 2, 2017.
  8. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Cosmos Club. The Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Founding of the Cosmos Club of Washington, DC: With A Documentary History of the Club From Its Organization to November 16, 1903. Washington, DC: Cosmos Club, 1904.
  9. ↑ Evelyn, Douglas E .; Dickson, Paul and Ackerman, SJ On This Spot: Pinpointing the Past in Washington, DC 3rd rev. ed. Dulles, Va .: Capital Books, 2008. ISBN 1-933102-70-5
  10. ^ A b c d Carrier, Thomas J. Washington DC: A Historical Walking Tour. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0-7385-0049-6
  11. ↑ a b c d e f g h Côté, Richard N. Strength and Honor: The Life of Dolley Madison, Mount Pleasant, SC: Corinthian Books, 2005. ISBN 1-929175-09-4
  12. ↑ a b c d Zall, Paul M. Dolley Madison. New York: Nova Publishers, 2001. ISBN 1-56072-930-9
  13. ↑ Barnard, Ella Kent. Dorothy Payne, Quakeress: A Side-Light Upon the Career of "Dolley" Madison. Philadelphia: Ferris & Leach, 1909.
  14. ↑ a b Bryan, Wilhelmus Bogart. A History of the National Capital From Its Foundation Through the Period of the Adoption of the Organic Act. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1916.
  15. ↑ a b c d e Peacock, Virginia Tatnall. Famous American Belles of the Nineteenth Century. New York: JP Lippincott Company, 1901.
  16. ↑ a b c d e Wentzel, Volkmar Kurt. Washington by Night: Vintage Photographs From the 30s. Reprint ed. Golden, Colo .: Fulcrum Publishing, 1998. ISBN 1-55591-410-1
  17. ↑ a b Madison, Dolley. Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison: Wife of James Madison, President of the United States. 2nd Edition. Lucia Beverly Cutts, ed. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1887.
  18. ↑ a b Washburn, Wilcomb E. The Cosmos Club of Washington: A Centennial History, 1878-1978. Washington, DC: The Club, 1978.
  19. ^ Symonds, Craig L. Lincoln and His Admirals. New York: Oxford University Press US, 2008. ISBN 0-19-531022-5
  20. ↑ Poore, Benjamin Perley. Perley's Reminiscences of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis. Philadelphia, Pa .: Hubbard Brothers, 1886.
  21. ↑ At least one source gives the date the Cosmos Club moved out of the Cutts-Madison House incorrectly as 1939, see: Bednar, L'Enfant's Legacy: Public Open Spaces in Washington, 2006, p. 105.
  22. ↑ a b Peterson, Jon A. The Birth of City Planning in the United States, 1840-1917. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8018-7210-3
  23. ↑ a b Luria, Sarah. Capital Speculations: Writing and Building Washington. Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire Press, 2006. ISBN 1-58465-502-X
  24. ^ A b Goode, James W. Capital Losses: A Cultural History of Washington's Destroyed Buildings. 2d ed. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2003. ISBN 1-58834-105-4 .
  25. ^ A b Anthony, Kathryn H. Designing for Diversity: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Architectural Profession. Urbana, Ill .: University of Illinois Press, 2001. ISBN 0-252-02641-1
  26. ^ Lindsay, John J. "Court Gets New Home All to Itself." Washington Post. February 25, 1960; "2 Federal Courts To Be Housed on Lafayette Square." Washington Post. 17th September 1960.
  27. ^ "3 Historic Buildings Befriended." Washington Post. March 2, 1960; "Senator Morse Joins Battle to Save Historic Sites on Lafayette Square." Washington Post. March 24, 1960; “Lafayette Sq. Razing Plan Termed Folly. “ Washington Post. April 12, 1960; "Group Formed to Save Lafayette Sq. Buildings. " Washington Post. May 4th 1960.
  28. ↑ “AIA Journal Laments Lafayette Square's End.” Washington Post. January 29, 1961.
  29. ↑ White, Jean. “Garden Atmosphere of Lafayette Sq. Can Be Preserved, Says Architect. “ Washington Post. March 3, 1961.
  30. ↑ White, Jean. "Administration Anxious To Save Lafayette Park." Washington Post. 17th February 1961.
  31. ↑ Jackson, Luther P. "Old Lafayette Sq. Restoration Sought. " Washington Post. November 30, 1961.
  32. ↑ a b Marton, Kati. Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our Recent History. New York: Random House, 2001. ISBN 0-375-40106-7
  33. ↑ a b c d Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. As We Remember Her: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Words of Her Family and Friends. Reprint ed. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. ISBN 0-06-054857-6
  34. ↑ Marton, Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our Recent History, 2001, p. 122. "The wreckers haven't started yet, and until they do it can be saved."
  35. ^ A b "Lafayette, He Is Here." Time . December 13, 1963.
  36. ↑ Abbott, James A. and Rice, Elaine M. Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 1997. ISBN 0-471-29242-7
  37. ↑ Jencks, Charles. New Paradigm In Architecture. 7th ed. New Haven, Conn .: Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-300-09512-0
  38. ^ "With Election Looming, Washington Is A Ghost Town - Literally." Reuters . October 24, 2000.
  39. ↑ Apkarian-Russell, Pamela. Washington's Haunted Past: Capital Ghosts of America. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2006. ISBN 1-59629-181-8
  40. ^ Thomsen, Brian M. Oval Office Occult: True Stories of White House Weirdness. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2008. ISBN 0-7407-7386-0
  41. ^ Colombo, Robert N. To Save the Union: Volunteers in the Civil War from Centerville, Hume and Granger Townships, Allegany County, New York. Westminster, Md .: Heritage Books, 2007. ISBN 0-7884-4394-1

Web links

Commons : Cutts-Madison House  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files