McClellan at the house. One night, however, McClellan
returned home from a wedding and, without heeding the
announcement that Lincoln was there to see him, went to
bed leaving the President waiting in the parlor. Rightfully
insulted, the President required McClellan from that point
on to meet with him at the White House. Late in 1861,
McClellan moved to larger quarters to accommodate his
family and staff.

Wilkes returned at the end of the Civil War and lived in
the house until his death on February 8, 1877.The house
remained in the Wilkes family until 1886, when it was
purchased by the Cosmos Club, a group of Washington
intellectuals, for $40,000. Renovations ensued, as the
new owners increased the height of the third floor, built
an assembly hall on the south side of the house, and
added two stories above the assembly hall. Eventually, the
Cosmos Club purchased Numbers 23 and 25 Madison
Place, immediately adjacent to the Madison House and
razed them both in order to build a large addition to
accommodate the needs of their growing membership.

In 1930, Congress authorized the Secretary of the Treasury
to acquire all privately owned land on Madison Place in
accordance with the plans set out in the report of the
McMillan Commission, which called for the demolition
of all the houses on Madison Place to accommodate the
growth of the Treasury Department. It was not until ten
years later, in 1940, that the government was able to finalize
the purchase of the Cosmos Club property for one million
dollars. However, World War II intervened, preventing
the implementation of the McMillan Commission Plan
for Madison Place. The Cosmos Club rented its former
property from the government until 1952, when it moved
to its present headquarters in the Embassy Row section
of Washington, making way for the National Science
Foundation, which occupied the Dolley Madison House


Congressman James J. Roosevelt.
Seeking funds to deal with her
mounting debts, Dolley traveled to
New York in 1842, to obtain a $3,000
mortgage on the Washington house
from John Jacob Astor. Even with the
mortgage, Dolley’s financial problems
continued to mount at Montpelier. In
1844, she found it necessary to sell
part of the estate. Later that same year
she sold the whole plantation and
moved back to the house on Lafayette
Square.

Friends and neighbors, keenly
aware of her dire financial situation,
found many ways to help her. Daniel
Webster would frequently send
his servant to Dolley’s house with
baskets of provisions. Although she
had left behind or sold many of her
possessions, Dolley would not leave
her cow at Montpelier. She brought
it with her to the Washington house,
where it was kept in the rear yard. It
was said that Dolley could make do
without a carriage, but not without
her cow.

Upon returning to Washington,
Dolley brought with her the remainder
of her husband's papers, which she
placed in a trunk in her second floor
bedroom. Just prior to the completion
of the sale of those papers to the
government in May 1848, the house
caught fire. Though the servants rushed



The first person to call on Dolley
was former President John Quincy
Adams, who wrote in his diary:

This morning I visited
Mrs. Madison, who has come to
take up her residence in this city. I
had not seen her since March 1809.
The depredations of time are not
so perceptible in her appearance as
might be expected. She is a woman
of placid appearance, equable
temperament, and less susceptible to
the lacerations of the scourges of the
world abroad than most others...

New Year's Day and the Fourth of
July were popular visiting days at
the Madison House. Often people
attending a reception at the White
House would, upon leaving those
festivities, walk across Lafayette Square
to pay their respects to Mrs. Madison.

Sadly, Dolley’s life in her
Washington home was not without
its problems. Her son by her
first marriage, Payne Todd, was a
spendthrift, and a constant drain on
her meager resources. In 1839, Dolley

was forced to return to Montpelier

and rent out the Washington house.
Her tenants were leading politicos,
including Senator William C. Preston
of South Carolina, Attorney General
John J. Crittenden, and New York





MADISON



President Zachary
Taylor eulogized
Dolley saying,
“She will never be
forgotten because
she was truly
our first lady
for a half-century.”

DOLLEYMADISONHOUSE

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Lafayette Square
Washington, DC 20439

www.cafc.uscourts.gov May 2010


from 1952 to 1958.The National
Aeronautics and Space Administration
was headquartered there from 1958
to 1964, and it was in the first-floor
assembly room of the house that
the Mercury Seven astronauts were
introduced to the world.

At the urging of First Lady Jacqueline
Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy,
in 1962, approved a renewal plan for
Lafayette Square, which provided for
the restoration and preservation of the
Dolley Madison House.

In 1968, with restoration completed,
Chief Justice Earl Warren dedicated
the Dolley Madison House as the
headquarters of the Federal Judicial
Center, created by Congress in 1967
to improve the administration of justice
in the federal courts. In 1992, the Federal
Judicial Center relocated to the Thurgood
Marshall Federal Judiciary Building on
Capitol Hill, and the United States Court
of Appeals for the Federal Circuit became
the most recent occupant of the Dolley
Madison House. Today, while members
of the staff of the Federal Circuit occupy
the top two floors, the first floor has
been carefully restored with period
furnishings reflecting the type of décor
that could have been in the house during
the years that Dolley graced Washington
society.

Dolley Madison porwait on the cover is courtesy of the White House Historical
‘Assocation. (White House Historical Collection) (123)



to Dolley’s room to rescue her, she refused to leave the house
until she saw that the precious trunk was carried to safety.
Her deep sense of history shone through in her actions that
day, just as it did when she saved the portrait of President
Washington from destruction by the British in 1814.

Dolley died on July 12, 1849, in her home on Lafayette
Square. Funeral services were held a block away at
St. John’s Church. In attendance were President Zachary
Taylor and his cabinet, members of the Diplomatic Corps,
and members of Congress and the Supreme Court, as
well as many others of Dolley’s friends. It is said that it
was at Dolley’s funeral that the term “First Lady” came in
to use, when President Taylor used it to refer to Dolley’s
unparalleled abilities as White House hostess, that
established a standard for her successors to emulate.

The house on Madison Place was left to her son Payne
Todd who sold it to Captain (later Admiral) Charles Wilkes
in 1851. Wilkes had commanded the famous South Sea
Exploring Expedition which, from 1838 to 1842, traveled
more than 87,000 miles surveying 280 islands, Antarctica,
and the Oregon coast. Wilkes made extensive alterations
to the house: the gabled roof became flat, a back building
was added, a bay window was placed on the south side of
the house, the entrance was moved from Lafayette Square
to H Street, the old doorway became a window, the front
windows were cut down to the floor, and a balcony was
added on the side facing Lafayette Square.

With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Wilkes
turned his house over to the government and was assigned
command of the San Jacinto, and became famous for his
role in the Trent Affair. The house became the headquarters
for General George B. McClellan, whom President Lincoln
had chosen to head the Union Army. Crowds would gather
around the entrance to the house to await the general’s
return and news of the war. Lincoln often called on


her husband’s papers from the Constitutional Convention

to the federal government. Congress accepted her offer,
appropriated $30,000 for the purchase of the papers in late
1837, and later authorized an additional amount of $25,000
to be paid in 1848.

Though close to seventy years old when she returned
to Washington, Dolley quickly resumed her role as a
leader of Washington society, a position that she had first
assumed when her husband was appointed Secretary of
State under President Thomas Jefferson. Since President
Jefferson was a widower, Dolley often took on the role of
White House hostess, presiding over official dinners and
receptions. When Madison became the fourth President
in 1808, Dolley was already well acquainted with the
social traditions of the White House and the trappings of
Washington society.

In her role as First Lady, Dolley created a sense of national
etiquette and style that was appropriate for the new nation’s
capital. She fashioned a social setting that supported the
unique political environment of the center of power, yet
adapted to the needs of a growing nation still in the process
of defining itself.

With Dolley as First Lady, the White House became
the symbol that it is today: a place that Americans saw
as “their” house. Dolley’s open houses, known as the
“Wednesday Drawing Room,” allowed all types of people
to see the inside of the White House and feel as though
they had access to the government, be they bricklayers or
members of Congress. She brought her considerable charm
and political acumen to these settings.

When the Madisons left Washington in 1817 and retired
to Montpelier at the end of the President's two terms,
Washington society keenly felt the loss of its leading light.
Upon her return to the city in 1837, Dolley’s home soon
became a bustling center of activity for Washington society.


ne



A copy of the Gilbert
Stuart portrait of
Dolley, painted in
1804 while she was
performing the role
of First Lady for
President Jefferson,
adorns the wall above
the fireplace in the
Assembly Room.

The Dolley Madison House, one of a small group of
historic buildings on the east side of Lafayette Square in
Washington, DC, now serves as conference, reception, and
office space for the United States Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit. This is a brief sketch of its story, which is
closely joined to the history of our nation.

The house was completed in 1820 by former
Massachusetts Congressman Richard Cutts and his wife,
Anna Payne Cutts, Dolley Madison’s younger sister. The
small, colonial structure was a simple building of buff-
colored stone, two stories high with an attic, and a garden
in the rear of the house. This was the first residence to be
built on the east side of President’s Square, which later
became known as Lafayette Square. Shortly after the house
was completed, the city council appropriated funds to cut a
road, later named Madison Place, from Pennsylvania Avenue
to H Street.

In 1828, Richard Cutts encountered financial difficulties
and was arrested and imprisoned. Released on a plea
of insolvency, he agreed to sell his house and grounds
to former President Madison for the appraised value of
$5,750. Madison was reluctant to purchase the house but
did so to prevent his sister-in-law and her children from
being evicted. The family continued to live in the house
until Mrs. Cutts died in 1832.

During this time, the Madisons were living in retirement
at Montpelier, their Virginia estate. Former President Madison
died there on June 28, 1836, leaving his property to his wife
Dolley and her heirs. In the fall of 1837, Dolley decided to
move to Washington and make her home in the house on
Lafayette Square; the financial burden of maintaining the
house and grounds at Montpelier had become too great
for her. However, the Washington house was badly in need
of repair and refurnishing, and she lacked the money to

do so. To cover these expenses, she offered to sell some of