Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1886-12-24
NOTED WASHINGTON HOUSES.
Millionaires and Statesmen Who Have Erected
Elegant Residences at the Capital.

Millonaires and Statesmen Who Have Erected
Elegant Residences at the Capital.
A Washington correspondent of the
Boston journal writes: Tho old prOverb.
"When the house is finished death enters"
has received in various forms mOurnful
signifgcance here in Washington. There
are a great many of the noted houses here
whose owners never occupy them, or who
lived in them but short time. The great
house of Don Cameron was purchased by
Morgan, the wealthy New York stock
broker, for $4,000 in cash, about two
months only before he died, and the fam
ily is now scattered. Across the street
from this house stands the great house
which Mr.. Window, ex-senator or ex-sec-
rotary of the treasury, had hardly finished
when he was forced to retire from public
life. This house is now occupied by Mr..
Warden, the rich manufacturer of Ohio,
who is building on X street, near Arlington,
one of the most costly houses In the city.
Within stones throw of both these houses
stands the palace which Lieut.. Brodhead,
the husband of one of the Willis girls,
built, but h occupied it only short time,
and it is new the property of Alexander
Graham Bell. Further along Massachusetts,
avenue, toward the east, a little to the left,
stands the great house which formerly be-
longed to Thomas B. Bryan, of Chicago.
which was purchased by Theodore Lyman,
of Boston, for $4,000, and which was oc-
cupied by him but two winters, when he,
too, was retired from politics. few doors
to the west of Senator WINDOWS house
stands one of the largest and finest hosses
on this broad avenue, the owner OF which
strangers are scarcely ever able to ascGr-
tain. 1t is the house which belongs to the
estate of the lawyer here who made a very
considerable fortune out of the lVanhoe
mine, a property the value of which was
probably always mythical, and who died
after having occupied the house but few
months. few rods farther to the west
stands the famous Castle Stewart, the first
monument of the early real estate specu-
lation fever in this section, begun at the
time when Alexander Shepherds District
ring was so widely extending It's borders.
The house at that tins was known as
'Stewart's Folly" Mr.. Stewart had oc-
eupied it but a winter or two before imam
cial disaster overlook him and political
royerses drove him from the senate. The
house has since had very varied fortune,
but it is understood to be still owned by
Mrs. Stewart. At present it is occupied
by the Chinese legation. The news from
the most successful mining lawyers on the
Pacific coast, has regained the fortune
which he has lost two or three times, and
added to it very greatly, and Is very likely
to be returned to the senate to succeed
Mr.. Fair, as he is a fayorite of Mackey
and of the faction that was recently sue
cessful in the politics of Nevada. In that
case, undoubtedly, the Chinese would have
to 90 from Mr.. Stewards house, because
the representative of the honest miners
camps of the Pacific coast would hardly
permit the Chinese ambassador to be his
tenant. Across the street, too, from that
house is the palace of Mr.. Blaine, which
was occupied by the latter but short
time when Guiteau's bullet put an end to
the Garfield administration and drove Mr..
Blaine from the state department. This
house is now occupied by Mr.. Letter,
rich and retired merchant of Chicago,
whose lease is still said to run three years.
few rods farther, fronting on Dupont
circle, is the house which sunset Cox,
ex-ulinister to turkey, had but just finish
ed according to his taste when, tempted
by a handsome offer, he sold 1t to the rich
young man who married the daughter of
Col. Albert G. Ordway, who went to the
war with one of the Massachusetts resi-
ments. A couple of blocks farther south
stands the great house which Mr.. Williams,
when attorney general, had but just com
pleted when the story of the landaulet
was sprung on him, a circumstance which
undoubtedly had much to do with his fail
ure to be confirmed chief justice of the
supreme court of the United States. When |
the ture history of that portion of Gen.
Grants administration comes to be written
it will be found that Atty. Gen. Williams !
was no more responsible for the pur- |
chase of that landaulet than Gen. Belknap, |
secretary of war, WAS responsible for the |
extraordinary misfOrtunes which overlook |
him. The laudaulet was originally pur-
chased as vehicle in which to convey the |
officers of the department of justice and
the books of the department of the su-
preme court of the United States and to
the court of claims, the latter then being !
also located in the capital building, and
the fact that an expensive landsslet was
purchased instead of common and |
ancient broken-down carryall, for which
it was substitute, is not properly charge
able to atty. General Williams. This pur-
chase was made as a matter of routine
business by the under officers of the de-
partment, without at first consulting the
attorney general, and a former. official of
the department of justice, and now resi-
dent in Boston, could If he would, explain
the circumstances. Three squares farther
south stands the great house which belong
ed to Hutchinson, of the Alaska Fur Seal
company, He had Just secured the plans
for the erection of one of the grandest
houses in Washington on this most eligible
site when he died.