The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-16
OLD HOUSES.
me of the First Buidirgs Erected in
Washington.


houses in this city which had existed
most since the first foundation of the cap
and which grew in sentimental value
, " year. although in crumenal worth
they dwindled in the same ratio. II this
* of demolition goes on for the next ten
trs. half as rapidly as it has done in the
;ssst twenty, there VIII not be a house
,ndinr in the old limits of Washington,
tside of the government buildings, that
& erected prior to the administration of
,onroe. that Ezra of Good Feeling" which
it3essed the burial of the Federallst party
i the birth OF the modern, go-ahead, utili-
.rian Yankee spirit of material conquest
d material thought.
WAsHINGToN'S HOUSE
BEFORE they all go. these old landmarks of
ne mast. these monuments of the early days
the Federal capital, it may not be unin-
resting to point OFT few of these build
gs. do not intend to write an essay upon
am. nor to dwell sentimentally upon the
ries which "hlushed and bloomed in the
i time entombed" around the walls and
lder the roof trees of many of them. |
,all sim ,ly prepare a schedule of a few,
18th the faint hope that perhaps they may
SHARED by the spirit of de noition which
!, making a new city indeed, though a
eautiful one, of this political metropolis
of the United States. And | shall pre-
face nv lis0 with an Irish beginning by
,alling attention to a house that has
,een non-existent for over three score years
and ten, and which indeed is one of the Oldest
structures, only it was utterly destroyed be-
fore the recollection of any but the most
venerable inhabitant at this time. | al
hide to Washington's house | have been
frequently aske |, even by old residents of
his city, to point out this house, a task was
,.lways unable to do, as it ceased toe xist be-
,ore was born. Many persons are under
the impression that the building now known
rs the HilDan House, which originally was
5wo distinct habitations, was this famous
lou-e of the father of his country This is
mistake, although these two the one i'm
ynediately adjoining on the north are very
ID structures. 'WaShingtons House" was
built for him by the government.
1t was yellowish brick structure,
four stories high, and stood on the
hill east of the present Baltimore and Ohio
railroad depot. 1t was in the square bound
ed by c and D streets, Delaware avenue
and North Capitol street. A frame house
occupied for many years by Mr.. James
Crutchett is now located on the southwest
ein angle OF the square, and on the south
eastern corner the hill has been cut down
end fire engine house stands there. The
original house, though builG for Washing
ton was never occupied by hint 1t was
burned down the evening of the day that
the British occupied Washington in 1914.
A Mr.. Frost had built a handsome
frame house adjoining Washington's and
to the south of it. This frame house
was set on fire by a negro slave woman
OF the Frost family, probably under the
impression that the British would free her
and that the year of jubilee had come The
flames communicated with Washingtons
house which was totally destroyed. In all
probability it met its fate by this means
only few hours in advance of what the
Infamous house burner and chicken-roost
thief, Admiral Cockpurn, had in store for
it. The stupid maleYolence of negro de
prived Great Britain's toughest naval bully
OF the pleasure of destroying it.
So those who are pleased to think that the
only house the government ever built for
private citizen is still standing, will learn
hereby that it really ceased to exist over
g years ago,
THE OLDEST HOUSE
The oldest house in what was once the
corporate limits of the Gil of Washington
is, am persuaded, the weather beaten and
antiquated structure occupied for many
years by Mr.. Slye, which stands in the
square bounded by L and K, Twelfth aud
Thirteenth streets northwest Franklin
Row shuts il out from the vision on the
south, and since the building of the Church
Of our Father aud the houses south of that
church on Thirteenth street it has been in
visible from the street. 1t can only be seel
from one of tie narrow alleys that penetrate
this square This house was a farm house,
and built in the old colony days. 1t was
an old house, comparatively, before the
Davldsons became original proprietors
OF part of the ground on which Wash
ington stands. 1t was built, indeed, be-
fore the Davidsons came from Scotland. |
have never been able to find the date of its
erection, or even an approximation thereto,
but the body, the core of the structure,
must have been standing before the birth
of General Washington. l was told forty
years ago by an olds colored woman, we'll
remembered as "Aunt Fanny" by some of
the Oldest residents, aud who was said then
to be 10 years old, that it was built long
before she could remember. She had been
in early youth slave Of The Mason family,
the original proprietors of the land on which
Georgetown Except the very Oldest part)
was built, and, of course, was well ac-
qualnted with the country which now is the
Federal city.
THE oCTAGoN.
The stately old Octagon is in its present
FORM very old building, and certainly one
OF the historic houses of the nation. For
several years it was the residence of the
President of the United States, when the
Whine House was burned by order of the in
famous incendary, Admiral Cockburn.
The Octagon i'll its present form is very
nearly as old as the corporate city of Wash
mgton. But it occupies the site of an older
Mouse still, and this in turn still more VEN
cradle building. Those were the days when
the Masons, the Carriers. the Fairfaxes, the
NacCartys, the Walters, and other
cd Northern Neck families were
undivided by political sentiments,
and before the lonesome latter
Years" when nearly half of the gentry of
Virginia embraced the side of tue King as
against Congress. When the first old house
was built where the Octagon stands now, in
the good old Colony days, 1--WE all fought
Tor the King" and Congress was unknown.
Davy Burns had not built his cottage yet
IN fact the caune Davy, with his grasping
thrltt, and his ardent love of whisky, had
not yet left his native braes, and the broad
acres that afterwa were his, where then
part CT the manor-like domains of more GU
tured and polished owners. The original
building on the site of the Octagon was
erected by Mason, think, in Ills.
DECATUR's HOUSE.
The spacious and historic mansion on the
corner of Madison Place and II street,
known so long as Com. Decatur's house, the
nome of that fJwer of American chivalry,
and Tor so many years the residence of his
stately aud beautiful widow. where Dolly
MADISON reigned long as social queen, is
aso a very old house. / have not been able