The times., 1898-09-23

halls where for a time stately Games anu
gay cavaliers, bewigged, patched and fur
beloved troGe the courtly minuet or ga
Vote TO the strains of the Marine Band
of the period. Here Dolly Madison and
her husband took refuge when the old
White House was burned by the British
in 1872 the treaty of Ghent between the
United States and Great Britain was
signed in the circular room over the yes
tibule, and here until the end of Madi
sons Administration the executive busi-
ness of the nation was transacted.
The house was erected by Col John
Tayloe and occupied two years in build
ing. from 179S to 1899. During the process
of its erection Gen. Washington fire.
quently visited the building. He took
lively interest in it, il being the home of
his friend well as one of the finest
residences in the country at the time.
The work of restoration is in the hands
of Robert Stead, architect, of 800 + Street
northwest, and when completed the house
will in every particular resemble the old
time structure. as no changes Will be
made either inside or out.
The house is well built of brick trim
| med with Aqua Creek sandstone. The
lot is triangular in form and fenced in by
hlSh DTlck wall. Inc Kitchen, stable
and outhouses are built of brick and ac-
| commodated a large number of both SER
wants and horses. Col. Tayloe being a
noted turfman and keeping many fine
| running horses. The building and walls
| conform to the street lines, showing that
| the streets were accurately laid off even
at that early day. The interior is elabo-
| rately finished, the doors and shutters
| being of mahogany and all are still in an
| excellent state of preservation. All the
| work in the circular vestibule comedies
| with the circumference of the tower, the
| doors, sash and glass being made on the
J circle and all are still in working order.
The parlor mantel is made of a fine
cement composition, painted white. The
! remains OF goldleaf show in some of the
| relieved portions, and the figures are eX-
| cellent evidently having been modelled by
some good artist. The mantels in bed
rooms are OF wood, the ornamentation
being putty stucco.
Leading into the back hall and dining
room are two secret doors in which the
wash-boards, chair-boards, etc, run
across the door, being ingeniousiy cut
some distance from the actual door, no
key-hoIes, hinges or openings showing
on the blind side. The knobs and shut
ter-buttons are of brass and evidently of
a special pattern. Two old cast-iron
wood-stoves stand in the inches prepared
for them in the vestibule.
Bishop Mead in his Old Churches,
Ministers and Families of Virginia. tells
us that William Tayloe emigrated from
| London to Virginia in 1850. John Tayloe,
| his son. who was member of the House
| of Burgesses, founded the noted estate Of
| Mount Airy Va He had twelve children.
one of whom Col. John Tayloe. built the
| old Octagon House. The Tayloes inter-
married with the Corbins. the Lees, the
Washingtons. the Carriers. the Pages and
nearly every other prominent family of
| Virginia The mother of Col. John Tay-
| loe, of the Octagon, was daughter of
Gov. PIarer of Maryland and his wife
was Anne, daughter of Benjamin Ogie,
Governor OF Maryland.
For those days, Col John Tayloe (com-
missioned by Washington in the revolu-
tom was a very wealthy man, having at
the age of twenty an income of nearly
six thousand dollars a year, and when
the Octagon was built he had an income
of seyenty-fiye thousand year. His eld-
est son. John. was in the navy and was
distinguished in the battles of the Con-
stitution with the Guerrero and the
Cyane in the Levant
The memoirs of Benjamin Ogle Tayloe
state that Col Tayloe was an intimate
/ ron the advice of the general that the
Octagon was built in Washington. Col.
Tayloe having previously determined to
b,,;,d his Winter residence in Philadel-
| phia,
At this period Col. Tayloe was distin-
| guished for the unrivaled splendor of his
| household and eQuipages, and his estab-
| lishment was renowned throughout the
| country for its entertainments, which
were given IN a most generous manner to
| all persons of distinction who visited
! Washington in those days, both Ameri-
| cans and foreigners. In this list are in
| cluded such names as Jefferson wash
! ington had passed away before its COM
pleticn) Madison, Monroe, John Quincy
| Adams, Decatur. Porter. Webster. Clay,
Calhoun. Randolph. Lafayette Steuben
and Sir Edward Thornton, British minis
| ter. and father of the recent British
| minister, and many others of less distinc-
| ton than the ones named. Col. Tayloe
died in 1928. and his death to certain ex-
tent terminated the splendid hospitalities