The times., 1901-05-19
old WASHINGTON HOUSES
Some of the Mansions Memorable
in the Annals of the Nation.
The Van Ness Home and the OctaGon
House Where the Treaty of Gbent
Was Signed - Walls Which Shell
tered Decatur. webster. and Clay.

No other American city is the centre of
| so glorious store of historical associa-
tions as the Nations Capital-associations
which cluster thickest about a dwindling
number of fine old dwellings, that have
! thus far escaped the march of modern
| Improvement"
| At the foot Of Seventeenth Street. away
/ from the usual paths of the sightseer, and
! now utterly fallen from its former high
| estate, stands house more intimately in
volved. perhaps, than any other with the
early history of Washington. This is the
! mansion erected in the first decade of the
/ century by John Van Ness.
whose gracious and beautiful
| wife was the only child af
| that David Burns who once owned most
of what is now the northwest section of
Washington. Burns being a Scotchman.
knew how TO drive canny bargain, and
when he parted with his land it was upon
terms which made him, who had formerly
been only poor tobacco planter, the first
rich man of the Capital. Upon his death
Marcia inherited his whole fortune. When,
therefore, John Van Ness then a Repre-
sentative in Congress, from New York,
and the political protege of Aaron Burr,
was chosen from among her many suit
ors. he was counted a fortunate man.
They were married in the early summer
of 1902, and at the end of his term the
husband gave up his residence in New
York, and few years later built for his
wife, near the cottage home of her child
hood, the house which bears his name.
Planned by the architect Latrobe. and
commanding a noble view of the broad
Potomac and the Virginia hills beyond, it
was placed in the centre of a well-kept
RI -
ments had no equal in this country at the
time it was built. Here, for many years.
it's owner dispensed a hospitality the
fame of which has come down to the
present day. Many of the earlier Presi-
dents were entertained here, and every
year a dinner was given to the Congress
of the United States. The place is now
used as a picnic-ground by the negroes of
the neighborhood; the basement of the
mansion is beer saloon, and a dancing
platform has been erected beneath the
trees which sheltered Marcia Burns in
her girlhood and loveier womanhood.
The "Octagon. which stands at the
northeast corner of New York Avenue
and Eighteenth Street, antedates the Van
Ness mansion in years, and is not less
rich in historic memories 1t was begun
in 1885, and occupied In 1901. by Col John
Tayloe, the richest Virginian of his day.
and, as master of Mount Airy with it's 800
slaves, ruler over the largest landed es-
tate in the Old Dominion Colonel Taylot,
had intended to build winter residence
in Philadelphia, but changed his plans at
the earnest request of General Washing
ton, and for the better part of genera
ton the "Octagon," so called because of
it's peculiar architecture, was the centre
of all that was most brilliant and refined
in the unofficial society of the Capital
Time was when it was also the official
centre, for when iE August, 1914, the Brit
ish marched upon Washington, and burn
ed the Presidents house, as well as other
buildings, Col TayIore offered his home
to President Madison, who, accepting
the tender, made the "Octagon" his abid-
ing-place for over a year. A circular
room over the entrance hall, with win
d0ws to the floor and a handsome fire
place was President Madison's office, and
here, on one of the handsome old tables
now in the Corcoran Art Gallery, he
signed, on February is, 1915, the Treaty
of Ghent. which had been unanimously
approved by the Senate two days before.
In 1898, after having been carefully re-
stored, the "Octagon" became the home
of the Washington Chapter of the Ameri-
so well did its builders do thier work.
easily to survive the wear and tear of an
other century.
Time has also dealt kindly with the old
Decature mansion. This house, built by
Latrobe in 1919, was the first private
dwelling erected on Lafayette Square,
known in those early days as Burns Or
chard. IT is a roomy structure of red
brick. with pyramidal slated roof and
severely plain front, but in the days of
its first owner the gorgeousness of the
interior fully compensated for any lack
of outward adOrnment. The history of
Commodore Decature's life was written
on the walls of his home. which were
covered with the trophies of his many
successes, both Of war and peace. His
wife. a famous Virginia belle, had been
sought in marriage by Jerome Bonaparte, |
but on the advice Of a Shrewd friend who |
predicted that Napoleon would never rec !
ogniZe the marriage, she refused him. |
TO become in due time the wife of the |
man whom Nelson declared to be the /
most daring captain of his age. The De- |
caturs at once became social leaders in /
Washington, but for only a single season. |
On March %, 1920. occurred the husband S !
needless, fatal meeting with Commodore |
Barron On the old dueling ground at /
Biadensburg, and Decature was carried |
home TO die in the house he had built |
less than a year before. Since Decatur's |
day the house has enclosed a full measure /
of wit and beauty for it has rarely been
without some famous occupant Henry |
Clay lived there while Secretary of State I
under John Quincy Adams and his sue
cessors in office. Martin Van Buren, and /
Edward Livingston, occupied 1t in the |
same capacity. From 1873 until his death !
twenty years later, it was owned and oc- |
cupied by Gen. Edward Beale, who with |
his accomplished wife made It the centre !
Of all that was best in Washington So |
ciety. General Beale was a grandson of /
Commodore TruXtOn. under whom Deca- |
tur, the builder of this house. had served |
as midshipman.
There are many other houses of historic
interest in and about Lafayette Square.
Daniel Webster's last Washington home
now the Webster Law Building. was OF /
ID Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets. |
Here he made his memorable midnight /
speech. when, in 1852. Scott had won the
Presidential nomination from him. and he
knew that his political career was closed:
but his home while Secretary of State was
the COrCorau house, where the AShburtOn
treaty was discussed and practically con-
cluded. This house faces Lafayette
Square. Near by is the mansion built by
William L. Marcy when a member of
PolSs Cabinet, and just across COnnecti- /
cut Avenue are the old homes OF Ban
croft. the historian. and of Admiral Da
vid Dixon Porter
Salmon 7. Chase lived during the most |
eventful years of his bitter splendid ca
reer in a house which stll stands at the
corner of + and Sixth Streets; and at POI |
! Street one comes upon the house built
by Stephen A. Douglas. when the leader
of his party in the Senate and n hopeful
after the death of Douglas. was for many
years the home of Justice Bradley, of the |
Supreme Court and is now the residence
of the Papal Legation Next but one ad-
Joining it is the mansion given by New |
York friends to General Grant. in which
he lived until he moved to the White |