The Washington times., 1935-06-29
NOW
"Gr1ndest Home
In the City,
OCTAGON HOUSE
BY HELEN ESSARY

pTlQe Is U1CSL1 VIC CAWoF
Of yesterday.
More than a hundred years
ago the entertainments held at
the Octagon House, 1.-The grand
est home in the CITY, were the
talk of the young Capital. 10
day Octagon House, on new
York Avenue and Eighteenth
Street is the center of down
town Washington. With its ele-
cance enhanced by tradition, 1t
is one of the most priced man
sions in the United States.
RomanticistS and historians
love it for it's associations and
its part in the early days of the
new republic. Moreover, that
firmly scientific body, the Amer
lean Institute Of Architects,
regards the town house of the
famous Col. John Tayloe, OF
Maryland and Virginia, as one
of its most precious possessions.
So devoted are the architects
to the old house, that they
mean to keep it forever as me-
mortal to the America OF the Pc
riod of 1900.
In 1900 the house was fur
nished in fine Sheraton, Adam.
and Empire pieces. On the walls
were examples of the best Eng
lish artists of the day. The
decorations were new. The mar
velous mantels now so priced,
the colors and the carvings OF
the cornices and pillars were at
their loveliest and best.
It is about the pleasant refuge
that the Octagon House gave
President James Madison and
his wife, Dolly, in 1918, when
the British burned the White
House, that the most vivid
stories of the old house center.
Some chroniclers insist that
the fact that the Treaty of
Client, binding the United
States and Great Britain to a
peace which for more than a
hundred years has remained un-
broken, was signed at Octagon
House by President Madison,
gives the place its greatest dis
tinction. Yet even these serl'
Gus historians of the mansion
soon forget their proteStations
and relate cheerfully stories of
great festivities there presided
over by Mistress Dolly.
In particular, they quote one
great levee held in February.
1916, 'the most splendid yet
witnessed in the United States"
Then it was that the whole
grand mansion was Illuminated
from cellar to garnet by pine
torches held aloft by slaves
especially drilled to hold pic
turesque attitudes against the
walls and at the head OF the
fine staircase"
Mrs. Madison wore a crown
OF gold, golden bracelets and
necklace, and golden glrdle
that set off her rose satin cos
tune. A special room in Octa-
gon House is now called the
Dolly Madison room. A fine
silver plate at its door testifies
to the memory Of President
and Mrs. Madison. There is
also a Treaty of Client room,
once MadiSon's office.
: Other rooms might well be
marked to honor the person
ages who lived or visited Octa-
gon House before President
Madison spent his eventful year
there. Colonel Tayloe, who
built the house, was considered
the perfect host in the young
United States. Visitors were
always welcome at his home in
Washington and at splendid
Mt. Airy in Virginia. Colonel
Tayloe was outrageously wealthy
! for a gentleman of his day. He
had an income of $4,000 a
year.
Z Today as one steps inside O.
tagon House it is easy to imag.
Inc the old place in its heyday.
From the outside it is ugly.
The influence was a pleasant
one when it persuaded him to
suggest iron grills before the
windows and certain graceful
arched doorways showing vistas
Of slowly winding stairways.
Octagon House was begun in
1898. The TayloeS lived at
Octagon House from 1900 to
1855. except for the period of
the Madison residence.
When the neighborhood round
about the mansion began to
lose some of its fashionable
character, the heir of Octagon
House decided to move to a
smarter part of town. Octagon
House soon began to deterio-
rate.
Years of vicissitude followed
It's gay, housekeeping past. At
one time, 10 colored families
lived in the fine rooms. Mr..
Glen Brown, of the American
Institute of Architects. visited
the place in 1866. His eyes
could see through the incrusta-
tions of dirt on the marble
mantels, made by Coade of
London in 1799." Could men,
tally push aside the piles Of
rubbish standing five feet high
in the drawing-roomS.
The institute leased the man.
sion: Purchased the house and
wisely restored it.