Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-03-12

Wv 'tStt ftoHtC VI COf(u Il. LCICt
OF the Committee for Industrit
seems, was the piece de resistance for
the tour because it was built and oc-
cupied by the physician general to the
Revolutionary Army and personal
physician to Gen. Washington.
1t was understood that Lewis had
his eye on another home in Alexandria
not because he had any intention Of
withdrawing in the face of fire This
move, members of the society de-
clared, would solve the whole embar-
RAISING situation and the show could
go on.
But they reckoned without John L.
Lewis. Lewis at the time was in De-
troit waglng his fight against General
Motors. He declined to comment.
When he returned to Washington to
land in the middle of the Willard
Hotel slt-doWn strike he was equally
silent. Old homes and whether people
ever saw them or not appeared to
matter little to him.
Lewis Launches Counter Attack,
But the Lewis silence and the char
acterlStlc Lewis aggreSSiveness came to
the fore this week. His counter-attack
In answering the siege was an assault
which has momentarily beaten back
all the fine plans laid for his anti
quarian demise.
He relinquished, without fanfare,
the old DR.. Brown house on Fairfax
street and with equal modesty filed a
deed to the Robert F. Downham home
on the southeast corner of Washington
and Oronoco streets. He had held 4
lease on the Brown house.
Where the Brown house had been
touted as the prize of the tour before,
now it develops that the Downham
home is the real Mccoy" Without
the DoWnham house, it seems, the
tour will be like circus without ele-
plants.
This old home was built shortly after
the Revolution by Philip r. Fendall
This appears to be all Of historic in
terest Fendall bequeathed to posterity
through the old house. His name did
not even get in the biographies of the
day.
Light Horse Harry's Grafton.
Fame came, however, when Light
Horse Harry Lee is supposed to have
made his famous grafton within the
walls of the old house at the time Of
George Washington's death.
According to tradition-and ira
dition in Alexandria is almost as potent
as an affidavit of fact-citizenS of the
city gathered in the Fendall home to
make arrangements for the funeral of
Gen. Washington Although the re-
port never has been authenticated. Lee
is said to have arisen and delivered his
Grafton
Another tie-up with the Lee family
is the fact that the Lees at that time
owned all the lots on Washington
street between Princess and Oronoco
(then spelled Ornika) streets. Edmund
I. Lee built his house opposite the
Fendall house.
Customs House Site.
The old house is Of brick, covered
with frame, building custom in those
days. The grounds adjoined those of
the old Christ Church rectory, where
Gen. and Mrs. Washington attended
services. Fendall had his law offices
in the southwest corner of the lot.
Up to 1870, the old Customs House
stood on this corner. It was built prior
to the Revolutionary War and was in
use up to 1912. It finally collapsed
in 1870.
The Fendall, or Downham. house
was regarded by members of the So
clety as a choice morsel to be shown
IN the tour this year, and now that it
has been literally snatched away lust
When programs were to have been
printed and final arrangements made
Tor the tour, sponsors are all a-flutter.
OF course, they can now show of
the old Brown house-if the Lewises
move out in time, or Mrs. Holland re-
tents, But neither Mr.. nor Mrs. Lewis
would comment on when they intend
to occupy their new home.
everybody even remotely connected
with the tour and the deal which made
Lewis the new owner of the Fendall
mouse maintained a frigid silence when
questioned today.
The feud between Lewis and Mrs,
Holland started several weeks ago
when Mrs. Holland refused to let her
name be used on the same list Of
homes to be shown with Lewis She
dlvulged that she. had previously re-
fused to sit at the captains table on
a boat because Lewis was there. She
OBJECTED. she declared, to Lewis prin-
clples and not to the man.
Just what effect the new deal is 90
Ing to have on the showing Of the old
homes by the society no one was will
ing to say. They maintained a SEEM
1ngly serene silence, but two of the
women admitted they are waiting for
the return of Mrs. Holland from Flor.
ida. They consider it her fight.
However, the tour Of homes SEIZED.
uled by the Alexandria Association on
April II will 60 on its undisturbed
way, IS homes being on the list to be
shown. They consider themselves for
tunate, one officer Of the association
said. that Lewis did not choose to buy
nome on their list. They did not
say what, if anything, would have
happened.
Mrs. Ward Brown, whose artistic
home at 1913 Prince street is on the
association tour and who is an officer
IN the association, commented:
I don't know what is going to hap
pen, but I'm glad our association is
not mixed up in it."
D'Annunzi0 "a Todav