Evening star., 1948-11-14
Historic Houses to Be Joined
7oServe as Home for 7rumons

7e Tor FuH7OHS
to intimates that his bath tub might
fall through the floor. His daugh-
ter, Margaret, found that the floor
of her music room was so uneven
that all the legs of her piano would
not touch the floor at the same
time.
Use of the Blair and Lee-Houses
as a temporary home will make
President Truman more familiar
figure on Washington streets than
he has been since he lived in the
Blair House for a few weeks i'm
mediately after he assumed the
Presidency in 1945. He is expected
to walk across Pennsylvania avenue
to his Office in the West Wing OF
the White House each morning and
back to the Blair House each even
ing, with probably many other round
trips for lunch.
The West and East Wings of the
White House, used for Office space.
are of much more modern construc-
ton than the residential part OF
the Executive Mansion and will con-
tinue in use. while the repairs to
the older part of the house are be-
ing made.
The Presidents temporary home
has been the center of history In
the making for much of the Nations
life.
Presidents Visited Blair House.
The Blair House was built in
1924 and during its hey day as q
center of Capital social and political
life had four Presidents-Jackson.
Van Buren, Lincoln and Taft-aS
familiar friends and visitors. Six
Cabinet members lived in the house
at one time or another in the mid
130Os.
The house was built by Or. Joseph
Lowell, first Surgeon General of tho
Army. Francis Preston Blair bought
the house in 1886 for $500, and
shortly thereafter it began to be
known as the Blair House.
Originally a two-story structure.
the Blairs added a third and later
a fourth floor to it.
The adjoining Blair-Lee House. q
three-story structure, was built i'm
mediately before the Civil War for
Elizabeth Blair Lee, the only daugh-
ter of Francis Preston Blair. She
was married to Samuel Phillips
Lee later a rear admiral in the
United States Navy. He fought for
the Union in the Civil War, while
his kinsman, Robert E. Lee, led the
Confederate forces after historic
decision said to have been reached
in the Blair House.
Sherman Married There.
A book prepared by the State
Department, relating the history Of
the Blair House, says that "the
story has often been told of Robert
E. Lees interview in this house with
the elder Blair regarding his loyalty
to the United States as it affected
his fitness and his willingness to
command the Union armies and of
his final decision that his duty and
loyalty lay with the Commonwealth
of Virginia"
Another famous Civil War char
acter, Gen. William Tecumseh Sher-
man, figures in the history of Blair
House He was married there in
1850 to Ellen Ewing, daughter Of
Interior Secretary Thomas Ewing
who then was renting the house
from the Blair family.
Francis Preston Blair had moved
to Silver Spring, Md, a decade pre-
viously, and the house was occupied
by a number of prominent tenants
until his son, Montgomery Blair, re-
turned to the family home in 1852.
Until some time after the Civil
War, the Blair House was No. 8
Presidents Square and the Blair
Lee House was No. Presidents
Square.
Montgomery Blair was Postmaster
General in President Lincoln's Cab
met and for several years the Blair
House was a center for activities on
the dominant group in the political
life of the country. It's Importance
as a political center declined after
Lincoln's assassination.
Gist Blair, the youngest son OF
Montgomery Blair-the last mem
Der of the family to occupy the
in 1910.
The Federal Government bought
the Blair-Lee House in 1941, using
it for time as an Office building.
In 1943 it was reconditioned by the
State Department as a guest home
for distinguished foreign visitors.
The Government bought the Blair
House in 1912 for similar purposes.