page_title: Germantown White House
section_title: Construction and ownership
hierarchical_section_title: Germantown White House / Construction and ownership
caption_attribution_description: English: Rear of the Germantown White House, aka the Deshler-Morris House, on Germantown Ave. in Philadelphia, PA. Building served as residence of President Washington for several months in 1793 and 1794. On NRHP and part of Colonial Germantown Historic District (NHL). The rear of the house pictured here was built in the 1750s, the rest in the 1770s.
context_page_description: The Germantown White House is a historic mansion in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest surviving presidential residence, having twice housed George Washington during his presidency.
context_section_description: The house's alternate name comes from its first and last owners: David Deshler, who built it beginning in 1752; and Elliston P. Morris, who donated it to the National Park Service in 1948.
  Deshler, a merchant, bought a 2-acre (8,100 m²) lot from George and Anna Bringhurst in 1751–52, and constructed a four-room summer cottage. Twenty years later he built a 3-story, 9-room addition to the front, creating one of the most elegant homes in the region.
  Isaac Franks, a former colonel in the Continental Army, bought the house following Deshler's 1792 death. It was he who rented it to President Washington.
  Later, the house was sold to Elliston and John Perot, and in 1834 to Elliston's son-in-law, Samuel B. Morris. The Morris family lived in the house for over a hundred years, before its 1948 donation to the National Park Service.
caption: The rear of the house shows the earliest construction.
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