Main Content

Historic Decatur House - Photo 3

Historic Decatur House - Photo 3

Credit
The White House Historical Association

Share

Related

Related
Next Historic Decatur House & Lafayette Square

You Might Also Like

  • Podcast

    Decatur House, the President’s Neighbor

    Featuring Katherine Malone-France, Vice President for Historic Sites at National Trust for Historic Preservation and Osborne Mackie, author and antiques & fine arts expert

  • Collection

    The Historic Stephen Decatur House

    In 1816, Commodore Stephen Decatur, Jr. and his wife Susan moved to the nascent capital city of Washington, D.C. With the prize money he received from his naval feats, Decatur purchased the entire city block on the northwest corner of today’s Lafayette Square. The Decaturs commissioned Benjamin Henry Latrobe, one of America’s first professional architects, to design and buil

  • Collection

    The Decatur House Slave Quarters

    In 1821-1822, Susan Decatur requested the construction of a service wing. The first floor featured a large kitchen, dining room, and laundry; while the second floor contained four rooms designated as living quarters. By 1827, the service wing was being used as an urban slave quarters. Henry Clay brought enslaved individuals to Decatur House, starting a trend that was solidified by

  • Collection

    The President's Neighborhood

    Since the White House was first occupied by President John Adams in 1800, influential people and organizations—or those who hoped to have influence—have bought property and built homes and offices along the streets surrounding the White House. For more than two centuries, this neighborhood has been the setting for political decision-making and diplomacy, social gatherings and protests, wartime expediencies and

  • Page

    About Our Authors

    Authors JAMES ARCHER ABBOTT is currently the executive director at Wright’s Ferry Mansion in Columbia, Pennsylvania. Abbott has served as director of Johns Hopkins University’s Evergreen Museum & Library, curator of American and European decorative arts for the Baltimore Museum of Art, and curator and educator for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Boscobel House and Gardens, and Hist

  • Page

    African Americans in Lafayette Square, 1795-1965

    The phrase "The Half Had Not Been Told Me" is taken from a Biblical reference Frederick Douglass used to describe the beauty of the new Freedman's Savings Bank and Trust building, once located on Lafayette Square. Douglass compared the experience of seeing the building for the first time to the way the Queen of Sheba, an African queen, felt upon

  • Page

    Book Awards

    2023 2023 Best Book Awards Furnishing the White House: The Decorative Arts Collection, Finalist, Art Life in the White House, Finalist, History: United States The Official White House Christmas Ornament: Collected Stories of a Holiday Tradition, Winner, Novelty & Gift Book Rocco at the White House Easter Egg Roll, Finalist, Children's Nonfiction Rocco at the White House Easter Egg Roll, Finalist, Children's

  • Page

    Recent Book Releases

    Official Residences Around the World by Abby Clouse-Radigan This survey of the official residences and offices of some fifty nations around the world represents nearly one thousand years of building and renovating. Who lives in these residences? What were their original purposes and how have they been adapted for modern use? How do they project and preserve each nation's heritage?

  • Page

    Rights and Reproductions Guidelines

    Thank you for your interest in the White House Historical Association's image collection. Before proceeding with your order, please review these license terms and fee schedule (collectively, the “License Terms”) Reproduction and/or use of any images from The White House Historical Association website are subject to these License Terms. I. Description of Collections White House Collection: The White House is t

  • Page

    1862 Emancipation Petitions

    The Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln “Civil War Washington” website has posted the 1862 Emancipation Petitions, providing widespread access to these primary documents. To meet the requirements of the D.C. Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862, slave owners filed a petition with the District government that stated their loyalty to the Union, listed the number and

  • Page

    About Our Authors

    JAMES ARCHER ABBOTT is the Executive Director of the Lewes Historical Society in Lewes, Delaware. His publications include JANSEN, JANSEN Furniture, and Baltimore’s Billy Baldwin. He is the co-author of Designing Camelot. (WHH #60) WILLIAM ADAIR is a frame historian, conservator, and gilder in Washington, D.C. (WHH #54) MATTHEW ALGEO is a writer and journalist. He is the author of se