XII.

STREETS, SQUARES, AND RESIDENCES.

President.

The only residence of the President of the United States, in Washington, is the Executive Mansion; but that is rather more uncomfortable than the average Washington house in midsummer, and all the later Presidents have been accustomed to seek a country home during hot weather. President Lincoln used to live in a cottage at the Soldiers' Home; President Grant spent one summer in the same house, and President Hayes occupied it every summer during his term.

The Secretary of State lives in his own house, Sixteenth and H streets; the Secretary of the Treasury at No. 1715 Massachusetts Avenue; and the Secretary of War at No. 1626 Rhode Island Avenue. The Attorney-General and the Postmaster-General are on the same block, at Nos. 1707 and 1774 respectively; the Secretary of the Navy lives at The Portland; the Secretary

Cabinet.

of the Interior at The Arlington; and the Secretary of Agriculture at 1022 Vermont Avenue.

Justices.

Mr. Chief Justice Fuller resides in his own house, No. 1801 F Street; Mr. Justice Harlan on Meridian Hill; Mr. Justice Gray at No. 1601 I Street; Mr. Justice Brewer at No. 1412 Massachusetts Avenue; Mr. Justice Brown at No. 1720 Sixteen h Street; Mr. Justice Shiras at No. 1515 Massachusetts Avenue; Mr. Justice White at No. 1717 Rhode Island Avenue; and Mr. Justice Peckham at No. 1217 Connecticut Avenue.

Lafayette
Square.

Lafayette Square was the name selected by Washington himself for the square in front of the Executive Mansion, for which he foresaw great possibilities; but it remained a bare parade ground, with an oval race course at its west end, until after the disastrous days of 1814. Then, when the White House had been rehabilitated, a beginning was made by President Jefferson, who cut off the ends down to the present limits (Madison Place and Jackson Place), and caused the trees to be planted. No doubt he had a voice in placing there, in 1816, St. John's-the quaint Episcopal church on the northern side-the first building on the square. Madison, certainly, was greatly interested in it, and it became a sort of court church, for all the Presidents attended worship there, as a matter of course, down to Lincoln's time, and President Arthur since. Its interior is very interesting.

Lafayette Square is now, perhaps, the pleasantest place to sit on a summer morning or evening among all the outdoor loitering places in this pleasant city. The trees have grown large, the shrubbery is handsome — particularly that pyramid of evergreens on the south side and great care is taken with the flower beds; and finally, you may see all the world pass by, for this park is surrounded more or less romotely by the homes of the most distinguished persons in Washington.

Two noteworthy statues belong to this park. One is the familiar equestrian statue of General and President Andrew Jackson, which is the work of Clark Mills, and probably pleases the populace more than any other statue in Washington, but is ridiculed by the critics, who liken it to a tin soldier balancing himself on a rocking-horse.

captured in Jackson's campaigns for material, set up a furnace, and made the first successful large bronze casting in America. Another interesting fact about this statue is that the center of gravity is so disposed, by throwing the weight into the hind quarters, that the horse stands poised upon its hind legs without any support or the aid of any rivets fastening it to the pedestal. This statue was erected in 1853, and unveiled on the thirty-eighth anniversary of the battle of New Orleans. Its cost was $50,000, part of which was paid by the Jackson Monument Associa

tion.

Lafayette
Memorial.

THE LAFAYETTE MEMORIAL IN LAFAYETTE SQUARE. The Memorial to Lafayette, in the southeast corner of the park, is a very different affair, and more in the nature of a monument erected by Congress to the services of the noble Frenchmen who lent us their assistance in the Revolutionary War. Upon a lofty and handsome pedestal stands a heroic bronze figure of the Marquis de Lafayette, in the uniform of a Continental general; while nearer the base, at the sides, are statues of Rochambeau and Duportail, of the French army, and D'Estaing and De Grasse of the navy. In front is "America" holding up a sword to Lafayette. This work is exceedingly vigorous and is after models by two eminent French sculptors, Falguière and Mercie. Total cost, $50,000.

Site of
Lafayette
Square

Starting at Pennsylvania Avenue and walking north on Madison Place (Fifteen-and-one-half Street), the new Lafayette Square Opera House is immediately encountered, standing upon a famous site. The tall, Opera House. brick house which it displaced was originally built by Commodore Rogers, but soon became the élite boarding-house of Washington, and numbered among its guests John Adams; John C. Calhoun, the fiery South Carolin

ian, while Monroe's Secretary of War and Jackson's Vice-President; and Henry Clay, when he was Adams' Secretary of State. Then it became the property of the Washington Club, and there assembled the rich and influential young men of the capital; Sickles and Key were both members, and the tragedy which associates their names took place in front of its door; later it became the residence of Secretary Seward, and there the deadly assault was made upon him by the assassin, Payne, at the time of the assassination of Lincoln in 1865. Its next distinguished occupant was James G. Blaine, Secretary of State in the Harrison administration, and there he died.

Tayloe
House.

Madison
House.

The fine yellow Colonial house next beyond, now occupied by Senator Hanna of Ohio, was formerly owned and occupied by Ogle Tayloe, son of John Tayloe, of the Octagon House and Mount Airy, Virginia, who was in the early diplomatic service, and one of the most accomplished Americans of his day. All of his rare and costly pictures, ornaments, and curios, including much that had belong d to Commodore Decatur, passed into possession of the Corcoran Art Gallery. A later occupant was Admiral Paulding, a son of John Paulding, one of the captors of André, who suppressed Walker's filibusters in Nicaragua. Lily Hammersley, now dowager Duchess of Marlborough, was born there, and some of the most brilliant entertainments ever given in Washington have been under its roof. One of its latest occupants was Vice-President Hobart. In the next two houses have lived Secretary Windom, Senator Fenton, and Robert G. Ingersoll. The gray, mastic-stuccoed house on the corner of H Street, now the Cosmos Clubhouse, has also known many celebrated characters. It was built about 1825, by Richard Cutts, the brother-in-law of the brilliant and versatile "Dolly" Madison, the wife of President Madison. It came into Mr. Madison's possession just before his death, some twenty years later, and thither his wife, no longer young, but still beautiful and witty, held court during her declining years. After Mrs. Madison's death this house was occupied by such tenants as AttorneyGeneral Crittenden ; Senator William C. Preston, afterward a Confederate Brigadier; and Commodore Wilkes, commander of the celebrated exploring expedition, who, in 1861, was required to take his quondam near neighbor, Slidell, from the British steamer Trent. He gave it up when the Civil War broke out, and was followed by Gen. George B. McClellan, who established here the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac. "A sight of frequent occurrence in those days," remarks Mrs. Lockwood, "was the General with his chief of staff, General Marcy, his aids, Count de Chartres and Comte de Paris, with Prince de Joinville at their side, in full military costume, mounted, ready to gallop off over the Potomac hills." Now its halls, remodeled and extended, are trodden

by the feet of men the most famous in the country as the investigators and developers of scientific truth.

Sumner
House.

Diagonally opposite the Cosmos Club, on H Street, is the square brick Sumner House, now a part of the Arlington. Where the main body of the Arlington Hotel now stands, there were three stately residences. One was occupied by William L. Marcy, Secretary of War under President Polk, and Secretary of State under President Pierce; and when he retired, he was succeeded in this and the adjoining house by the Secretary of State, under Buchanan, Lewis Cass, who, like Marcy, had previously held the war portfolio. In the third mansion dwelt Reverdy Johnson, minister to England; and there Presidents Buchanan and Harrison were entertained prior to their inauguration; and there Patti, Henry Irving, President Diaz of Mexico, King Kalakaua, Dom Pedro, and Boulanger found seclusion.

The great double mansion adjoining the Sumner and Pomeroy residence (united as the H-street front of the hotel) was built by Matthew St. Clair Clarke, long clerk of the House of Representatives, and afterward became the British Legation. Here lived Sir Bulwer Lytton, and his not less famous son and secretary, "Owen Meredith," now Lord Lytton, who is supposed to have written here his most celebrated poem,"Lucile." In later years the house was occupied by Lord Ashburton, who, with Daniel Webster, drafted the "Ashburton treaty," which defined our Canadian boundary. A still later occupant was John Nelson, Attorney-General in Tyler's Cabinet; and it is now the home of Mrs. Margaret Freeman. On the corner of Sixteenth Street is St. John's Episcopal Church; and, passing for the present other newer residences, another old landmark

Decatur
House.

calls for special attention. This is the Decatur House, facing the square on Seventeenth Street, at the corner of H, and easily recognized by its pyramidal slate roof. This, which was the first private residence on the square, was constructed at the close of the War of 1812, by Commander Stephen Decatur, the hero of Tripoli, and one of the most popular men of the time. He was the author of the maxim more patriotic than righteous-uttered as a toast: "My country-may she always be right; but my country, right or wrong!" His house was adorned with a multitude of trophies, gifts from foreign rulers, and rare knickknacks picked up in all parts of the world; and here he was brought to die after his duel with Commodore Barron in Bladensburg, in 1820. Afterward it was occupied by the Russian minister, and then by Henry Clay, when he was Secretary of State under John Quincy Adams. When Martin Van Buren succeeded him, he took this house and cut the window in the south wall, in order that he might see the signals displayed from the White House by "Old Hickory," whom he worshiped. He in turn gave up the house to his successor, Edward Livingston, a brother of Chancellor Robert Livingston of New York, whose wife was that Madame Moreau whose wedding in New Orleans was so romantic, and whose daughter Cora was the reigning belle of Jackson's administration, as this house was its social center. Two or three foreign ministers and several eminent citizens filled it in succession, and gave brilliant parties at which Presidents were guests, the most recent of whom was Gen. E. F. Beale, under whose grandfather Decatur had served as midshipman. General Beale died in 1894, and his widow now dwells in this storied old mansion.

Ewell
House.

A few rods south, next the alley, is another house famous in the past. It is one of the navy traditions that it was built by Doctor Ewell of that service, and occupied by three Secretaries of the Navy, one of whom was the talented Levi Woodbury; then it was the home of Senator Rives of Virginia, grandfather of the novelist, Amelie Rives (Chandler), and afterward of Gen. Daniel Sickles, whose tragedy is indelibly associated with this beautiful

EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF

MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE H. THOMAS.

Thomas Circle. J. Q. A. Ward.

locality. Vice-President Colfax was a still later tenant, and then the house passed into possession of the late Washington McLean, editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, whose daughter, wife of Admiral Ludlow, now resides there.

In this same row, No. 22, the former residence of William M. Marcy, Secretary of War, and afterward Secretary of State (1853-57), is now the home of Mrs. R. H. Townsend, daughter of the late William L. Scott of Erie, Pa. Gen. J. G. Parke, who commanded the Fifth Army Corps, and was Chief-of-staff to Burnside, resides in No. 16; and No. 6 is the residence of Mrs. Martha Reed, sister of the late Admiral Dahlgren. Lovers of trees will take notice of the row of Chinese gingko trees, which shade the sidewalk opposite this

Gingko
Trees.

row of houses, on the western margin of the square.

Franklin
Square.

Fourteenth Street will make a good starting-point for a ramble in search of the historic, picturesque, and personal features of Washington's streets and squares. It is the great north-and-south line of travel, extending far out into the high northern suburb of Mount Pleasant. Franklin Square, between Fourteenth and Thirteenth, and I and K streets, comprises about four acres, densely shaded, and is a favorite place of resort in summer evenings. In its center is the spring of excellent water from which the White House is supplied, and where there is a public drinking fountain. The Franklin schoolhouse overlooks the square on the east, and the Hamilton and Cochran hotels are just above it on Fourteenth Street. The church on the next corner (L Street) is All Souls (Unitarian), diagonally opposite which is the Portland. This brings you to Thomas Circle, in the center of which is J. Q. A. Ward's bronze statue of Gen. George H. Thomas, the "Rock of Chickamauga" and hero of Nashville, which was erected, with great ceremony, in 1879, by the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, which paid $40,000 for the design and the casting. The pedestal, which bears the bronze insignia of the Army of the Cumberland, and its ornamental lamps were furnished by Congress, at an expense of $25,000. The statue is itself nineteen feet in height, and is finely modeled; but many admirers of this sturdy, unassuming commander regret that in his representation there is not more man and less horse.

Thomas.

Northwest of Thomas Circle, in front of Lutheran Memorial Church, stands one of the most artistic statues in the city, erected by the Lutheran Church of America to Martin Luther. It was cast in Germany from the same molds as Rietschel's centerpiece of the celebrated memorial at Wurms,

Luther.

and expresses the indomitable attitude of the great reformer on all questions of conscience. This statue is eleven feet in height and cost $10,000.