Blair House (Blair-Lee House; President's Guest House)
- Year
- 1824
- Style
- Federal
- City
- Washington, DC
- Collection
- federal washington
Blair House, the President's Guest House, sits diagonally across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House and hosts visiting heads of state and other presidential guests — earning it the nickname 'the world's most exclusive hotel.' It's a complex of four formerly separate 19th-century homes — Blair House, Lee House, Peter Parker House, and 704 Jackson Place — joined into one residence by renovations between the 1950s and 1980s. Built in 1824, the original Blair House briefly housed President Harry Truman and his family.
the building
Bigger than the White House residence. The combined complex has 14 guest bedrooms and totals 70,000 square feet, making it larger than the Executive Residence of the White House itself.
the style
The complex mixes Federal and Victorian architecture, reflecting its origin as four separate 19th-century townhouses built at different times and later stitched together into one residence.
More on Federalsignificance
Blair House is a DC Historic Landmark, a National Historic Landmark, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It's one of a handful of residences the United States government owns for the president and vice president, alongside the White House, Camp David, One Observatory Circle, the Presidential Townhouse, and Trowbridge House.
nearby
- Peter Parker House
- Renwick Gallery (Old Corcoran Gallery)
- American Peace Society house
- Decatur House
- Eisenhower Executive Office Building
- Winder Building