Decatur House
- Architect
- Benjamin Henry Latrobe
- Year
- 1818
- Style
- Federal
- City
- Washington, DC
- Collection
- federal washington
Decatur House was completed in 1818 at 748 Jackson Place for naval hero Stephen Decatur Jr. and his wife Susan, on the northwest corner of Lafayette Square a block from the White House. It is one of only three surviving houses designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe and one of the oldest surviving homes in Washington, D.C. After Decatur, the house passed successively to Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, and Edward Livingston.
the building
Backyard slave auctions. In 1836 new owners added an outbuilding partly used for slave quarters, and until the Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863, weekly auctions of enslaved people were held in the house's backyard, which is now used as a wedding venue.
Federal-style survivor. The house is one of only three remaining Latrobe-designed houses in the country, built in the Federal style facing Lafayette Square across from the White House.
the style
Federal, as executed by Latrobe in one of just three of his houses that survive nationwide.
More on Federalthe architect
Benjamin Henry Latrobe designed Decatur House; only two other houses he designed survive anywhere in the country.
significance
Decatur House is a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It now operates as a house museum and the National Center for White House History, run by the White House Historical Association.
nearby
- American Peace Society house
- Renwick Gallery (Old Corcoran Gallery)
- Blair House (Blair-Lee House; President's Guest House)
- Peter Parker House
- United States Chamber of Commerce
- Eisenhower Executive Office Building