Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House
Encyclopedia
The Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House is a Federal-style
house
located at 21 Madison Place NW in Washington, D.C.
, in the United States. The house is on the northeast corner of Madison Place NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, directly across the street from the White House
and the Treasury Building
. Built in 1828 by Benjamin Ogle Tayloe
, son of Colonel John Tayloe III
(who built the famous Octagon House), the house became a salon
for politically powerful people in the federal government.
Phoebe Tayloe inherited the house upon Tayloe's death in 1868. After she died in 1881, more than 200 marble statues, bronze sculptures, fine furniture, and paintings in the house were donated to the Corcoran Gallery of Art
. Phoebe Warren Tayloe's niece, Elizabeth H. Price, inherited the house in 1882 and later sold it to Senator Don Cameron
of Pennsylvania for $60,000 in 1887. In around 1896, the U.S. Senate passed legislation which would have made the building the official residence of the Vice President of the United States, but the House of Representatives
failed to act on the bill. Cameron leased the house to Vice President
Garret Hobart
from March 1897 until the fall of 1899 and the press and public nicknamed the house the "Historic Corner" and the "Cream White House" for the large number of politically important visitors and meetings held on the premises, with esteemed guests such as the International Boundary Commission and Prince Albert of Belgium
. Hobart's failing health led the family to leave the Tayloe House in the fall of 1899 and Cameron then leased the home to Republican
Senator
Mark Hanna
from January 1900 to 1902. Hana's important political discussions of the moment with William McKinley
and Theodore Roosevelt
over substantial breakfasts of corned beef hash
and pancake
s became famous.
The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage
leased the house in the fall of 1915, and made the building its headquarters for two years. The Cosmos Club
had considered purchasing the house from the Tayloe family in 1885 and eventually bought it in December 1917. They vacated it in 1952 to move to their new headquarters; the building was purchased by the U.S. government and used for offices. From October 1958 until November 1961, the house was the headquarters of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA).
Nearly razed to the ground in 1960 along with other buildings on Lafayette Square
, successful lobbying and support from the newly elected Kennedy administration
in 1961 led to the original proposals to gut the building being dropped. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy
was instrumental in persuading architect John Carl Warnecke
, a friend of her husband's, to create a design that would incorporate the new buildings with the old, based on the architectural theory of contextualism
. The Cutts-Madison House
, Cosmos Club building, and Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House were joined, and a courtyard built between them and the National Courts building. The building has remained part of the National Courts building complex ever since, and is now protected by the National Register of Historic Places
.
, his wife asked that they move into the city, where she was more comfortable. The house was constructed on Lots 10 and 11 in Square 221. At the time of the building's construction in 1828, the expanse of the city from 15th Street NW (one block east of the home) to 17th Street NW from the White House north to H Street NW was a flat field bare of trees and shrubs.
As originally built, the Federal-style
house had three stories
. The completed house had four or five parlors. It was built of unpainted, cream
-colored brick
. The entrance was level with the ground, with an oriel window
above it on the second floor and a Palladian window on the third floor above that. An oval portico
protected visitors arriving at the front doors.
, and refused to move into the home. Tayloe leased the building to Thomas Swann, Sr., a lawyer
(and the father of Thomas Swann, Jr.
, who became Governor of Maryland
in 1866). Swann vacated the home in November 1829, at which time Tayloe and his wife occupied it. The house was an important social gathering place for important Washingtonians in the four decades following its construction. In 1829, when Henry Clay
left the office of Secretary of State
, much of the furniture
in his home was acquired by the Tayloes and used to decorate their home. Tayloe House was the last house in Washington visited by President William Henry Harrison
before he death in 1841.
Julia Tayloe died on July 4, 1846. Tayloe married Phoebe Warren on April 17, 1849.
Tayloe House was the scene of a murder in 1859. Philip Barton Key II was the son of Francis Scott Key
and the nephew of Chief Justice
Roger B. Taney
. In the spring of 1858, Key began having an affair with Teresa Bagioli Sickles
, the wife of his friend Daniel Sickles
. On February 26, 1859, Sickles learned of the affair. The following day, he saw Key in Lafayette Square signalling to his wife. Sickles rushed out into the park, drew a single pistol, and shot the unarmed Key three times while the other man pleaded for his life. Key was taken into the nearby Tayloe House and died moments later. Key's spirit, eyewitnesses and authors claim, now haunts Lafayette Square and can be seen on dark nights near the spot where he was shot.
The Tayloe house became a noted meeting place for many of the leading political figures of early 19th-century American politics. Tayloe was one of the most influential and active members of the Whig Party
in the District of Columbia. Among the many frequent visitors to the house were Chief Justice
John Marshall
, Senator and Secretary of State
Henry Clay
, Senator and Secretary of State Daniel Webster
, Vice President and Secretary of State John C. Calhoun
, Senator Henry Clay
, Senator and Secretary of State Lewis Cass
, Secretary of State Edward Livingston
, Speaker of the House
and Senator Robert Charles Winthrop
, General Winfield Scott
, Senator and Secretary of State Edward Everett
, Senator and Secretary of State William H. Seward
, Associate Justice
Joseph Story
, and many others. Presidents John Quincy Adams
, Martin Van Buren
, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor
, and Millard Fillmore
also were frequent guests. Anthony Trollope
spent much of his free time being entertained by the Tayloes at their home during his visit to Washington, D.C., in the winter of 1862.
Benjamin Ogle Tayloe died on February 28, 1868, and Phoebe Tayloe inherited the house. After she died in 1881, more than 200 marble statues, bronze sculptures, items of fine furniture, and paintings in the house were donated to the Corcoran Gallery of Art
. Phoebe Warren Tayloe's niece, Elizabeth H. Price, inherited the house in 1882.
In April 1885, the Cosmos Club
considered purchasing the house from the Tayloe family. The influential club already owned most of the block north of the Tayloe House, and was expanding rapidly. It valued the home at $60,000 and the furnishings at an additional $5,000. The Cosmos Club declined to buy the home after an investigation found that the cost of upgrading the Tayloe property for its use would be too costly.
of Pennsylvania purchased the Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House for $60,000 in 1887, and resided there for a time. Cameron expanded the home significantly, almost entirely rebuilding its interior. After the renovation, the front entrance opened onto a square entrance hall. A fireplace adorned the hall. Large rooms on either side of the entrance hall were used as office space. A broad staircase led from the entrance hall up to the second floor, where there were four large rooms. The rooms opened on to one another, permitting the second floor to be opened up into something approaching a single large ballroom. The windows on the second floor reached to the floor. An iron veranda ran around the entire second floor. The home contained a total of 30 rooms after the renovation. Cameron did not, however, renovate the exterior, which remained much the same as it always had. Henry Adams
was a frequent guest of the Camerons, playing often with their daughter Martha to alleviate his bouts of depression.
About 1896, the U.S. Senate passed legislation which would have made the building the official residence of the Vice President of the United States, but the House of Representatives
failed to act on the bill.
Cameron leased the house to Vice President
Garret Hobart
from March 1897 until the fall of 1899. No other Vice President had ever lived so close to the White House, and this close proximity helped boost Hobart's access to and influence with the President so much that he was called "Assistant President" and is now considered one of the most powerful Vice Presidents in U.S. history. On several occasions Hobart entertained the entire U.S. Senate at the house, as well as President William McKinley
. The International Boundary Commission (which established much of the water and land boundary between the U.S. and Canada
) dined in the house at a formal dinner hosted by Hobart, as did Prince Albert of Belgium
. The press and public nicknamed the house the "Historic Corner" and the "Cream White House" (a reference to the color of its brickwork) for the large number of politically important visitors and meetings held on the premises during Hobart's tenure there. Hobart's failing health led the family to leave the Tayloe House in the fall of 1899 and return to New Jersey (where Hobart died on November 21).
Cameron then leased the home to Senator Mark Hanna from January 1900 to 1902. Hanna developed his plans for the re-election of President McKinley while resident in the house, plans which gave rise to the first "big money" presidential election in U.S. history. The home was also host to Hanna's famous large breakfasts of corned beef hash
and pancake
s, over which the most important political decisions of the moment would be made. These meals were so politically important that President Theodore Roosevelt
breakfasted with Hanna every Sunday. It was at just such a breakfast on March 10, 1902, that J. P. Morgan
asked Senator Hanna whether the United States government had any intention of filing an antitrust lawsuit against the recently formed Northern Securities Company
. Hanna said the government would not file suit against the trust. When the government filed suit hours later, Morgan accused Hanna of betraying him, and Hanna accused Roosevelt of betraying him. Hanna died in office on February 15, 1904.
The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage
leased the house in the fall of 1915, and made the building its headquarters for two years. The group rented the house in order to emphasize their importance in the fight for women's suffrage
.
The Cosmos Club vacated the Tayloe House in 1952 to move to new headquarters in the Townsend Mansion at 2121 Massachusetts Avenue NW, at which time the building was purchased by the U.S. government and used for offices. From October 1958 until November 1961, the headquarters of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) were in the Tayloe House. T. Keith Glennan
, the first Administrator of NASA, also had his office in the structure.
In 1960, the Tayloe House was nearly razed. The impetus for tearing down nearly all the historic structures on Lafayette Square began 60 years before. In 1900, the United States Congress
passed a resolution establishing the U.S. Senate Park Commission (also known as the "McMillan Commission" because it was chaired by Michigan
's republican
Senator
James McMillan). The Park Commission's charge was to reconcile competing visions for the development of Washington, D.C., and in particular the National Mall
and adjacent areas. The Park Commission's proposals, which came to be known as the "McMillan Plan
," proposed that all the buildings around Lafayette Square be razed and replaced by tall, Neoclassical
buildings clad in white marble for use by executive branch agencies. For a time, it appeared that the Cutts-Madison House would not survive. William Wilson Corcoran
's Corcoran House at 1615 H Street NW was torn down in 1922 and replaced with the Neoclassical United States Chamber of Commerce
headquarters. The Hay-Adams Houses were razed in 1927 by real estate developer Harry Wardman
, and the Hay–Adams Hotel built on the site. At nearby 1616 H Street NW, the Brookings Institute purchased the rear garden from the private owners of the Decatur House
and built an eight-story Modernist
office building there. Several million dollars were spent in the late 1950s on designs to raze all the buildings on the east side of Lafayette Square and replace them with a white, modernist office building which would house judicial offices.
Opposition to the demolition of the Tayloe House and other buildings on Lafayette Square began forming shortly after the plan to raze the structures was announced. Senators James E. Murray and Wayne Morse
, several members of the House of Representatives
, and citizens of the District of Columbia lobbied to defeat the legislation authorizing the demolition of the buildings. The American Institute of Architects
(AIA) devoted the February 1961 issue of its journal to a "Lament for Lafayette Square." The AIA established a committee to develop plans to save the buildings and adapt the new structures so that they incorporated the style and feel of the older homes.
The newly elected Kennedy administration
indicated on February 16, 1961, that it was anxious to retain the existing historic homes on Lafayette Square. In November, the Committee of 100 on the Federal City
(an influential group of city leaders) asked President Kennedy to save and restore all the remaining buildings on Lafayette Square. In February 1962, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy
lobbied General Services Administration
(GSA) director Bernard L. Boutin to stop the demolition and adopt a different design plan. "The wreckers haven't started yet, and until they do it can be saved," she wrote. Mrs. Kennedy enlisted architect John Carl Warnecke
, a friend of her husband's who happened to be in town that weekend, to create a design which would incorporate the new buildings with the old. Warnecke conceived the basic design over that weekend, and worked closely with Mrs. Kennedy over the next few months to formalize the design proposal. The design was presented to the public and the Commission of Fine Arts
(which had approval over any plan) in October 1962, and with Mrs. Kennedy's backing the Commission adopted the revised Warnecke design proposal.
Warnecke's design for the square was based on the architectural theory of contextualism
. Not only did Warnecke's design build the first modern buildings on Lafayette Square, but they were the first buildings in the city to utilize contextualism as a design philosophy. Warnecke's design for the Markey National Courts Building was to create tall, flat structures in red brick which would serve as relatively unobtrusive backgrounds to the lighter-colored residential homes like the Cutts-Madison House. The Cutts-Madison House
, Cosmos Club building, and Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House were joined, and a courtyard built between them and the National Courts building.
The Tayloe House has remained part of the National Courts building complex ever since.
Federal architecture
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...
house
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
located at 21 Madison Place NW in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, in the United States. The house is on the northeast corner of Madison Place NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, directly across the street from the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and the Treasury Building
Treasury Building (Washington, D.C.)
The Treasury Building in Washington, D.C. is a National Historic Landmark building which is the headquarters of the United States Department of the Treasury....
. Built in 1828 by Benjamin Ogle Tayloe
Benjamin Ogle Tayloe
Benjamin Ogle Tayloe was an American businessman, bon vivant, diplomat, and influential political activist in Washington, D.C. during the first half of the 19th century. Although he never held elective office, he was a prominent Whig and influential in presidential electoral politics in the 1840s...
, son of Colonel John Tayloe III
John Tayloe III
Hon. John Tayloe III , of Richmond County, Virginia, was prominent in business, government, and social circles. A highly successful plantation owner, he took an active part in public affairs and was considered the "Wealthiest man of his day". A military officer, he also served in the Virginia...
(who built the famous Octagon House), the house became a salon
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
for politically powerful people in the federal government.
Phoebe Tayloe inherited the house upon Tayloe's death in 1868. After she died in 1881, more than 200 marble statues, bronze sculptures, fine furniture, and paintings in the house were donated to the Corcoran Gallery of Art
Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art is the largest privately supported cultural institution in Washington, DC. The museum's main focus is American art. The permanent collection includes works by Rembrandt, Eugène Delacroix, Edgar Degas, Thomas Gainsborough, John Singer Sargent, Claude Monet, Pablo...
. Phoebe Warren Tayloe's niece, Elizabeth H. Price, inherited the house in 1882 and later sold it to Senator Don Cameron
J. Donald Cameron
James Donald Cameron was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as Secretary of War under Ulysses S. Grant and in the United States Senate for twenty years....
of Pennsylvania for $60,000 in 1887. In around 1896, the U.S. Senate passed legislation which would have made the building the official residence of the Vice President of the United States, but the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
failed to act on the bill. Cameron leased the house to Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Garret Hobart
Garret Hobart
Garret Augustus Hobart was the 24th Vice President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1897 until his death. He was the sixth American vice president to die in office....
from March 1897 until the fall of 1899 and the press and public nicknamed the house the "Historic Corner" and the "Cream White House" for the large number of politically important visitors and meetings held on the premises, with esteemed guests such as the International Boundary Commission and Prince Albert of Belgium
Albert I of Belgium
Albert I reigned as King of the Belgians from 1909 until 1934.-Early life:Born Albert Léopold Clément Marie Meinrad in Brussels, he was the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and his wife, Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen...
. Hobart's failing health led the family to leave the Tayloe House in the fall of 1899 and Cameron then leased the home to Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Mark Hanna
Mark Hanna
Marcus Alonzo "Mark" Hanna was a United States Senator from Ohio and the friend and political manager of President William McKinley...
from January 1900 to 1902. Hana's important political discussions of the moment with William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
and Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
over substantial breakfasts of corned beef hash
Hash (food)
Hash is a dish consisting of meat, potatoes, and spices, that are mashed together into a smooth, creamy consistency, and then cooked either alone or with other ingredients such as onions....
and pancake
Pancake
A pancake is a thin, flat, round cake prepared from a batter, and cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan. Most pancakes are quick breads; some use a yeast-raised or fermented batter. Most pancakes are cooked one side on a griddle and flipped partway through to cook the other side...
s became famous.
The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage
National Woman's Party
The National Woman's Party , was a women's organization founded by Alice Paul in 1915 that fought for women's rights during the early 20th century in the United States, particularly for the right to vote on the same terms as men...
leased the house in the fall of 1915, and made the building its headquarters for two years. The Cosmos Club
Cosmos Club
The Cosmos Club is a private social club in Washington, D.C., founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878. In addition to Powell, original members included Clarence Edward Dutton, Henry Smith Pritchett, William Harkness, and John Shaw Billings. Among its stated goals is "The advancement of its members in...
had considered purchasing the house from the Tayloe family in 1885 and eventually bought it in December 1917. They vacated it in 1952 to move to their new headquarters; the building was purchased by the U.S. government and used for offices. From October 1958 until November 1961, the house was the headquarters of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
(NASA).
Nearly razed to the ground in 1960 along with other buildings on Lafayette Square
Lafayette Square
Lafayette Square may refer to a place in the United States:*Lafayette Square, Los Angeles, California, a neighborhood in the mid-city section of L.A.*Lafayette Square, New Orleans, Louisiana, in the Central Business District*Lafayette Square, St...
, successful lobbying and support from the newly elected Kennedy administration
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
in 1961 led to the original proposals to gut the building being dropped. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...
was instrumental in persuading architect John Carl Warnecke
John Carl Warnecke
John Carl Warnecke was an architect based in San Francisco, California, who designed numerous notable monuments and structures in the Modernist, Bauhaus, and other similar styles. He was an early proponent of contextual architecture. Among his more notable buildings and projects are the Hawaii...
, a friend of her husband's, to create a design that would incorporate the new buildings with the old, based on the architectural theory of contextualism
Contextualism
Contextualism describes a collection of views in philosophy which emphasize the context in which an action, utterance, or expression occurs, and argues that, in some important respect, the action, utterance, or expression can only be understood relative to that context...
. The Cutts-Madison House
Cutts-Madison House
The Cutts-Madison House is an American colonial-style historic home located at 721 Madison Place NW in Washington, D.C...
, Cosmos Club building, and Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House were joined, and a courtyard built between them and the National Courts building. The building has remained part of the National Courts building complex ever since, and is now protected by the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Construction
Benjamin Ogle Tayloe married Julia Maria Dickinson on November 8, 1824. Although Tayloe preferred to live at Windsor, his estate in King George County, VirginiaKing George County, Virginia
As of the census of 2010, there were 23,584 people, 9,411 households, and 4,525 families residing in the county. The population density was 93 people per square mile . There were 6,820 housing units at an average density of 38 per square mile...
, his wife asked that they move into the city, where she was more comfortable. The house was constructed on Lots 10 and 11 in Square 221. At the time of the building's construction in 1828, the expanse of the city from 15th Street NW (one block east of the home) to 17th Street NW from the White House north to H Street NW was a flat field bare of trees and shrubs.
As originally built, the Federal-style
Federal architecture
Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...
house had three stories
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
. The completed house had four or five parlors. It was built of unpainted, cream
Cream (colour)
Cream is the colour of the cream produced by cattle grazing on natural pasture with plants rich in yellow carotenoid pigments, some of which are incorporated into the cream, to give a yellow tone to white. Cream is the pastel colour of yellow, much like as pink is to red. Cream is used as a skin...
-colored brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
. The entrance was level with the ground, with an oriel window
Oriel window
Oriel windows are a form of bay window commonly found in Gothic architecture, which project from the main wall of the building but do not reach to the ground. Corbels or brackets are often used to support this kind of window. They are seen in combination with the Tudor arch. This type of window was...
above it on the second floor and a Palladian window on the third floor above that. An oval portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
protected visitors arriving at the front doors.
Tayloe years
The house was completed in 1828, but not immediately occupied. Tayloe had a strong political disagreement with the newly elected President, Andrew JacksonAndrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
, and refused to move into the home. Tayloe leased the building to Thomas Swann, Sr., a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
(and the father of Thomas Swann, Jr.
Thomas Swann
Thomas Swann was an American politician. Initially a Know-Nothing, and later a Democrat, he served as mayor of Baltimore , as the 33rd Governor of Maryland , and as U.S...
, who became Governor of Maryland
Governor of Maryland
The Governor of Maryland heads the executive branch of the government of Maryland, and he is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state, and he has a broad range of appointive powers in both the State and local governments,...
in 1866). Swann vacated the home in November 1829, at which time Tayloe and his wife occupied it. The house was an important social gathering place for important Washingtonians in the four decades following its construction. In 1829, when Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
left the office of Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
, much of the furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
in his home was acquired by the Tayloes and used to decorate their home. Tayloe House was the last house in Washington visited by President William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison was the ninth President of the United States , an American military officer and politician, and the first president to die in office. He was 68 years, 23 days old when elected, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the...
before he death in 1841.
Julia Tayloe died on July 4, 1846. Tayloe married Phoebe Warren on April 17, 1849.
Tayloe House was the scene of a murder in 1859. Philip Barton Key II was the son of Francis Scott Key
Francis Scott Key
Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet, from Georgetown, who wrote the lyrics to the United States' national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner".-Life:...
and the nephew of Chief Justice
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
Roger B. Taney
Roger B. Taney
Roger Brooke Taney was the fifth Chief Justice of the United States, holding that office from 1836 until his death in 1864. He was the first Roman Catholic to hold that office or sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. He was also the eleventh United States Attorney General. He is most...
. In the spring of 1858, Key began having an affair with Teresa Bagioli Sickles
Teresa Bagioli Sickles
Teresa Bagioli Sickles was the wife of Democratic New York State Assemblyman, U.S. Representative, and later U.S. Army Major General Daniel E. Sickles. She gained notoriety in 1859, when her husband stood trial for the murder of her lover, Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key...
, the wife of his friend Daniel Sickles
Daniel Sickles
Daniel Edgar Sickles was a colorful and controversial American politician, Union general in the American Civil War, and diplomat....
. On February 26, 1859, Sickles learned of the affair. The following day, he saw Key in Lafayette Square signalling to his wife. Sickles rushed out into the park, drew a single pistol, and shot the unarmed Key three times while the other man pleaded for his life. Key was taken into the nearby Tayloe House and died moments later. Key's spirit, eyewitnesses and authors claim, now haunts Lafayette Square and can be seen on dark nights near the spot where he was shot.
The Tayloe house became a noted meeting place for many of the leading political figures of early 19th-century American politics. Tayloe was one of the most influential and active members of the Whig Party
Whig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
in the District of Columbia. Among the many frequent visitors to the house were Chief Justice
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
John Marshall
John Marshall
John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches...
, Senator and Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
, Senator and Secretary of State Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...
, Vice President and Secretary of State John C. Calhoun
John C. Calhoun
John Caldwell Calhoun was a leading politician and political theorist from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun eloquently spoke out on every issue of his day, but often changed positions. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent...
, Senator Henry Clay
Henry Clay
Henry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
, Senator and Secretary of State Lewis Cass
Lewis Cass
Lewis Cass was an American military officer and politician. During his long political career, Cass served as a governor of the Michigan Territory, an American ambassador, a U.S. Senator representing Michigan, and co-founder as well as first Masonic Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan...
, Secretary of State Edward Livingston
Edward Livingston
Edward Livingston was an American jurist and statesman. He was an influential figure in the drafting of the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825, a civil code based largely on the Napoleonic Code. He represented both New York, and later Louisiana in Congress and he served as the U.S...
, Speaker of the House
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
and Senator Robert Charles Winthrop
Robert Charles Winthrop
Robert Charles Winthrop was an American lawyer and philanthropist and one time Speaker of the United States House of Representatives....
, General Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott
Winfield Scott was a United States Army general, and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852....
, Senator and Secretary of State Edward Everett
Edward Everett
Edward Everett was an American politician and educator from Massachusetts. Everett, a Whig, served as U.S. Representative, and U.S. Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and United States Secretary of State...
, Senator and Secretary of State William H. Seward
William H. Seward
William Henry Seward, Sr. was the 12th Governor of New York, United States Senator and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson...
, Associate Justice
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
Joseph Story
Joseph Story
Joseph Story was an American lawyer and jurist who served on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1811 to 1845. He is most remembered today for his opinions in Martin v. Hunter's Lessee and The Amistad, along with his magisterial Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, first...
, and many others. Presidents John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
, Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren
Martin Van Buren was the eighth President of the United States . Before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson ....
, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...
, and Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore was the 13th President of the United States and the last member of the Whig Party to hold the office of president...
also were frequent guests. Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
spent much of his free time being entertained by the Tayloes at their home during his visit to Washington, D.C., in the winter of 1862.
Benjamin Ogle Tayloe died on February 28, 1868, and Phoebe Tayloe inherited the house. After she died in 1881, more than 200 marble statues, bronze sculptures, items of fine furniture, and paintings in the house were donated to the Corcoran Gallery of Art
Corcoran Gallery of Art
The Corcoran Gallery of Art is the largest privately supported cultural institution in Washington, DC. The museum's main focus is American art. The permanent collection includes works by Rembrandt, Eugène Delacroix, Edgar Degas, Thomas Gainsborough, John Singer Sargent, Claude Monet, Pablo...
. Phoebe Warren Tayloe's niece, Elizabeth H. Price, inherited the house in 1882.
In April 1885, the Cosmos Club
Cosmos Club
The Cosmos Club is a private social club in Washington, D.C., founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878. In addition to Powell, original members included Clarence Edward Dutton, Henry Smith Pritchett, William Harkness, and John Shaw Billings. Among its stated goals is "The advancement of its members in...
considered purchasing the house from the Tayloe family. The influential club already owned most of the block north of the Tayloe House, and was expanding rapidly. It valued the home at $60,000 and the furnishings at an additional $5,000. The Cosmos Club declined to buy the home after an investigation found that the cost of upgrading the Tayloe property for its use would be too costly.
Cameron years
Senator Don CameronJ. Donald Cameron
James Donald Cameron was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as Secretary of War under Ulysses S. Grant and in the United States Senate for twenty years....
of Pennsylvania purchased the Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House for $60,000 in 1887, and resided there for a time. Cameron expanded the home significantly, almost entirely rebuilding its interior. After the renovation, the front entrance opened onto a square entrance hall. A fireplace adorned the hall. Large rooms on either side of the entrance hall were used as office space. A broad staircase led from the entrance hall up to the second floor, where there were four large rooms. The rooms opened on to one another, permitting the second floor to be opened up into something approaching a single large ballroom. The windows on the second floor reached to the floor. An iron veranda ran around the entire second floor. The home contained a total of 30 rooms after the renovation. Cameron did not, however, renovate the exterior, which remained much the same as it always had. Henry Adams
Henry Adams
Henry Brooks Adams was an American journalist, historian, academic and novelist. He is best known for his autobiographical book, The Education of Henry Adams. He was a member of the Adams political family.- Early life :He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Charles Francis Adams Sr...
was a frequent guest of the Camerons, playing often with their daughter Martha to alleviate his bouts of depression.
About 1896, the U.S. Senate passed legislation which would have made the building the official residence of the Vice President of the United States, but the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
failed to act on the bill.
Cameron leased the house to Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Garret Hobart
Garret Hobart
Garret Augustus Hobart was the 24th Vice President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1897 until his death. He was the sixth American vice president to die in office....
from March 1897 until the fall of 1899. No other Vice President had ever lived so close to the White House, and this close proximity helped boost Hobart's access to and influence with the President so much that he was called "Assistant President" and is now considered one of the most powerful Vice Presidents in U.S. history. On several occasions Hobart entertained the entire U.S. Senate at the house, as well as President William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
. The International Boundary Commission (which established much of the water and land boundary between the U.S. and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
) dined in the house at a formal dinner hosted by Hobart, as did Prince Albert of Belgium
Albert I of Belgium
Albert I reigned as King of the Belgians from 1909 until 1934.-Early life:Born Albert Léopold Clément Marie Meinrad in Brussels, he was the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and his wife, Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen...
. The press and public nicknamed the house the "Historic Corner" and the "Cream White House" (a reference to the color of its brickwork) for the large number of politically important visitors and meetings held on the premises during Hobart's tenure there. Hobart's failing health led the family to leave the Tayloe House in the fall of 1899 and return to New Jersey (where Hobart died on November 21).
Cameron then leased the home to Senator Mark Hanna from January 1900 to 1902. Hanna developed his plans for the re-election of President McKinley while resident in the house, plans which gave rise to the first "big money" presidential election in U.S. history. The home was also host to Hanna's famous large breakfasts of corned beef hash
Hash (food)
Hash is a dish consisting of meat, potatoes, and spices, that are mashed together into a smooth, creamy consistency, and then cooked either alone or with other ingredients such as onions....
and pancake
Pancake
A pancake is a thin, flat, round cake prepared from a batter, and cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan. Most pancakes are quick breads; some use a yeast-raised or fermented batter. Most pancakes are cooked one side on a griddle and flipped partway through to cook the other side...
s, over which the most important political decisions of the moment would be made. These meals were so politically important that President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
breakfasted with Hanna every Sunday. It was at just such a breakfast on March 10, 1902, that J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
asked Senator Hanna whether the United States government had any intention of filing an antitrust lawsuit against the recently formed Northern Securities Company
Northern Securities Company
The Northern Securities Company was an important United States railroad trust formed in 1902 by E. H. Harriman, James J. Hill, J.P. Morgan, J. D. Rockefeller, and their associates. The company controlled the Northern Pacific Railway, Great Northern Railway, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad,...
. Hanna said the government would not file suit against the trust. When the government filed suit hours later, Morgan accused Hanna of betraying him, and Hanna accused Roosevelt of betraying him. Hanna died in office on February 15, 1904.
The Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage
National Woman's Party
The National Woman's Party , was a women's organization founded by Alice Paul in 1915 that fought for women's rights during the early 20th century in the United States, particularly for the right to vote on the same terms as men...
leased the house in the fall of 1915, and made the building its headquarters for two years. The group rented the house in order to emphasize their importance in the fight for women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
.
Cosmos Club and federal government ownership
The Cosmos Club finally purchased the house on December 1, 1917. It used the home as its women's annex, and converted the stables into a meeting hall.The Cosmos Club vacated the Tayloe House in 1952 to move to new headquarters in the Townsend Mansion at 2121 Massachusetts Avenue NW, at which time the building was purchased by the U.S. government and used for offices. From October 1958 until November 1961, the headquarters of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
(NASA) were in the Tayloe House. T. Keith Glennan
T. Keith Glennan
Thomas Keith Glennan was the first Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, serving from August 19, 1958 to January 20, 1961.-Early career:...
, the first Administrator of NASA, also had his office in the structure.
In 1960, the Tayloe House was nearly razed. The impetus for tearing down nearly all the historic structures on Lafayette Square began 60 years before. In 1900, the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
passed a resolution establishing the U.S. Senate Park Commission (also known as the "McMillan Commission" because it was chaired by Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
's republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
James McMillan). The Park Commission's charge was to reconcile competing visions for the development of Washington, D.C., and in particular the National Mall
National Mall
The National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service , and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...
and adjacent areas. The Park Commission's proposals, which came to be known as the "McMillan Plan
McMillan Plan
The McMillan Plan was an architectural plan for the development of Washington, D.C., formulated in 1902 by the Senate Park Improvement Commission of the District of Columbia which had been formed by Congress the previous year.-United States Park Commission:...
," proposed that all the buildings around Lafayette Square be razed and replaced by tall, Neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
buildings clad in white marble for use by executive branch agencies. For a time, it appeared that the Cutts-Madison House would not survive. William Wilson Corcoran
William Wilson Corcoran
William Wilson Corcoran was an American banker, philanthropist, and art collector.-Early life:Corcoran was born in Georgetown in the District of Columbia, the son of a well-to-do father whom the electors of Georgetown twice chose as mayor. His father, Thomas Corcoran, came to Georgetown in 1788...
's Corcoran House at 1615 H Street NW was torn down in 1922 and replaced with the Neoclassical United States Chamber of Commerce
United States Chamber of Commerce
The United States Chamber of Commerce is an American lobbying group representing the interests of many businesses and trade associations. It is not an agency of the United States government....
headquarters. The Hay-Adams Houses were razed in 1927 by real estate developer Harry Wardman
Harry Wardman
Harry Wardman was a real estate developer in Washington, D.C. during the early 20th century whose developments included landmark hotels, luxury apartment buildings, and many rowhouses.-Personal life:...
, and the Hay–Adams Hotel built on the site. At nearby 1616 H Street NW, the Brookings Institute purchased the rear garden from the private owners of the Decatur House
Decatur House
Decatur House is a historic home in Washington, D.C., named after its first owner and occupant Stephen Decatur. The house is located northwest of Lafayette Square, at the southwest corner of Jackson Place and H Street, near the White House...
and built an eight-story Modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
office building there. Several million dollars were spent in the late 1950s on designs to raze all the buildings on the east side of Lafayette Square and replace them with a white, modernist office building which would house judicial offices.
Opposition to the demolition of the Tayloe House and other buildings on Lafayette Square began forming shortly after the plan to raze the structures was announced. Senators James E. Murray and Wayne Morse
Wayne Morse
Wayne Lyman Morse was a politician and attorney from Oregon, United States, known for his proclivity for opposing his parties' leadership, and specifically for his opposition to the Vietnam War on constitutional grounds....
, several members of the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, and citizens of the District of Columbia lobbied to defeat the legislation authorizing the demolition of the buildings. The American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
(AIA) devoted the February 1961 issue of its journal to a "Lament for Lafayette Square." The AIA established a committee to develop plans to save the buildings and adapt the new structures so that they incorporated the style and feel of the older homes.
The newly elected Kennedy administration
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
indicated on February 16, 1961, that it was anxious to retain the existing historic homes on Lafayette Square. In November, the Committee of 100 on the Federal City
Committee of 100 on the Federal City
The Committee of 100 on the Federal City, locally referred to as the Committee of 100, is a private, nonprofit membership organization which promotes "responsible" land use and planning in Washington, D.C. It is one of the oldest citizen-based urban planning groups in the United States, and a...
(an influential group of city leaders) asked President Kennedy to save and restore all the remaining buildings on Lafayette Square. In February 1962, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier "Jackie" Kennedy Onassis was the wife of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and served as First Lady of the United States during his presidency from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Five years later she married Greek shipping magnate Aristotle...
lobbied General Services Administration
General Services Administration
The General Services Administration is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S...
(GSA) director Bernard L. Boutin to stop the demolition and adopt a different design plan. "The wreckers haven't started yet, and until they do it can be saved," she wrote. Mrs. Kennedy enlisted architect John Carl Warnecke
John Carl Warnecke
John Carl Warnecke was an architect based in San Francisco, California, who designed numerous notable monuments and structures in the Modernist, Bauhaus, and other similar styles. He was an early proponent of contextual architecture. Among his more notable buildings and projects are the Hawaii...
, a friend of her husband's who happened to be in town that weekend, to create a design which would incorporate the new buildings with the old. Warnecke conceived the basic design over that weekend, and worked closely with Mrs. Kennedy over the next few months to formalize the design proposal. The design was presented to the public and the Commission of Fine Arts
United States Commission of Fine Arts
The United States Commission of Fine Arts , established in 1910 by an act of Congress, is an advisory agency of the Federal government.The CFA is mandated to review and provide advice on "matters of design and aesthetics", involving federal projects and planning in Washington, D.C...
(which had approval over any plan) in October 1962, and with Mrs. Kennedy's backing the Commission adopted the revised Warnecke design proposal.
Warnecke's design for the square was based on the architectural theory of contextualism
Contextualism
Contextualism describes a collection of views in philosophy which emphasize the context in which an action, utterance, or expression occurs, and argues that, in some important respect, the action, utterance, or expression can only be understood relative to that context...
. Not only did Warnecke's design build the first modern buildings on Lafayette Square, but they were the first buildings in the city to utilize contextualism as a design philosophy. Warnecke's design for the Markey National Courts Building was to create tall, flat structures in red brick which would serve as relatively unobtrusive backgrounds to the lighter-colored residential homes like the Cutts-Madison House. The Cutts-Madison House
Cutts-Madison House
The Cutts-Madison House is an American colonial-style historic home located at 721 Madison Place NW in Washington, D.C...
, Cosmos Club building, and Benjamin Ogle Tayloe House were joined, and a courtyard built between them and the National Courts building.
The Tayloe House has remained part of the National Courts building complex ever since.
See also
- Mount Airy, Richmond County, VirginiaMount Airy, Richmond County, VirginiaMount Airy, near Warsaw in Richmond County, Virginia, built in 1758-62, is a mid-Georgian plantation house, the first built in the manner of a neo-Palladian villa. It was constructed for Colonel John Tayloe II, perhaps the richest Virginia planter of his generation...
, the country estate house built in 1762 by Col. John Tayloe IIJohn Tayloe IIColonel John Tayloe II was arguably the richest plantation owner in Virginia for his generation. He served in public office including the Virginia Council of State...