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Edited on Sat Jan-10-09 02:18 PM by WillieW
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Blair House is the official state guest house for the President of the United States. It is located at 1651-1653 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., opposite the Old Executive Office Building of the White House, off the corner of Lafayette Park.<1[br />
1 History
2 2009 inaugural controversy
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
History
The main house was built in 1824 of buff colored limestone and is a late example of the Federal Style. The house was built as a private home for Joseph Lovell, first Surgeon General of the United States. In 1836 it was acquired by Francis Preston Blair, a newspaper publisher and influential advisor to President Andrew Jackson. It would remain in his family for the following century.<1><3>
In 1859, Blair built a house for his daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth Blair Lee and Captain Samuel Phillips Lee, at 1653 Pennsylvania Avenue, next door to Blair House at 1651 Pennsylvania Avenue. Captain Lee (later an admiral) was a grandson of Richard Henry Lee and third cousin of Robert E. Lee. The houses have since been combined, and the complex is sometimes referred to as the Blair-Lee House, though Blair House is the official name today.<1><3>
In 1942 the house was purchased by the U.S. government and has since been the official residence for guests of the U.S. president. Blair House is primarily used to house foreign heads of state visiting the president, but it has also been used for domestic guests. Several presidents-elect of the United States have spent the night before their inauguration in the house. President George W. Bush arranged for former First Lady Nancy Reagan to stay at the house in 2004 and receive guests there following the state funeral for her husband, former President Ronald Reagan; the same was done for former First Lady Betty Ford in 2006 following the state funeral of her husband, former president Gerald Ford.<1><2>
During much of the presidency of Harry Truman, it served as the residence of the president of the United States, while the interior of the White House, which had been found to have serious structural faults, was completely gutted and rebuilt.<1> The east and west wings of the White House, constructed in 1942 and 1902, respectively, remained in operation while the main structure was rebuilt; President Truman commuted between Blair House and the West Wing each day. On November 1, 1950, Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate President Truman in Blair House. The assassination was foiled, in part by White House Policeman Leslie Coffelt, who killed Torresola but was himself killed. A plaque at Blair House commemorates Coffelt's heroism and sacrifice.
Blair House is now a complex of four connected townhouses, including the original Blair House. During the 1980s, Blair House underwent significant restorations, with a new wing added on the north. An adjacent townhouse, Trowbridge House, is being renovated to serve as an official guest residence for former U.S. presidents while in the capital. The combined square footage of the four adjacent townhouses exceeds 70,000 feet, making it larger than the White House.<2>
2009 inaugural controversy
President-Elect Barack Obama and his family asked to use Blair House from January 04, 2009 until the inauguration ceremony planned for January 20, 2009 so their daughters could attend school when it resumed in January.<4> However, the Washington Post reported that the building was already booked "by White House officials, the State Department and its Office of Protocol for various events," although the article did not indicate whether the other events were actually planned before or after the Obama family made the request.<5> It was revealed that the only overnight occupants of the house at this time were former Australian prime minister John Howard and his wife, invited for the night of January 12.<6> Instead, the Obama family moved into the nearby Hay–Adams Hotel, until January 15 when they will move to Blair House, the customary residence of the President-elect.
The Chief of Protocol of the United States is responsible for the operation of Blair House.
70,000 square feet? The Obamas could have stayed there as well and never run into anyone else.
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