Woodrow Wilson House

President Woodrow Wilson was too ill to attend the March 4, 1921, inaguration of Warren G. Harding, having suffered a stroke in 1919.  After spending his last morning as the twenty-eighth President with the formalities of adjourning Congress, President Wilson and his wife Edith went directly to their new home at 2340 S Street in the Washington, DC, elevated neighborhood Kalorama, which translates from Greek as "fine view".  Several hundred people were waiting in front of the house when they arrived, and that afternoon, many more well-wishers passed through the doors of the Adamesque Revival/Neo-Federal style house where he would spend the last three years of his life.

Moving vans brought the Wilsons' furnishings from the White House and from storage in March, 1921.
Photo:  National Trust for Historic Preservation.

After an undergraduate degree from Princeton, Wilson was briefly an attorney in Atlanta after graduating from the University of Virginia Law School before attending Johns Hopkins University's doctoral program in history and politcal science.  He was a faculty member at Bryn Mawr and Wesleyan before returning to Princeton as a professor, being promoted to president of Princeton in1902.  He was elected Governor of New Jersey in 1910 before winning the Presidential Election of 1912.  All of these moves were a factor in deciding to make Washington his home after leaving office, the only U.S. President to do so.

The brick house with limestone trim was completed in 1915 for Henry Parker Fairbanks, a Boston businessman and carpet industry lobbyist, who used the house for entertaining.  The designer was celebrated D.C. architect Waddy B. Wood.  A proponent of the Colonial Revival styles, Wood wrote that his architectural designs were a reflection of the time when craftsmen created buildings as an art form.  With his former partner William E. Deming, an early expert in the restoration of historic homes, Wood had been closely associated with fine examples of American architecture from the Georgian and Federal periods.  Wood also presented his views as an economic reality with the heavy Craftsman style being more costly than the delicate and more simple Colonial Revival style.  But rather than following many other early 20th century architects by just applying classical detailing, Wood felt his use of classicism was an inspiration to modern design.

Despite the traditional appearance, this house was very up-to-date in terms of technology.  And that was a selling point to Wilson's purchase as a surprise to his wife.  Using the $50,000 cash award from winning the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize (awarded in 1920) plus ten friends' contributing $10,000 each, Fairbanks almost doubled his initial investment.  To make the house wheelchair-accessible, an elevator was installed and a doorway was cut to the driveway in order to make automobile transfers easier.  A brick garage was added for his beloved White House Pierce Arrow, bought from the government, which was used almost every day for outings;  sometimes the former president was driven to Griffith Stadium to watch baseball games from his car parked on the outfield grass.  And bookshelves were added in the library;  Wilson had over 8,000 volumes.  The car was donated to The Woodrow Wilson Birthplace and the books, along with the Nobel medal, were given to the Library of Congress, but the house and contents were bequeathed by Edith Wilson to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1954 who became the custodians after her death in the house in 1961.

The President's portrait over the Library fireplace was commissioned from Stanislav Rembski by Mrs. Wilson.  The President's cabinet chair is shown with another from the House of Representatives.
Photo:  Architectural Digest.

In the Library, a Princeton tiger is flanked by an Abyssinian and a Samurai sword.
Photo:  National Trust for Historic Preservation.

This house is well known by The Devoted Classicist because of a summer internship spent with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, DC.  One of the requirements of my Bachelor of Architecture degree was a Service Practicum, working for an architect.  I was very fortunate to win a coveted internship with the Trust and work as a member of the team of the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) under the direction of staff architect John Burns in the office headed by John Poppeliers, noted for authorship of the book WHAT STYLE IS IT?.  The three architecture students, Kenneth S. Williams of the University of Florida, Charles G. Young of the Illinois Institute of Technology, and John J. Tackett of the University of Tennessee, measured and drew the house, producing documentary drawings now housed in the Library of Congress but available for viewing on-line in their entirety on the HABS website.  Additional historic research was completed by other student interns and the HABS staff, and that information can also be viewed on-line, in addition to the black & white photographs by Jack Boucher.  For many years, the photos were a subject of litigation as the photographer, paid on a contract basis, claimed control over the use of the images;  that has now been resolved and these interesting visual documents are now available for public view.

The Serving Kitchen (adjacent to the Dining Room) features a remarkable sink for washing china and crystal.
Photo:  Historic American Building Survey.

There are several unique architectural features that allow light and ventilation to interior spaces, such as these clerestory windows in the Linen Closet.
Photo:  Historic American Building Survey.

The gas-fired clothes dryer in the Laundry Room on the top floor.  The garments were laid on the pull-out racks.
Photo:  Historic American Building Survey.

Perhaps it was because both of the last owners had died in the house, but there was a time that many of the visitors to the Woodrow Wilson House came because they thought it was haunted.  A number of times when I was at the house to measure a detail "behind the ropes", I would emerge from a closed door or begin to stand from behind an upholstered chair and there would be gasps if not shrieks from surprised visitors.

The Drawing Room.
Photo:  Architectural Digest.

The Gobelin tapestry in the Drawing Room was presented by the French government to Mrs. Wilson in 1918.  The autographed photo is of England's King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.  The sofa belonged to Mrs. Wilson before her marriage to the President.
Photo:  Architectural Digest.

A 1920 portrait of Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, the President's second wife, hangs over the fireplace in the Dining Room.  The fringed silver filigree candle shades were one of The Devoted Classicist's favorite objects in the house.
Photo:  National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The Solarium overlooks the formal garden.
Photo:  National Trust for Historic Preservation.

In the President's Bedroom, the portrait shown here of Mrs. Wilson now hangs in the Drawing Room.  It is a copy of the 1916 painting by A.Muller-Ulry that hangs in the White House.  During the President's time, a portrait titled Geraldine J was installed over the fireplace and was placed there again after a 1986 study of the original furnishings.
Photo:  Architectural Digest.

The history of Woodrow Wilson's Presidency is an interesting one, especially after it was discovered that the extent of his illness after his devasting stroke was kept private.  Though much has been written that Edith Wilson ran the country and was the First Woman President, it seems that the country was hardly run at all during that period.  But Edith Wilson's efforts to support her husband and preserve his legacy should not be underestimated;  her story is an interesting one as well.

The Woodrow Wilson House is a museum open to the public with the exception of Mondays and major holidays;  more photos and additional information can be seen at the website.  Teachers of grades 5 - 12 should be aware of the National Park Service program "Teaching With Historic Places";  more information is found here to enliven studies of history and civics.  The "Architectural Digest" photos come from the 1979 book THE WORLDS OF ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST, HISTORIC INTERIORS edited by Paige Rense and published by The Knapp Press, Los Angeles.