Here’s Why You’ll Probably Never Visit the “World’s Most Exclusive Hotel”
The Biden administration is taking a beat amid the current election to look not forward, but back in time. On Sunday evening, the White House was aglow as the who’s who attended back-to-back receptions hosted by President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Tony Blinken to celebrate the 200th birthday of Blair House.
“Quick trip to Washington D.C. to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of Blair House,” wrote cosmetics executive and style guru Aerin Lauder, the granddaughter of Estée Lauder and one of the guests attending the event, on an Instagram post. “American heritage and tradition.”
Sure, we all know how central the White House is to American history, but Blair House, too, has played a prominent role in Washington politics—not to mention the subject of amusing non-scandal.
As the president’s official guest house, Blair House is a complex made up of four connected townhouses that quietly face the White House on Pennsylvania Ave. In total, the four buildings boast 119 rooms spanning over 200,000 square feet, making the residence larger than the White House.
Originally starting out as an elegant Federal-style townhouse, Blair House was one of the first homes on the square near the White House, built in 1824 for Doctor Joseph Lovell, the first Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. In 1837, it came into the hands of Francis Preston Blair, a Kentucky journalist whose favorable coverage of President Andrew Jackson helped him land an editorial position at the pro-administration D.C. newspaper, The Globe. It also earned him a personal invitation to Washington by Jackson. Blair House remained in his family for the next 100 years, during which time the three additional townhouses were constructed.
The United States government purchased these four townhouses in 1942 after Eleanor Roosevelt caught Winston Churchill wandering the White House corridors in his nightgown one night (she insisted that the White House had simply become too crowded). Since it came under the fed's hands, several momentous events have occurred in Blair House. In 1850, General William Tecumseh Sherman married the daughter of the Washington Senator who had adopted him. In 1861, Francis Preston Blair invited Robert E. Lee to Blair House and presented him with Abraham Lincoln's request that he command the Union army; Lee declined. And in 1950, these townhouses nearly became the site of national tragedy when two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to assassinate Truman who was staying there while the White House underwent renovations.
The historic spaces are filled with treasures such as a mantel designed by renowned architect Charles McKim, of McKim, Mead & White, and botanical 18th-century hand painted Chinese wallpaper (pictured above). Its interiors were redecorated in 1985 by the formidable duo, ELLE DECOR A-List designer Mark Hampton and Mario Buatta—including design associates Scott Salvator and Patricia Altschul (who shared her favorite memories of Buatta in an interview with ELLE DECOR). Hampton brought to this project the same tasteful restraint he used when decorating for Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton in the White House. In 2018, it was given a refresh by Washington's Thomas Pheasant.
Blair House has been called the “world’s most exclusive hotel” and “Uncle Sam’s guesthouse,” as it has become the B&B of choice for major leaders from around the world, including Queen Elizabeth II, Margaret Thatcher, Ariel Sharon, Vladimir Putin, and Emperor Hirohito of Japan. It's also become the place where the president-elect stays in the days leading up to the inauguration.
Biden stayed there before his big day, though Barack Obama was unable to stay due to the fact that the then-prime minister of Australia, John Howard, had already booked the place (apparently, 35 bathrooms could not be shared between the two parties). Blair has also become a sanctuary for grieving presidential families during a state funeral—in 2018, the Bush family stayed here after former President George H.W. Bush’s passing.
More recently, it has become the official residence of the Vice President, Kamala Harris, while the official residence of the Vice President, One Observatory Circle, is undergoing renovations. This is why, perhaps, the building’s 200-year-old birthday was held in its more famous neighbor, The White House, a sparkling fête surely befitting such a historical gem.
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