Cosmos Club
National Register of Historic Places

Cosmos Club

Washington, District of Columbia County, District of Columbia
Listed
April 2, 1973
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
73002079

About this property

The Townsend House is a historic building on Embassy Row in Washington, DC. It has been the home of the Cosmos Club since 1952. The free-standing house, set in almost an acre of garden, was designed in the Beaux Arts French style by architects Carrère and Hastings in 1898 for Mary Scott Townsend, daughter of and heiress to William Lawrence Scott, and her husband Richard H. Townsend, moving from their previous home at 736 Jackson Place. Construction was essentially completed in 1901. Mr. Townsend died shortly thereafter, in 1902, and his wife lived in the house until her own death in 1931. The house then became the home of their daughter, Mathilde Scott Townsend, and her husband since 1925, prominent diplomat Sumner Welles, until 1939 and again in 1943, even though they spent much time in Oxon Hill Manor and abroad. The Cosmos Club purchased the property in 1950, following Mrs. Welles' death in Switzerland in 1949. In 1933, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt lived briefly in the house before his inauguration. This echoed the previous generation of Townsends' renting of their Jackson Place home to President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902, during the White House renovation and construction of the West Wing. The Townsend House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is a contributing property to the Dupont Circle Historic District and Massachusetts Avenue Historic District. Media related to Townsend House at Wikimedia Commons

Location

2121 Massachusetts Ave., NW.
Washington, District of Columbia County, District of Columbia
38.91159, -77.04801

Categories

ARCHITECTURESOCIAL HISTORY
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Native Heritage
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Settlement
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The Community
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Nearby Historic Sites

Phillips, Duncan, House
Industrial
0.1 mi
Anderson, Larz, House
Industrial
0.1 mi
Walsh Stable
Colonial
0.1 mi
Meeting House of the Friends Meeting of Washington
Colonial
0.1 mi
Hughes, Charles Evans, House
Industrial
0.1 mi

Questions about this property

When was Cosmos Club listed on the National Register?

Cosmos Club was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 2, 1973.

What type of historic resource is Cosmos Club?

Cosmos Club is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Cosmos Club?

The period of significance for Cosmos Club is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1878.

Can I research the history near Cosmos Club?

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