Wilson, Woodrow, House

About this property

The Woodrow Wilson House was the residence of the 28th president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson after he left office. It is at 2340 S Street NW just off Washington, D.C.'s Embassy Row, and it's located in the Sheridan-Kalorama Historic District. On February 3, 1924, Wilson died in an upstairs bedroom. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964. The National Trust for Historic Preservation owns the house and operates it as a museum. The house was built by Henry Fairbanks in 1915 on a design by prominent masonic Washington architect Waddy Wood. President Woodrow Wilson bought it in the last months of his second term as President of the United States as a gift to his wife, Edith Bolling Wilson. He presented her the deed in December 1920, although he had never seen the house. The former president and his wife moved into the home on Inauguration Day, which in 1921 was March 4 (not the current date of January 20). Wilson made several modifications to the house, including a billiard room, stacks for his library of over 8,000 books, and a one-story brick garage. It was from the balcony of the house that Wilson addressed a crowd on November 11, 1923, as his last public appearance. While the Wilsons had few guests, former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and former French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau visited the ailing former president at the house. Woodrow typically met guests at exactly 3:30 pm in his library, which was outfitted with a fireplace and tufted furniture. After Wilson's death in 1924, many of the books inside the house were donated to the Library of Congress. Edith Wilson lived in the residence until her death on December 28, 1961. She hosted First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy for a brunch in the formal dining room. Edith bequeathed the property and all of its original furnishings to the National Trust for Historic Preservation upon her death. == Beyond the Wikipedia Page: A Deeper Look at the Woodrow Wilson House == The Woodrow Wilson House is usually described as the final residence of President Woodrow Wilson, but the official site adds more detail about how the house actually functioned as a home and a symbol of his post-presidency life. While Wikipedia focuses on basic facts like its construction in 1915 and its designation as a historic landmark, the Wilson House article explains that the home was originally built for a private owner and designed with modern features like a telephone intercom system and updated kitchen technology. (President Wilson House) It also emphasizes that when Wilson and his wife Edith moved in after leaving the White House in 1921, the house became a center of social and political life, where they hosted important international figures even during his declining health. (President Wilson House) This gives a more personal and lived-in view of the house compared to the more structural description on Wikipedia.

Location

Categories

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.

More in District of Columbia County

Historic places, battles, and census history across District of Columbia County.

More historic places in District of Columbia

Browse all historic places in District of Columbia.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

District of Columbia history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.