The American Peace Society House, also known as the Glover House, is a historic house at 734
Jackson Place
Jackson Place is a Washington, D.C. street located across from the White House and forming the western border of Lafayette Square between Pennsylvania Avenue and H Street, NW, beginning just south of Connecticut Avenue.
History
The block is s ...
NW, facing
Lafayette Square in the heart of
Washington, D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Built in 1878 for banker and philanthropist
Charles Carroll Glover, it is most notable as the national headquarters of the
American Peace Society
The American Peace Society is a pacifist group founded upon the initiative of William Ladd, in New York City, May 8, 1828. It was formed by the merging of many state and local societies, from New York, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, of ...
from 1911 to 1948. The Peace Society was one of the first overtly
pacifist
Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
organizations in the nation, with a history dating to 1815. The house was declared a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1974.
[ and ]
Description and history
The former American Peace Society House stands on the west side of Jackson Place, the street flanking Lafayette Square's west side. It is one of a series of
row house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house (British English, UK) or townhouse (American English, US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings party ...
s, built of brick with sandstone trim. It is three stories in height, with a two-bay front facade. The entrance is in the right bay, and the left bay has a two-story polygonal projecting bay. Windows are framed by bracketed hoods that are segmental arches on the first floor, and shallow gables on the upper levels. The entrance is set under a bracketed segmented-arch opening with flanking paneled pilasters.
The house was built in 1878, and its first prominent occupant was
Charles Carroll Glover, a prominent Washington banker and philanthropist. In 1902 it was briefly occupied by the War College Board. From 1911 to 1947 it served as the headquarters of the American Peace Society. The Society has its origins in a number of local and state peace societies organized in the early decades of the 19th century, the oldest of which, the New York Peace Society, was founded in 1815. In 1828 these disparate groups came together, creating the nation's first organization dedicated to the promotion of international peace.
In the 1970s the house was occupied by the
American Revolution Bicentennial Commission
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event ...
, by which time it had been combined by the creation of openings in party walls with one of the adjacent units.
The series of rowhouses it is part of now belong to the federal government, and are managed by the
General Services Administration
The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gover ...
.
See also
*
List of National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C.
The District of Columbia, capital of the United States, is home to 75 National Historic Landmarks. The National Historic Landmark program is operated under the auspices of the National Park Service, and recognizes structures, districts, objects, a ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in central Washington, D.C.
References
External links
*
{{National Register of Historic Places
National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C.
Houses completed in 1878
Italianate architecture in Washington, D.C.
Victorian architecture in Washington, D.C.
1878 establishments in Washington, D.C.