Anderson House, also known as Larz Anderson House, is a
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Weste ...
mansion located at 2118
Massachusetts Avenue Massachusetts Avenue may refer to:
* Massachusetts Avenue (metropolitan Boston), Massachusetts
** Massachusetts Avenue (MBTA Orange Line station), a subway station on the MBTA Orange Line
** Massachusetts Avenue (MBTA Silver Line station), a stati ...
,
NW, on
Embassy Row
Embassy Row is the informal name for a section of Northwest Washington, D.C. with a high concentration of embassies, diplomatic missions, and diplomatic residences. It spans Massachusetts Avenue N.W. between 18th and 35th street, bounded by ...
in the
Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle (or DuPont Circle) is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th Street NW to the east, 22nd Street NW ...
neighborhood of
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, 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, ...
It now houses the
Society of the Cincinnati
The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...
's international headquarters and a research library on 17th- and 18th-century military and naval history and the art of war. It is also open to the public as a historic house museum about life in Washington in the early 20th century.
History
Anderson House was built between 1902 and 1905 as the winter residence of
Larz Anderson
Larz Anderson (August 15, 1866 – April 13, 1937) was an American diplomat and ''bon vivant''. He served as second secretary at the United States Legation to the Court of St James's, London; as first secretary and later '' chargé d'affai ...
, an American diplomat, and his wife,
Isabel Weld Perkins
Isabel Anderson (March 29, 1876 – November 3, 1948), , was a Boston heiress, author, and society hostess who left a legacy to the public that includes a park and two museums.
Life
Early life
Born at 284 Marlborough Street in Boston's B ...
, an author and
American Red Cross
The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...
volunteer. Architects Arthur Little and Herbert W. C. Browne of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
, designed the home in the
Beaux-Arts style.
The Andersons used the house to entertain the social and political elite of America and abroad, as well as to showcase their collection of fine art and historic artifacts that the couple acquired in their extensive travels over the 40 years of their marriage. The Andersons had no children. Following Larz Anderson's death in 1937, his widow donated the house and its contents to the Society of the Cincinnati, of which Larz Anderson had been a devoted member for more than 40 years. The society opened Anderson House as a museum in 1939. The house was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1971 and was further designated 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 1996.
[
Today, Anderson House continues to serve its members and the public as a headquarters, museum, and library. Visitors to the museum at Anderson House can tour the first two floors of the house, decorated with the Andersons' collection and interpreted to illuminate the world of entertaining and collecting in Washington. Visitors can also view changing exhibitions devoted to the history of the American Revolution, the Society of the Cincinnati, and Anderson House and its occupants.
In addition to the Andersons' original collection, the society's museum collections include portraits, armaments, and personal artifacts of Revolutionary War soldiers; commemorative objects made to remember the war and its participants; objects associated with the history of the society and its members, including Society of the Cincinnati china and insignia; portraits and personal artifacts of members of the Anderson family; and artifacts related to the history of the house, including the ]U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
's occupation of it during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Anderson House has been featured on the A&E television series ''America's Castles'', as well as C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
.
See also
* ''George Washington'' (Houdon)
*
Bibliography
* Isabel Anderson, ed., ''Larz Anderson: Letters and Journals of a Diplomat'' (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1940).
* James M. Goode and Bruce M. White, ''Capital Houses: Historic Residences of Washington D.C. and Its Environs, 1735-1965'' (New York: Acanthus Press, 2015).
* Stephen T. Moskey, ''Larz and Isabel Anderson: Wealth and Celebrity in the Gilded Age'' (Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, 2016).
* Emily Schulz, “In Stone and Steel: The Construction of Anderson House” ''Cincinnati Fourteen'' 41:2 (2005), pp. 18–31.
References
External links
Anderson House
The American Revolution Institute
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Anderson House
Military and war museums in Washington, D.C.
American Revolutionary War museums
Historic house museums in Washington, D.C.
Historic district contributing properties in Washington, D.C.
Dupont Circle
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.
Gilded Age mansions