The Lenthall Houses are historic houses on the
George Washington University
, mottoeng = "God is Our Trust"
, established =
, type = Private federally chartered research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.8 billion (2022)
, preside ...
campus in
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, ...
The adjacent houses were built around 1800 and they were moved to their current location and restored between 1978 and 1979. It has been listed on the
District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites
The District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites is a register of historic places in Washington, D.C. that are designated by the District of Columbia Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB), a component of the District of Columbia Govern ...
since 1964 and it 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 1972.
History
The attached houses were built at the same time around 1800 by John Lenthall. They were originally located at 612–14 19th Street NW.
Lenthall was a trained architect who was born in England in 1762 and was the great-grandson of Sir
William Lenthall
William Lenthall (1591–1662) was an English politician of the English Civil War, Civil War period. He served as Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons for a period of almost twenty years, both before ...
, who was
Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings.
Systems that have such a position include:
*Speaker of ...
. He moved to Washington around 1793 and was chosen by
Benjamin Latrobe
Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 – September 3, 1820) was an Anglo-American neoclassical architect who emigrated to the United States. He was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in the new United States, draw ...
as his principal assistant on his project to build the
United States Capitol in 1803. His wife, Jane King, whom he married in either 1801 or 1802, was the daughter and sister of the surveyors of the District of Columbia. Lenthall was killed in September 1808 when one of the arches in the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
chamber collapsed.
The house at 610 21st Street NW stayed in the Lenthall family until 1902 when it was sold. It was eventually purchased by Washington artist
Bertha Noyes
Bertha Noyes (1876–1966) was an American painter.
A native of Washington, D.C., Noyes studied at the Corcoran School of Art in that city; she also had lessons with Charles Webster Hawthorne. She exhibited widely, and her work is held in numerou ...
. The
Arts Club of Washington was founded in her home in 1916. Noyes deeded the property to George Washington University upon her death in 1966.
The house at 606 21st Street, NW was deeded to William Francis in August 1808. He in turn deeded the property away the following day. George Washington University acquired the house in the 1970s. The structures were moved to their current location on August 5, 1978.
[
]
Architecture
The houses were designed in the Federal
Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to:
Politics
General
*Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies
*Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
architectural style. They were designed as a single unit and they share a common roof and cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
line.[ The exterior is covered in red brick laid in Flemish bond. They are two stories in height and include an attic and a basement. The grey ]saddleback roof
A saddleback roof is usually on a tower, with a ridge and two sloping sides, producing a gable at each end.
See also
* List of roof shapes
* Saddle roof
A saddle roof is a roof form which follows a convex curve about one axis and a concave cur ...
features two wooden dormers, one on each house. Both the north and the south gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
s have two chimneys each. A brick partition wall was built between the two house up to the attic where a partition of a lath and plaster
Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for Molding (decorative), moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of ...
separates the two houses. The main facade is six bays wide, with three bays belonging to each house. The two entrance doors are adjacent to each other in the center of the facade. The white wooden trim surrounding the doorways was changed in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Notes
References
External links
{{National Register of Historic Places
Federal architecture in Washington, D.C.
Foggy Bottom
Houses completed in 1800
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.
George Washington University buildings and structures