Friendship House (also known as The Maples, Maple Square, or Duncanson House) is a Georgian

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of Terraced house, terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type o ...

, located at 619 D Street, (630 South Carolina Avenue), Southeast, Washington, D.C., in the

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

neighborhood.

History

] It was designed by William Lovering in 1795. The first owner of the home was William Mayne Duncanson, whose house guests included

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

. In August 1814, it served as a hospital after the

Battle of Bladensburg The Battle of Bladensburg, also known as the Bladensburg Races, took place during the Chesapeake Campaign, part of the War of 1812, on 24 August 1814, at Bladensburg, Maryland, northeast of Washington, D.C. The battle has been described as "t ...

. In 1815, it was purchased from bankruptcy, by

Francis Scott Key Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779January 11, 1843) was an American lawyer, author, and poet from Frederick, Maryland, best known as the author of the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry" which was set to a popular British tune and eventually became t ...

. In July 1838, it was purchased by Major Augustus A. Nicholson. On June 2, 1856, it was purchased by John M. Clayton. He added a ballroom with decoration by

Constantino Brumidi Constantino Brumidi (26 July 1805 – 19 February 1880) was a Greek-Italian painter and a Naturalization, naturalized American citizen, best known and honored for his fresco work, ''The Apotheosis of Washington, Apotheosis of Washington'', in the ...

. On April 20, 1858, it was purchased by

Louis François de Pourtalès Louis François de Pourtalès (4 March 1824 – 18 July 1880) was a Franco- American naturalist, born at Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Early life and education Pourtales was born on 4 March 1824 and regarded as a Swiss representative of an old fami ...

; there are rumors of his winecellar. In 1871, it was purchased by journalist Mrs. Emily Edson Briggs; she named it "Maple Square." The Friendship House Association, founded in 1904, purchased the house in 1936, and operated a

settlement house The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in the United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity an ...

, and community center there. As the Capitol Hill neighborhood

gentrified Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has been us ...

, most of the people served were in other parts of Washington, D.C. It was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on January 18, 1973. The property was sold in 2010, to a private developer.

References

External links

*http://wikimapia.org/1412760/Friendship-House {{Registered Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Georgian architecture in Washington, D.C. Houses completed in 1795 Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Washington, D.C.

History

See also

References

External links