The Forrest-Marbury House, located at 3350 M Street NW in

Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Georgetown is a historic neighborhood, and commercial and entertainment district located in Northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751 in the Province of Maryland, the port of Georgetown predated the establish ...

, and is not far from the Francis Scott Key Bridge over the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

. It was the site of a March 29, 1791, meeting between President

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

and local landowners to discuss the federal government's purchase offer of land needed to build a new capital city for the young United States of America. The meeting was a success, and the land was soon acquired.

History

The Forrest-Marbury house itself dates to 1788 and is one of the

District of Columbia ) , 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, ...

's most historic sites. It was initially home to Uriah Forrest, an early mayor of Georgetown. The house's next owner was real estate investor

William Marbury William Marbury (November 7, 1762 – March 13, 1835) was a highly successful American businessman and one of the "Midnight Judges" appointed by United States President John Adams the day before he left office. He was the plaintiff in the landmar ...

, who occupied it in 1800 while he purchased large tracts in the District's

Anacostia Anacostia is a historic neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. Its downtown is located at the intersection of Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. It is located east of the Anacostia River, after which the neighborhood is na ...

section. Marbury's battle with President

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

over President

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

's federal appointments resulted in the landmark 1803

U. S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

case ''

Marbury v. Madison ''Marbury v. Madison'', 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of Judicial review in the Uni ...

'', written by Chief Justice

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...

and decided against Marbury, that first established the right of

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

and

legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...

branch acts of government. The house remained in Marbury's family throughout most of the nineteenth century. In 1884 it was occupied by the Edward Corbett family of Ohio. It was later used as a residence and a commercial property first as Jack's (owned by Jack Wilner) in the late 40's, then had a run as The Apple Pie nightclub decades later. Then in the late 1970s became Desperado's, a rock and roll nightclub into the mid-1980s, before being restored and remodeled in the early 1990s. In 1992 it was offered for lease as part of "Forrest Marbury Court". Since 1992, it has served as the chancery of the Embassy of Ukraine. The house is a townhouse and was built in the

federal style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

References

Sources

*Bergheim, Laura, ''The Washington Historical Atlas'', Woodbine House, Rockville, Maryland, 1992, , page 161. *VERIZON, District of Columbia Yellow Pages, June 2007 – 2008, Idearc Media, page 161. {{Ukraine–United States relations Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Federal architecture in Washington, D.C. Houses completed in 1788 1788 establishments in Maryland Ukraine–United States relations