House of Mercy is located at the northwest edge of the Mount Pleasant Historic District on a ridge overlooking the wooded Rock Creek Valley. The building was constructed in a once rural setting, but still retains its “sanctuary” landscape.
Designed by Nathan C. Wyeth in the Spanish Colonial Revival/Mission style and constructed by Charles A. Langley, House of Mercy was completed in 1911. The style was selected by Cassie Meyer James, House of Mercy’s principal donor, and well-executed by Wyeth, who also designed the MacVeagh House, as well as many other buildings during his time as DC’s Municipal Architect (1934-1946). Notably, Wyeth also designed the White House’s Oval Office. House of Mercy is an early example of the Spanish Colonial Revival/Mission style in Washington, DC, and this style would be used in the design of several DC residences in the 1910s and 1920s, including at the David Lawrence Residence, now known as the Old Swedish Ambassador’s Residence.
The building is composed of a main block and two wings on the north and south. The main block and wings partially enclose a central courtyard, which is open to the west. The two-story building sits on uneven terrain, which sometimes places the basement partially above-ground. The elevated site is enclosed by a grey fieldstone foundation and retaining wall on its west and east sides (Rock Creek Park and Rosemount Avenue NW, respectively), and a concrete retaining wall, painted with colorful murals, on its south side facing Klingle Road NW.
At the center of the main block is a curvilinear parapet with a large rosette consisting of three concentric rings of brick surrounding a painted emblem reminiscent of a religious medallion. Within this central bay is the main entrance, which faces Rosemount Avenue. The entrance is covered by a tiled, shed roof, which hints at the Craftsman style – one of several styles, along with the Arts and Crafts Movement, that inspired the Spanish Colonial Revival/Mission style.
The main block is capped by a hipped roof with protruding eaves. Here, the above-ground basement is visible and is separated from the two upper-stories by a belt cornice. The first story has twelve, tall windows with six-over-six lights, while the second story has fourteen, shorter windows with nine lights.
The south wing’s first story has five, tall windows with decorative iron grills, while the north wing has three stucco-clad chimneys with ornamental covers. Both the iron grills and chimney features are elements of the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Both wings meet at cross wings with curvilinear parapets (the cross wings do not connect, which allows for the courtyard to be open on its west side). A breezeway connects the south cross wing to a single-story cottage, while the north cross wing has a three-story addition (completed in 2005) on its west side.
Established in 1884 by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, House of Mercy (known formally as the Association for the Works of Mercy) was first located in Foggy Bottom. At the time, House of Mercy exclusively served white girls and women in need (e.g., unwed mothers and their babies). Like other services in the city, most charitable organizations were racially segregated. There were at least two homes for Black women and children, including the National Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored Women and Children (later known as the Merriweather Home for Children).
Within a short period of time, House of Mercy had outgrown the space in Foggy Bottom. A new, larger facility finally became a possibility when heiress and philanthropist Cassie Meyer James purchased and donated the land adjacent to Rock Creek Park, as well as the funds for the construction of a new building. At the time, the site was rural and isolated.
24 girls and 17 children became residents of the new facility when it opened in late 1911. Deaconess Lillian M. Yeo, who strictly supervised the house until 1945, wrote a memoir, which included a description of the girls’ activities: “They sew, and when they leave us they have learned to sew well. ...Then they cook, in teams of three—one for the girls and children, one for the staff, while the third is responsible for the kitchen’s tidiness. We bake all our own bread…Then there is our laundry. ‘And we man it,’ as one of our girls recently said.”
In 1946, following a renovation, House of Mercy began to provide short-term care for pregnant girls and unwed mothers and their babies. Ten years later, the Episcopal Church’s National Council issued guidance on integrating the church’s institutions. In 1958, a convention of the Washington Diocese called for racial integration, which led to House of Mercy changing its policy of only serving white girls and women.
Despite House of Mercy’s shift in focus in the 1940s and into the 1950s, the organization’s mission was becoming less relevant as society changed. In turn, enrollment dropped. In 1972, House of Mercy closed. That same year, it reopened as the Rosemount Infant Day Care Center (also known as El Centro Rosemount) and started serving many Spanish-speaking infants and toddlers. In recent years, many immigrants from Central and South America had settled in Mount Pleasant and Adams Morgan. Rosemount Center was the Washington area’s first bilingual daycare center. In 2005, a renovation of the historic building and a modern addition were completed. Over 50 years after its establishment, Rosemount Center continues to serve the surrounding community.
DC Inventory: May 23, 2024
National Register: January 10, 2025
]]>The Old Swedish Ambassador’s Residence, completed in 1924, was the home of 12 Swedish ambassadors between 1950 and 2019. The mansion was originally constructed for David Lawrence, owner and founder of U.S. News and World Report, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Nixon in 1970. Located at 3900 Nebraska Avenue NW, the Old Swedish Ambassador’s Residence is known for its iconic Spanish Colonial Revival style as designed by Arthur B. Heaton, as well as the important role it played in the international relationship between the United States and Sweden.
The land, just south of Tenleytown, on which the Old Swedish Ambassador Residence would be located was purchased, first, in 1922 by David Lawrence, a prominent, controversial, and looming figure in both Washington and the nation’s political and news spheres. He hired architect Arthur B. Heaton to design the home for the Lawrence family, which was constructed between 1923 and 1924. The home was built in the Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission styles, which were popularized by the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego.
The picturesque home consists of an asymmetrical, L-shaped plan, and is two-stories tall with a basement that is not visible from the front facade. Heaton’s design of the residence included many characteristics of the Spanish Colonial Revival and Mission styles, such as low pitched roofs covered with clay tiles, stucco wall cladding, and carved wooden doors similar to those found on early Spanish missions in California and the Southwest. The front facade of the house includes the most ornate details, such as the arched, double-leaf paneled wooden door with an elaborate and decorative cast stone surrounding it – which is reminiscent of Plateresque and Churrigueresque styles. At the top is a shield that originally included the monogram “ELD” for David Lawrence and his wife Ellanor, but is now the shielded crest of the Swedish national emblem. The residence is only the second building that Heaton designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style.
There was also a large and extensive plan for the landscape of the 11-acres that originally made up the property. It was designed by female landscape architect Ruth Bramley Dean (1889-1932), but very little of her original design – which included a formal garden for the southeast side of the house with access to a pool garden, a tennis court on the north side of the house, and a greenhouse and orchard – would be implemented. What remains of Dean’s design are the entrance drive, stone terraces, and service court (partial).
As the home of David Lawrence (1888-1973) and his family from 1924 to 1945, the residence would be used for meetings of the Princeton Alumni’s Triangle Club, as Lawrence was a member and president of this collegiate organization. Both of Lawrence’s daughters hosted their large wedding receptions at the residence, and the house would also be leased for 10 months to wealthy heiress Elinor Ryan. Lawrence’s daughter, Nancy, was a debutante and hosted many events, such as teas and evening soirees; and in 1940, a formal debutante party was held there for Nancy. The family left the residence in 1945, having purchased a large estate near Centreville, Virginia in 1935 that had previously been used as a country retreat.
The residence was then owned by Madana Real Estate for a short period of time between 1946 and 1950. Madana advertised that the building would be suitable for a “Private home, Embassy, private school or other institution. ”A fire that started in the basement oil heater extensively damaged the 20-room house in December 1946, causing $50,000 of damage to a house supposedly valued at $100,000. Despite this destruction, the home was soon repaired for future use. The residence was bought in early 1950 by the Swedish government, and the Swedish Ambassador, Erick Boheman, moved in that spring with his family. They moved from the previous Swedish Ambassador’s Residence at 2249 R Street NW, opposite Sheridan Circle (this property is now the Embassy of Kenya). The new residence soon became well known for its extensive and elaborate receptions, with an ever-evolving cast of visitors to the residence who would often compliment the beauty of the property, with its surrounding green space, and the similarities it had to the American Embassy in Stockholm. One such celebration held there was the 70th birthday of King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden in 1952, which was attended by several hundred guests, including diplomats from around the world, U.S. government officials, and Supreme Court Justices. The Bohemans were the force behind the residence’s reputation as a venue for high society events.
The residence was not without scandal, however, as Gunnar Jarring, the new Swedish Ambassador to the United States in 1958, was entangled by two. The first scandal involved an embassy aide who was indicted for embezzling embassy funds, and the second scandal was in 1963, during the height of the Cold War, when a former attaché to the Swedish embassy admitted to sharing intelligence with the Soviet Union about Swedish and American military plans. Nonetheless, the 1960s also saw a brief lull in tension and a rise in American infatuation with Swedish royalty, after several members of the Swedish royal family toured the country and attended events at the residence.
The next decade brought on the peak of tensions between the American and Swedish governments. A rift generated between the two nations over the actions committed by the American government during the Vietnam War, particularly because of Sweden’s opposition to the entire conflict. In turn, the Nixon Administration advised Sweden not to send another ambassador to the U.S., and the residence would sit vacant from 1972 to 1974. During this absence, the residence was broken into and portraits of major Swedish leaders were stolen and never replaced.
The relationship between the U.S. and Sweden rekindled in the early 1970s. Following President Nixon’s resignation in August 1974, the new Swedish Ambassador, Count Wilhem Wachtmeister, was welcomed. The Wachtmeisters are known for the subsequent “Party venue years,” and are estimated to have hosted more than 65,000 guests over the 15 years that the ambassador served – making him also the longest serving ambassador in Washington. The Wachtmeisters hosted the Swedish king at this residence, and held an annual “Opera Ball” with famous celebrities and Washington’s elite in attendance. These events saw the likes of Joan Kennedy and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and were declared a “who’s who” of Washington. Along with these festivities, the following decade would also see controversies, such as demonstrations and strikes that were held at the residence.
The residence has sat vacant since 2019, when the Swedish Ambassador relocated to the House of Sweden, a modern building that was completed in 2006 and is located at 901 30th Street NW on the Georgetown Waterfront. With this move, the curtains closed on an era teeming with elegant galas, tea parties, royal guests, and controversies. The home and surrounding property was purchased in 2023.
DC Inventory: December 21, 2023
National Register: April 11, 2024
]]>Located at 3400 Massachusetts Avenue NW, the Heurich-Parks House is a detached, two-story, compound-plan residence that was initially constructed in 1925, and is characteristic of both the Mission and Spanish Revival architectural styles. The house was constructed in 1925 for the family of Christian Heurich, Jr., son of the well-known Washington brewer, who himself lived a couple miles away in a Richardsonian Romanesque-style mansion. The New York interior design firm of H.F. Huber & Company was ostensibly responsible for the design, with the assistance of local architect Albert S.J. Atkinson. It was the second building on the parcel, as previous owner William H. West had erected a one-story, structural-tile garage near the west property line in 1923. The Heurichs added an apartment atop the garage in 1948.
The house's exterior elements, including its tile roof, asymmetrical massing, exterior stucco finish, shaped parapets, and elaborate entry, embody the distinguishing characteristics of the Mission (1890-1920) and Spanish Revival (1915-1940) styles, and reflect an overlapping of these two movements. Its construction also reflects a period of residential development that occurred along Massachusetts Avenue, NW between 1870 and 1930.
DC Inventory: July 23, 2015
National Register: October 13, 2015
]]>Built in 1928 and designed by architect David L. Stern, The Ponce de Leon apartment building is located within the apartment building corridor that runs along Connecticut Avenue NW. The brick masonry building presents a restrained Spanish Colonial Revival style, as characterized in the distinctive use of multi-colored brickwork, limestone ornamental balconies, and decorative Moorish arches.
The apartment building was one of the designs that established Stern's reputation as an architect of merit in Washington, DC. The choice of the Spanish Colonial Revival style and its skillful execution represents a significant increase in the sophistication of Stern's work. Stern, whose career lasted over 50-years, was especially active in the design of apartment buildings in DC, with more than 80 credited to him (the majority of which were designed in partnership with Frank Tomlinson). Of these, 76 were designed in the 1920s, a number that represented more than ten percent of all the apartment buildings constructed during that decade, which witnessed the most apartment building construction in Washington's history.
DC Inventory: January 17, 1990
National Register: September 7, 1994
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