Thomas Sim Lee Corner

The home of a Federalist, twice-elected Governor of Maryland and supporter of the American Revolution.

Built in 1794, this home illustrates a timeline of the revolution and a man’s journey both into real estate and the establishment of the nation. Thomas Sim Lee was an ardent patriot and friend of George Washington, as well as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He also served as the Governor of Maryland for two terms, from 1779 to 1782 and then from 1792 - 1794. This large building on M Street NW in Georgetown served as his winter home.

Eventually, he decided that he did not need the entire lot, which included a six-bay townhouse, and he sold the other portion of the lot to Andrew Ross, a clerk in the United States Treasury and his partner, Robert Getty. Both extended the properties to the surrounding empty lots, creating the addresses of 3005-3009 M Street, and 1206-1210 28th Street.

These buildings exhibit aspects of Federal style architecture, which is most commonly found on the Eastern Seaboard, and prospered in port towns like Georgetown.

DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
Within the Georgetown Historic District

Images

Map

3001‑3011 M Street, NW

Cite this Page

“Thomas Sim Lee Corner,” DC Historic Sites, accessed November 18, 2024, https://historicsites.dcpreservation.org/items/show/326.

Tags

Related Sources

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, Thomas Sim Lee, Robert Getty, Andrew Ross, William Dewey Foster, and Vincente Cordero, Waterman, Thomas T, Campbell Photo Service, and Jet Lowe, photographer. -3009 M Street, Northwest House, Washington, District of Columbia, DC. Washington D.C. Washington, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/dc0223/.McAlester, Virginia Savage. A Field Guide to American Houses: The Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture. Seconded. New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2015. Mitchell, Mary. “The Thomas Sim Lee Corner in Georgetown and Its Preservation.” Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C. 69/70 (1969): 510–16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40067726. Weeks, Christopher. AIA: Guide to the architecture of Washington, D.C. 3rd ed. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.