Van Ness Mansion
38°53′35″N 77°02′24″W / 38.893°N 77.040°W
The Van Ness Mansion was completed for John Peter Van Ness and Marcia Van Ness in 1816 by Benjamin Henry Latrobe on 17th Street, Washington, D.C.[1][2] They entertained the Madisons, James Monroe, George Washington Parke Custis and John Tayloe III at their mansion. The mansion was described as the "finest house in America".[2] It was built on land that had been owned by Marcia's father, David Burnes,[3] who left 500 acres along the Potomac River to Van Ness.[4] It was one of the most expensive houses in the country, fitted with hot and cold running water, a modern feature at the time,[1] and the mansion was the first residence in the city to have that luxury.[5] Latrobe added a feature designed to maintain a sense of privacy when food was conveyed to dining rooms. Servants accessed rotating servers from a hallway that allowed them to deliver food without entering the room. He installed them previously at the Adena Mansion in Chillicothe, Ohio.[6] It had the country's largest and coolest wine vault.[5] Latrop said that the Van Ness Mansion was "the best house I ever designed".[4] It overlaid his "American rational-configuration on the kind of English residential model that impressed him during his work for and study with S. P. Cockerell."[4]
Latrobe also worked with John Peter Van Ness on the reconstruction of Washington, D.C. public buildings. Van Ness was a commissioner of the Capitol reconstruction commission, along with Richard B. Lee and Tench Ringgold.[7]
The mansion degraded over time.[1] In 1907, the mansion was razed and the Pan American Union Building was built on the site. The stables, also designed by Latrobe, were not demolished at that time.[3] The stuccoed building still exists located at 18th and C Streets.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Weeks, Christopher (1994). AIA guide to the architecture of Washington, D.C. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-8018-4712-7.
- ^ a b Huntington, Frances Carpenter (1969). "The Heiress of Washington City: Marcia Burnes Van Ness, 1782–1832". Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C. 69/70. DC History Center: 80–101. JSTOR 40067706 – via JSTOR.
- ^ a b "Van Ness House Stables - From the Van Ness Mansion's collection of outbuildings, this small structure is the last one still standing". DC Historic Sites. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
- ^ a b c Fazio, Michael W.; Snadon, Patrick A. (2006-06-19). The Domestic Architecture of Benjamin Henry Latrobe. JHU Press. pp. 358, 452, 460–461, 468–469. ISBN 978-0-8018-8104-6.
- ^ a b
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain."Old Time Landowners". July 15, 1900. p. 14. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
- ^ Hamlin 1955, pp. 200–201.
- ^ Hamlin 1955, p. 436.
Bibliography
[edit]- Hamlin, Talbot1 (1955). Benjamin Henry Latrobe. New York : Oxford University Press.
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