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4 unusual facts about Blair House


C. Gregory Stapko

He has his paintings in the White House, Blair House, Arlington House, U.S. embassies and government agencies, as well as the walls of businesses and private homes around the world.

Harry S. Truman Historic District

He would live with family members in his early life, then the Wallace House, rented apartments and houses in Washington (including 4701 Connecticut Avenue), Blair House (the official state visitors residence), and the White House, but never a house that he had purchased.

Richard K. Webel

He designed the landscaping at places as diverse as the Frick Collection and the American wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan; Blair House, the presidential guest quarters across the street from the White House; the Governor's Mansion in Albany; Wellesley College in Massachusetts; Sweet Briar College in Virginia; Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.

Violet, Louisiana

It was named by Albert C. Janin, after his wife Violet Blair Janin, a Washington, D.C. socialite and part of the influential Blair family for whom the Blair House in Washington D.C. is named.


Elisabeth C. Draper

She decorated the American Embassy in Paris for Ambassador Amory Houghton, worked on a number of rooms at the White House, and did the interiors of Blair House.

Franklin Archibald Dick

He was assistant adjutant general to Nathaniel Lyon at Camp Jackson (the first Missouri Civil War incident); Missouri provost marshal general under Major General Samuel Curtis; law partner with Montgomery Blair at the Blair House in Washington D C after the Civil War.

Steven L. Bennett

Vice President Gerald Ford presented the decoration to Captain Bennett’s wife, Linda, and daughter, Angela, at the Blair House on August 8, 1974.


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