Perry Belmont House
Perry Belmont House | |
.JPG) Perry Belmont House in 2009 | |
  Location within Washington, D.C.  Location within the United States | |
| Location | 1618 New Hampshire Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 38°54′44″N 77°2′30″W / 38.91222°N 77.04167°W |
| Built | 1909 |
| Architect | Ernest-Paul Sanson |
| Architectural style | Beaux-Arts |
| Part of | Dupont Circle Historic District (ID78003056) |
| NRHP reference No. | 73002074[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 8, 1973 |
| Designated CP | July 21, 1978[2] |
| Designated DCIHS | November 8, 1964 |
| Part of a series on |
| Freemasonry |
|---|
 |
The Perry Belmont House, or the Order of the Eastern Star International Headquarters[3], is the headquarters for the General Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, one of several organizations affiliated with Freemasonry. The building is located at 1618 New Hampshire Avenue, Northwest in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
The house takes the form of a free-standing pavilion in the French style, with a single story articulated with slender Ionic pilasters over a channel-rusticated basement. A balustrade with stone urns masks a discreet Mansard attic story. In the interiors, wrought-iron fixtures from France, wood from Germany, and marble from Italy are used.[citation needed]
The Belmont House is a designated contributing property in the Dupont Circle Historic District and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 8, 1973.[2] In 2009, the property value of the Belmont House was $7,475,100 (equivalent to $11.22 million in 2025).[4]
History
[edit]Perry Belmont, a politician, commissioned the French architect, Ernest-Paul Sanson, to design for him and his wife, the current Louis XVI Beaux-Arts mansion. Horace Trumbauer, an associate architect from Philadelphia, was in charge of the carrying out construction, which lasted from 1907 to 1909.[5][6] The trapezoidal plot of land was purchased in 1906 for $90,000 (equivalent to $3.11 million in 2025)[7], and construction cost $1.5 million (equivalent to $53.75 million in 2025).[citation needed]
During the Belmonts' time in D.C., Mr. and Mrs. Belmont would host lavish parties for the Washington elite. And in 1919, Edward, Prince of Wales, was a guest of the Belmonts (at President Woodrow Wilson's request); there, he conferred medals upon American soldiers whom the United Kingdom wished to honor for their service in World War I.[8][9]
Beginning in the 1920's, the Belmonts increasingly spent time away from Washington, and the house was mothballed for nearly a decade. Perry Belmont then sold the building to the General Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star in 1935 for $100,000 (equivalent to $2.35 million in 2025), on the condition that the Right Worthy Grand Secretary would live in the building.[6]
Current usage
[edit]Since being acquired by General Grand Chapter, some of the space has been adaptively reused as offices for their Headquarters. However, most of the building's interior has been kept intact from Belmont's time; public tours can be made by appointment. Some items from the Belmont era, as well as furnishings acquired by General Grand Chapter, are on display. In the State Dining Room, five ceiling paintings depict the five heroines of the Order. There are 37 oil paintings and several Tiffany vases in the house. The Japanese fourfold teakwood screen was a gift from the Emperor of Japan to Perry Belmont.[10]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
- 1 2 "District of Columbia - Inventory of Historic Sites" (PDF). District of Columbia: Office of Planning. Government of the District of Columbia. September 1, 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2009. Retrieved August 3, 2009.
- ↑ "Headquarters – Order of the Eastern Star". Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ↑ "DC Citizen Atlas Real Property Reports". Government of the District of Columbia. Archived from the original on April 30, 2009. Retrieved August 3, 2009.
- ↑ Gerard Martin Moeller, G. Martin Moeller, Jr., and Francis D. Lethbridge, AIA Guide to the Architecture of Washington, D.C., 2006: cat. no. L30, p. 264f; Michael C. Kathrens, Eleanor Weller and Richard C. Marchand, American Splendor: The Residential Architecture of Horace Trumbauer p. 265.
- 1 2 "GGC International Headquarters". Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
- ↑ "Perry Belmont to Build; Will Have a Handsome Louis XVI Mansion in Washington". The New York Times. February 17, 1907. Retrieved June 6, 2008.
- ↑ Williams, Paul. Dupont Circle (Arcadia Publishing, 2000) pg.52,86
- ↑ "GGC Headquarters MWGP Suite". Archived from the original on February 5, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
- ↑ Order of the Eastern Star Headquarters Archived February 5, 2017, at the Wayback Machine; Treasure Room Archived February 5, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
External links
[edit]
Media related to Belmont Mansion (Washington, D.C.) at Wikimedia Commons- The General Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star
| Topics | |
|---|---|
| Lists by state |
|
| Lists by insular areas | |
| Lists by associated state | |
| Other areas | |
| Lists of specific structure types | |
| Related | |
- Houses completed in 1909
- Beaux-Arts architecture in Washington, D.C.
- Buildings and structures in Dupont Circle
- Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.
- Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C.
- Order of the Eastern Star
- Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Washington, D.C.
- Masonic buildings in Washington, D.C.
- Horace Trumbauer buildings
- Gilded Age mansions