After Montpelier, AVSI also owned a large mansion in Georgetown that still stands at 3238 R St. NW.
I first came across this through a 2007 President's Day article about "other" presidential houses in Washington:
"One former Grant home that still stands is located at 3238 R St. NW. Described by the American Institute of Architects as “bombastically Victorian,” the home was owned by Mrs. Alfred Vernon Scott of Alabama, who returned to her home state when the Civil War broke out. Renters included Union Gen. Henry Halleck, who angered the neighbors when he erected a guardhouse on the property, and Gen. Grant himself, who used the place as a summer retreat."
Site: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/feb/14/20070214-103657-7579r/#ixzz2xnF5sgUE
It was quick work to find that the house is called the "Scott-Grant House."
The Glover Park History website disputes the "president's summer house" reputation, saying that "Gen. Ulysses S. Grant accepted Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck’s offer to use his home in Georgetown, D.C. on May 18, was frequently out of town, and left Washington for an extended summer tour on July 24, 1865." They claim that Georgetown papers and other historians would have made more mention of the residence.
Site: http://gloverparkhistory.com/appendix/the-scott-grant-house/
The history in the Francis Morgan book describes the move from Montpelier:
"In 1854 Col. Alfred Vernon Scott purchased the estate of Montpelier, the former residence of President Madison, in Orange County, Virginia. This was a beautiful old colonial residence, surrounded by several thousand acres of land.
The rumored uprising of the negro slaves in that part of Virginia so affected Col. and Mrs. Scott, that they determined to sell their estate in Virginia, and return to Washington. This they did and purchased another house in the same section of the city as their former home. They resided int his house until the death of Col. Alfred Vernon Scott, which occurred May 26-1860...
Mrs. Scott and her children continued to reside at their home called Lee's Hill, on Georgetown Heights, until three or four months after the breaking out of the Civil War. On July 5-1861 she hastily arranged her affairs, and left for the south via the "underground railroad" (running the blockade). This journey during the early war occupied a week."
Site: https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=JBM5AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&authuser=0&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA152
According to a Historic American Buildings Survey by the National Parks Service, AVSI acquired it in 1857 from John E. Carter, John Davidson, Philander Bowen, and heirs of Ignatius David Read (or Reed), acquiring parcels that had been subdivided.
In 1858, it was named to William Owen Nixon I, who "apparently" acquired additional adjacent parcels from the Reads and Davidson. At some point Rebecca (Alfred's wife) appeared on the records, because she is listed in three transactions, 1871 to Robert Frey and to Thomas L. Hume, and in 1893 to Katie M. Joyce, suggesting that the land was again broken into parcels.
The report claims:
"This house is most notable as a mid nineteenth-century stylistically transitional house that combines the symmetrical massing of the first half of the nineteenth century with the picturesque, ornate, three-dimensional detailing that was popular from mid-century until nearly the end of the century. This detailing is most apparent in the exterior window hoods. In addition to these handsome details, the second story fanlight on the front and three-part rear window on the landing are excellent executions of the early twentieth-century Federal Revival Style.
The historical significance of the Scott-Grant House derives from its New Deal occupants and the earlier rentals by Generals U.S. Grant and Henry Halleck. It is commonly accepted, but undocumented that Grant used the house as a summer White House. (Grant's papers have not been edited through his presidency.) During the New Deal, two of President Roosevelt's Brain Trust, Benjamin Cohen and Thomas Corcoran, rented the house for themselves and other young lawyers who drafted the New Deal legislation."
More photos: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Photograph:%20dc0969&fi=number&op=PHRASE&va=exact&co%20=hh&st=gallery&sg%20=%20true
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