Lafayette Square Political History

Four connected townhouses of buff-colored stucco make up Blair House, the official guest residence for the President of the United States. During the Truman administration, while the White House underwent a complete structural overhaul,…

The yellow brick facade of Decatur House sits on the corner of Lafayette Square, separated from the White House by only a few hundred feet. Completed in eighteen nineteen for naval hero Stephen Decatur, the mansion served as a prime…

St. John's Church on Lafayette Square sits behind a broad yellow portico, its pale stucco walls standing in sharp contrast to the red brick of the nearby houses. Benjamin Latrobe designed it in eighteen sixteen, shortly after he finished…

The address at eight fifteen Black Lives Matter Plaza is part of the sprawling National Geographic Society headquarters. A six-story glass and concrete structure occupies this block, identifiable by the oversized, backlit globe that glows…

The yellow brick facade of the Dolley Madison House stands out against the surrounding stone government buildings. Built in eighteen twenty, this home served as the official residence for Dolley Madison after her husband, President James…

The bronze Marquis de Lafayette stands atop his marble pedestal in the center of Dupont Circle, gesturing toward the horizon with his hat in hand. Dedicated in nineteen ninety-one, this sculpture replaces an earlier version that stood here…

A bronze Andrew Jackson sits atop a horse that rears back on its hind legs, balanced entirely on two points of contact. Sculptor Clark Mills cast this in eighteen fifty-three, the first equestrian statue ever created in the United States.…