![]() In 1977, Walter Mondale and his family became the first to move in to the official residence. However, then-Vice President Nelson Rockefeller only used it for entertaining, preferring to stay at his sprawling estate in the Foxhall neighborhood. Due to political opposition to the cost of building a permanent home, and concerns from astronomers at the Naval Observatory that a new house would interfere with their work, a new house was never built.Īdmiral’s House, now called One Observatory Circle, became the official vice president’s residence in 1975. Humphrey, $250,000 for Spiro Agnew, and $80,000 for Gerald Ford.ĭue to public outrage over the cost of improving Spiro Agnew’s house, Congress took an existing house next to the lot where the vice presidential house would go and made it the “Official Temporary Vice-President’s Residence.” The 33-room mansion, then known as Admiral’s House, had served as the home of the Chief of Naval Operations since 1923. For the following eight years, the Secret Service spent $123,000 to safeguard the private homes of Hubert H. In 1966, Congress authorized the creation of an official vice presidential residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory, but postponed construction until after the Vietnam War. Kennedy in 1961, the Secret Service gave vice presidents full-time, in-home protection, which required expensive improvements to their private homes. In 1951, Congress directed the Secret Service to protect the vice president and their family, which would eventually lead to the creation of a permanent vice presidential residence. The Naval Observatory is now the vice president’s permanent home Today, that building is part of the Mexican Embassy. In the late 18th century, it was home to Vice President Elbridge Gerry, who served under James Madison and gave is the eponym of the term “gerrymandering.” The building was a boarding house at the time, and Gerry lived with the secretaries of the Navy, War, and Treasury. Of the 25 remaining vice presidential residences, the oldest one is 1909 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. After World War II, vice presidents moved toward the upper northwest part of DC and into Maryland and Virginia. In 1919, Thomas Marshall moved outside of the L’Enfant City to stay in the old Wardman Park Hotel, and 20 years later, Garner would be the last VP to live downtown. Calhoun’s time at Dumbarton in Georgetown. From the 1840s to the 1920s, vice presidents lived almost exclusively within what we now call the Central Business District, except for John C. Until 1839, most vice presidents lived on Capitol Hill. It wasn’t only the kinds of homes that changed, but also the locations. Morton was the first to own his own home (or possibly Schuyler Colfax 20 years earlier), but by the 1950s personal ownership became the norm. In 1889, William Henry Benjamin Harrison’s vice president Levi P. Others rented private homes or lived with wealthy residents. Others followed suit over the next century until John Nance Garner, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s vice president who lived in the Hotel Washington until 1941, became the last. Later, vice presidents lived in hotels, starting with George M. Similar to Jefferson, most of the early vice presidents lived in boarding houses, many near the Capitol. In contrast, Adams’ vice president, Thomas Jefferson, rented a bedroom and parlor in a Capitol Hill boarding house where he lived with 30 other members of Congress, Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin, and a handful of their wives. Starting with President John Adams in 1800, presidents lived in the White House, which was then the largest house in the United States. The first vice presidents lived in boarding houses This is not a complete list, as some directories don’t include the information or aren’t easily available, and some vice presidents likely moved mid-session (Aaron Burr did it once) and their new homes might not have been recorded. King, who was inaugurated in Cuba and died six weeks later without ever coming to Washington. The map includes at least one residence for every vice president, even Theodore Roosevelt, who lived in DC for five days, and John Tyler, who lived here for just one day. ![]() Twenty-five of these homes still remain today, and 17 of them are still used as private homes or hotels. ![]() I found 58 houses and hotels were vice presidents lived. Stars are buildings that still exist colors signify the half-century they were occupied.
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