Then and Now: The Leiter House

History

Then and Now: The Leiter House

by Kent Boese • April 13, 2009 4:01 pm

Then (left): The residence at 1500 New Hampshire Ave. was built in 1891 for Levi P. Leiter, a Chicago real estate and department store millionaire. The Leiter house was a white brick, classically inspired mansion with a red tile roof located at the intersection of Dupont Circle, New Hampshire Avenue, and 19th Street. During World War II it was leased for U. S. Government offices, and in 1947 sold and demolished. Photo from the Library of Congress Harris & Ewing Collection.

Now (right): The Dupont Hotel, formerly the Jurys Washington Hotel, is the structure that replaced the mansion.

Above: The inside of the Leiter House. Considered the finest private residence in Washington at the time it was built, the mansion was three stories with fifty-five rooms. After Leither's death in 1904, his wife became a leading Washington hostess with elaborate parties held in the house until World War II. More information and photos of the house are here.

8 comments

Tags: DC, Dupont Circle, history

Then and then and now: Hopkins-Miller (May 14, 2009)
Lost Washington: Tuckerman House (Jan 19, 2010)
Then and Now: The Schneider mansion (Nov 14, 2008)
Lost Washington: The McLean House (Jul 2, 2009)
Lost Washington: Corcoran House (May 26, 2009)

Kent Boese posts items of historic interest primarily within the District. He's worked in libraries since 1994, both federal and law, and currently works on K Street. He lives in the Park View neighborhood, and is the force behind the blog Washington Kaleidoscope.

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I'm eager to hear how this architectural debacle has nothing whatever to do with the Bauhaus school.

by Steve on Apr 13, 2009 4:32 pm • link • report

Very interesting, though depressing. Another gorgeous old mansion replaced by a hideous concrete block. Did the reverse ever happen?

Love the series nonetheless.

by JB on Apr 13, 2009 4:35 pm • link • report

the entire area from DuPont down to I street NW was a large , very wealthy area - home to many rich folks from other states who wintered in DC. Most of these mansions were built after the Civil War- and now only a few remain. They sufferred from being split up and made into boarding houses during the WW2 emergency, and after WW2 they were not rehabbed. The original downtown of DC- was centered around the German speaking [ yes- DC has always had "ethnic and industrial areas !!!!!!!!!! ] area of 7th & Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and after WW2 the "new downtown " was a result of this demolition.

Someone needs to do a book on the fabulous mansions of just this neighborhood. It is only highlighted by the local historians- and there needs to be a comprehensive history done on it.

Among the great losses- the old British & German embassies- the two most opulent and fantastical buildings in this era of DC- torn down in the rush to "renew".

David- you are doing an excellent service by bringing to light some of these bygone masterpieces. Keep up the great work !!!

by w on Apr 13, 2009 4:49 pm • link • report

Yes David you are. Let's hope you don't someday have to list the Third Church of Christ as one of our losses.

Times change, people change, tastes change. These beautiful manses (and many many equally beautiful churches) were torn down during a period when the people living didn't think they were beautiful. They thought they were ugly ... because they reminded them of "old" as in "grandparents" ... It took another generation (or two) for their true beauty to be appreciated again. As will happen with true treasures such as the Third Church of Christ Scientist and the MLK Library.

by Lance on Apr 13, 2009 7:02 pm • link • report

If you showed me just the interiors, I'd say it was an improvement.

by цarьchitect on Apr 13, 2009 11:38 pm • link • report

Lance,

If your description of tastes changing was true, why did Americans flock to quaint old Europe during the Post WWII era? Architects of the period led the charge about hating the old during that time influenced by, hmmm, Modernism? And developers where more than happy to use the modernist clap trap as cover to get more development business.

All that being said, such a busy urban site deserves more than a gracious mansion, beautiful as it might be. Maybe someday they can reclad the present structure with a more attractive skin because the underlying form is still quite urbane as if it where originally a Beaux-Arts building stripped down.

by Thayer-D on Apr 14, 2009 9:38 am • link • report

tsarchitecht, Do you really think there weren't many people who thought these manses were beautiful at the time they were demolished? Of course there were. I'm certain there were many people advocating saving them - or at least saddened and appalled the day the wrecking ball showed up b/c there was no previous community discussion beforehand to give warning. Just like you and many others think the Thirds Church should be saved now, there certainly were people in 1947 who thought this should be saved.

by Bianchi on Apr 14, 2009 11:06 am • link • report

From what I gathered reading this, the government leased it due to the massive need for office space during WWII and likely ran the thing into the ground and bought it. We were in an era when winning was all the mattered.

by NikolasM on Apr 14, 2009 2:44 pm • link • report