Peter Parker House
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The Peter Parker House, also known as the former headquarters of the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Foun ...
, is a historic
row house A terrace, terraced house (British English, UK), or townhouse (American English, US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses party wall, sharing side walls. In the United States ...
at 700
Jackson Place Jackson Place is a Washington, D.C. street located across from the White House and forming the western border of Lafayette Square between Pennsylvania Avenue and H Street, NW, beginning just south of Connecticut Avenue. Facing the street ar ...
NW in Washington D.C. Built in 1860, it is historically significant for its association with the Carnegie Endowment, whose headquarters it was from its founding in 1910 until 1948. The building was declared a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in 1974. and   It has since been incorporated into the Blair House complex serving high-profile official visitors to the capital.


Description and history

The Peter Parker House stands at the southern end of
Jackson Place Jackson Place is a Washington, D.C. street located across from the White House and forming the western border of Lafayette Square between Pennsylvania Avenue and H Street, NW, beginning just south of Connecticut Avenue. Facing the street ar ...
, presenting a side to
Pennsylvania Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue is a primarily diagonal street in Washington, D.C. that connects the United States Capitol with the White House and then crosses northwest Washington, D.C. to Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown. Traveling through So ...
, across from Lafayette Square. It is one of a series of relatively modest
Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...
row house A terrace, terraced house (British English, UK), or townhouse (American English, US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses party wall, sharing side walls. In the United States ...
s built out of brick. It is three stories in height, crowned by an elaborate projecting wooden cornice. It is three bays wide, with its entrance in the rightmost bay accessed by a low flight of stairs. The entrance is framed by a sandstone segmental-arch pediment with brackets. Window sills and lintels, as well as corner quoining, are also sandstone. The house was built in 1860. Its first prominent resident was Peter Parker, best known as a medical missionary to
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. In 1910 it was acquired by the recently founded Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Funded by philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...
, he established it as a vehicle to promote and seek an end to international warfare. The organization occupied this building as its headquarters until 1948, when it moved to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. During its tenure, the organization also acquired the adjacent buildings (704 and 708 Jackson Place), and expanded into them. From 1961 to 1965 it housed the Civil War Centennial Commission, and by 1970 it had been purchased by the federal government. In the early 1980s, it along with 704 Jackson Place were internally combined into a single building and then merged with Blair House by way of a connecting structure occupying the alleyway that had separated them.


See also

* List of National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C. * National Register of Historic Places listings in central Washington, D.C. *
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Foun ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C. Houses completed in 1860 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Italianate architecture in Washington, D.C.