President's Guest House

President's Guest House
The President's Guest House pictured in 2007.
Blair House location of the President's Guest House in Washington, D.C.
Alternative names	Blair House
General information
Type	official residence
Architectural style	Federal (Blair House and Lee House) Victorian (Peter Parker House and 704 Jackson Place)
Address	1651 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Town or city	Washington, DC
Country	United States
Coordinates	Coordinates: 38°53′56.5″N 77°2′18.93″W / 38.899028°N 77.0385917°W / 38.899028; -77.0385917
Construction started	1824
Completed	1989
Owner	United States
Landlord
Technical details
Material	brick and stucco
Floor count	4
Floor area	18,807 m2
Design and construction
Architecture firm	Mendel, Mesick, Cohen, Waite, Hall Architects (1982 merger of four existing structures)
Other information
Number of rooms	119
Website
www.state.gov/s/cpr/blair/

Federal (Blair House and Lee House)

The President's Guest House, commonly known as Blair House, is a complex of four formerly separate buildings—Blair House, Lee House, Peter Parker House, and 704 Jackson Place—located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. A major interior renovation of these 19th century residences between the 1950s and 1980s resulted in their reconstitution as a single facility.

The President's Guest House is one of several residences owned by the United States government for use by the President and Vice President of the United States; other such residences include the White House, Camp David, One Observatory Circle, the Presidential Townhouse, and Trowbridge House. The President's Guest House has been called "the world's most exclusive hotel" because it is primarily used to host visiting dignitaries and other guests of the president. It is larger than the White House and closed to the public.

Strictly speaking, "Blair House" refers to one of four existing structures that were merged to form a single building. The U.S. State Department generally uses the name Blair House to refer to the entire facility, saying, "Blair House is the building officially known as The President's Guest House." The General Services Administration refers to the entire complex as the "President's Guest House" and uses the name Blair House to denote the historic Blair House portion of the facility.

Blair House was constructed in 1824; it is the oldest of the four structures that comprise the President's Guest House. The original brick house was built as a private home for Joseph Lovell, eighth Surgeon General of the United States Army. It was acquired in 1836 by Francis Preston Blair, a newspaper publisher and influential advisor to President Andrew Jackson, and remained in his family for the following century.