Woodrow Wilson House

Woodrow Wilson House

Woodrow Wilson House, National Trust for Historic Preservation Franz Jantzen

Woodrow Wilson House, National Trust for Historic Preservation

1915, Waddy B. Wood. 2340 S St. NW

The best of Wood's three buildings on the street (also see SK63 and SK66) is the home Woodrow Wilson lived in subsequent to his presidency. Its facade composition was directly inspired by Robert Adam's Society of Arts in London (1772–1776). Three Palladian windows outlined by shallow fluted stone arches define the prominent main story of the cubic building. The countercurves of the delicately wrought portico and the oval panels that mark the centers of the bays on the third story are an inversion of the forms and compositional elements that one expects. The sophistication of Wood's facade is not replicated in the house's spatial development, but it nonetheless merits a visit. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has operated the house as a museum since 1963.

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