1785 Massachusetts Avenue
National Trust for Historic Preservation Headquarters
The headquarters of the National Trust for Historic Preservation at 1785 Massachusetts Avenue was commissioned by Katherine McCormick and designed by Jules H. DeSibour to complement its Beaux-Arts neighborhood. It was built in 1916 as one of Washington's first luxury apartment buildings; the six apartments were once occupied by some of Washington's most distinguished citizens including industrialist Andrew Mellon, diplomats Sumner Welles and Robert Woods Bliss, and Washington hostess Perle Mesta. While Andrew Mellon lived in the 5th floor apartment at 1785 Massachusetts, upon the recommendation of his assistant David Finley and with the help of art dealer Lord Duveen, he began collecting paintings and sculpture which became the core collection of the National Gallery of Art. As a result, 1785 Massachusetts Avenue is a National Historic Landmark, a distinction attained only by properties of national significance to United States history and culture.
The typical apartment consisted of a 24x45 foot living room, a dining room, a reception foyer and two flanking foyers, a salon, six bedrooms adjoining four baths, two coat rooms, a trunk room, cedar closets, five maids' rooms and two maids' baths, a servants dining room, a kitchen, a butler's pantry, more than 18 closets and wardrobes, six fireplaces, a laundry chute connected to individual tenant laundry facilities in the basement, and two guest bathrooms.
The entire building was equipped with central vacuuming facilities. Nine chimneys served the total of 45 fireplaces. Each apartment featured raised paneling, decorative herringbone parquet wood flooring, carved marble fireplace mantels, and solid mahogany doors with brass hardware. The ceilings measure 14-1/2 feet high. During World War II, the apartments were converted into office space for the British War Commission, and then used by other organizations until the National Trust purchased the building in 1977. The National Trust moved into the building in 1979 after an extensive rehabilitation and adaptive use. The work and history of the National Trust, along with the preservation movement throughout the United States, is featured in a photographic exhibit throughout the building.
