The Prestige Angle

By Rebecca Park, Contributor

Massachusetts Ave, Embassy Row, Dupont Circle. The addresses that evoke the history and hustle-and-bustle of the heart of America’s international community. And at 15 Dupont Circle, the current home of the Washington Club exemplifies the style and substance of DC diplomacy, yesterday and today.

Built between 1900 and 1902 by celebrated New York architect Stanford White for Chicago Tribune editor Robert Patterson and his wife, the house soon became the social hub of Washington. The flapper glamour and Depression-era high-life of the ’20s and ’30s encapsulated the reign of their daughter, newspaper published Eleanor “Cissy” Medill Patterson, who became the owner in 1923. During the 20-plus years that she owned the house, the celebrated address hosted visits from dignitaries ranging President Calvin Coolidge and Charles Lindbergh, on his return from his historic transatlantic flight. When the Washington Club bought the building in 1951, a two-story addition provided even more space for parties, theater and business lunch breaks.

Designed for entertaining, the historic home boasts richly decorated expanses of space, from top to bottom. The entrance mirrors the ornate façade, with a white marbled foyer that encircles the recent arrival, who receives the warmest welcome a distant figure could impart. One of the District’s first elevators, the original with its heavy wood paneling still runs, creaking as the visitor travels up to the second floor. There, the sprawling ballroom, both simple and sumptuous with delicate chandeliers and coffered ceiling, vaults the party-goer. Even the fourth floor servant’s quarters benefits from freshly beamed-in sun through their original skylights

The quirks of the building—and they abound—reflect the spirit of architect White and the demands of the socialite Patterson family. Yann Henrotte, the Washington Club’s current director theorizes that the English wood molding, which White would have found in this travels abroad, in the drawing room dictated the floor plan of the entire building by establishing the dimensions of the rooms around the house’s central axis. The ballroom ceiling reaches 17 feet, necessitating extra stairs on the third floor, as the rest of the second floor must settle for lowly 14 foot ceilings. Most remarkably, the house is built on an angle to accommodate an address on the Circle, which means the visitor can amble about yet always end up somewhere central.

Idiosyncrasies aside, a strict logic governs the building. “The way he [White] designed the house was great,” explained Henrotte. “Because, doesn’t matter if you have 20 people or 150 people, you still feel very comfortable.” Which means that, even today, a private affair or public gathering, much like many of the stately better-known buildings on Embassy Row.

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