The original Blair House was built in 1824. We describe it as the original Blair House because it is the Pennsylvania Avenue home into which Francis Preston Blair and his family moved in 1837. What is today known as Blair House is in fact the combination of that original home and three other handsome townhouses. While they appear from the outside to be independent of one another, the four homes are connected internally.
Together, the complex is larger than the White House, with 119 rooms and total area of 70,000 square feet. There are 14 guest bedrooms, eight staff bedrooms, 35 bathrooms, four dining rooms, kitchen facilities, laundry and dry cleaning facilities, an exercise room, a flower shop, and a fully equipped hair salon. Blair House strives to be comfortable, discreet and secure, and to provide any service that a visiting dignitary might require.
Political significance
Blair House was a politically significant location almost from the moment the Blair family took up residence. In his role as the publisher of the Globe newspaper, Blair lived a highly political life, and a number of presidents—including Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren and Abraham Lincoln—found his advice, counsel and insight very valuable.
Today, Blair House remains politically important, but in a different way. Since 1942, it has served the nation as a guest house for heads of state visiting the White House. In this role it plays a crucial part in American foreign policy. An invitation to visit the United States and stay at Blair House is an extraordinary honor for a foreign head of state, and the staff at Blair House works tirelessly to ensure that the visit is gracious, comfortable, and conveys the honor to which any head of state—a president, a prime minister, or a reigning monarch—is entitled. In fact, during a foreign leader's stay at Blair House, the flag of that leader's nation flies over Blair House, and Blair House serves as a de facto diplomatic mission of that nation.
This courtesy helps to make a visit—whether a ceremonial appearance or a matter of truly global significance—a comfortable experience for our nation's official guests. In the context of American foreign affairs, the comfort of a stay at Blair House can actually be a matter of national importance!
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Blair House ca. 1945
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