Cleveland Abbe House - Washington, D.C.

The Cleveland Abbe House is located on I Street in Washington, D.C.  This three-story Federal Style brick row home was built by Timothy Caldwell sometime between 1802 and 1805.  During the years the house has had a string of famous occupants.  In April of 1811 James Madison moved in.  He had just been appointed the Secretary of State by President James Madison.  After the burning of the Capitol by the British during the War of 1812, Madison appointed Monroe as Secretary of War on September 27, 1814.  During the 1916 presidential elections Madison became the 5th United States President.  He was inaugurated in March, 1817.  He would continue to live here for his first several months as president until the White House was officially reopened in September.  Between 1860 and 1861 the home was occupied by politician and historian Charles Farncis Adams Sr., the grandson of John Adams, and son of John Quincy Adams.  Along with him lived his son Henry Adams, who would go on to become a noted historian.  From 1877 to 1909 the home was lived in by Cleveland Abbe, the noted meteorologist and founder of the U.S. Weather Bureau.  A paper he wrote in 1879 was influential in helping to establish the time-zone system in the United States.  In 1916 the Arts Club of Washington purchased the building.  The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975.  There is a plaque outside the front door honoring Cleveland Abbe, and a plaque in the front yard honoring James Monroe.

 Submit photo(s) for this home.