Fun Facts about Blair House - The Official State Guest House

At the corner of Lafayette Park, just opposite to the Old Executive Office Building of the White House, at 1651-1653 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington D.C, the grand building of Blair House is situated.

The house was built for Mr. Joseph Lovell who was the 8th Surgeon General of the United States in 1824. In 1836, Francis Preston Blair bought it and since then it is named as Blair House. In 1859, when Francis Preston built another house nearby it for his daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth Blair Lee and Captain Samuel Phillips Lee, the combined house was established by the name Blair Lee House.

Meet the Blairs

http://blairhouse.org/h_blairs.html

The Blair House was then purchased by U.S government in 1942 and was made official State Guest House for the guests of the US President.

Blair House History

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blair_House#History

The Blair Lee House combined is larger than the White House. The total area of the Blair house is 70,000 square feet and it has 119 rooms with 14 guests room, eight staff bed rooms, 35 bathrooms, 4 dining rooms, kitchen facilities, dry cleaning and laundry facilities, and an exercise room. The Blair house is also equipped with a flower shop and a fully advanced hair salon

Comfort at the Blair House

http://blairhouse.org/h_house.html

Many of the prominent historical figures of the world's political regimes have stayed in and enjoyed the excellent comfort of Blair House. The list includes President Harry S Truman with his wife and daughter to Indian First Prime Minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru along with his daughter Indira Gandhi.

Ronald Reagan and his wife visited Blair House on 28th April 1988. Margaret Thatcher, Queen Elizabeth, Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin and Pervez Musharraf are the other prominent political leaders who visited Blair House during their tenure.

Blair House Guest Book

http://blairhouse.org/s_guestbook.html