Whittemore House Museum

By Chang Se-moon

Those of you who live in Washington, D.C., or plan to visit the area may want to take a look at the Whittemore House Museum. The Whittemore House was built between 1892 and 1894 as a private residence.

Like so many beautiful homes, the Whittemore House was built by Washington architect Harvey L. Page for opera singer Sarah Adams Whittemore. Like so many beautiful stories, Sara Whittemore never lived in the house that was built for her.

Late last month, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a fundraising event of the WNDC Educational Foundation at the beautiful house. Although WNDC stands for the Woman's National Democratic Club, the Educational Foundation is a separate entity that raises money for many worthy causes that are politically neutral and makes its own decisions on where the money is spent.

Since many people rent the house for weddings and family celebrations, and since many simply visit the place for its rich history, I was curious what role the house has played in local high society.

The WNDC purchased the house in 1927 for use as its clubhouse, which was described in the May 1927 issue of the New York Sun as being “one of the finest old homes in the heart of Washington's most exclusive resident section.”

The entrance hall is an English oak-paneled foyer with coffered ceilings. Out in the yard, there is a small garden called Lady Bird Garden. Lady Bird was the first lady of President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s, well known for his Great Society programs. The new garden was dedicated May 17 with “High Tea and Champagne.” It was nice.

The first floor also houses an incredibly beautiful ballroom where social events take place. The ballroom is so tempting for dancing, I finally gave in to dance to the piano tune played by Jill Parsons, a popular pianist in the area.

The second floor has many rooms full of history. The 1870s Room has a chandelier that was originally hung in Hotel George V in Paris in 1928 and was donated to the club in honor of Joan W. Millen. The Eleanor Roosevelt Room is the site of Eleanor Roosevelt radio broadcasts. The room has the Francis Perkins Desk. Francis Perkins is the first female cabinet member and secretary of labor under the FDR administration.

The Q Street Pub on the second floor has first lady portraits of Bess Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, Edith Wilson, Dolley Madison and Martha Washington.

Since 1927, the WNDC Club hosted in the house nearly every Democratic president and presidential candidate in addition to many senators, congressmen, cabinet members, diplomats and world leaders. Anyone can tour the house, although you might want to visit thewhittemorehouse.com before you visit to truly appreciate its heritage.

You may also be interested in knowing what the WNDC Educational Foundation is all about, since leaders of the foundation are deeply concerned with improving the quality of life in the D.C. area and beyond. The importance of the foundation is that its programs are all politically neutral and aimed to improve life for future generations. The primary objective of the foundation is to empower the homeless and low-income women.

The foundation is led almost all by female volunteers with the beautiful Anne Martin as its current president. Importantly it can be a prototypic civic entity that can be duplicated anywhere in the world.

The foundation's programs include the availability of computer-based audiovisual systems that hearing-impaired members of society can use easily. The programs also include the Young Woman's Leadership Program through which a small group of high school juniors are selected and invited for nonpartisan discussions of vital public issues.

The foundation developed the “Village Volunteers” program to tutor the Washington, D.C., public school students at the Whittemore House. The program would target students and schools from neighborhoods in greatest need for a weekly, one-hour tutoring session.

The foundation also began a cooperative program with a D.C. organization, For Love of Children, in which WNDC members and other volunteers tutor middle and high school students from D.C. public schools at the Whittemore House.

The foundation aims to reach global donors as its fundraising efforts allow its leaders to implement its noble goals. Note that all these efforts center around the Whittemore House to which the foundation strives to add rare collections.

The Whittemore House welcomes self-guided tours free of charge, group tours for 10 or more visitors also free of charge, and private group functions of all kinds for rent with PowerPoint capabilities. The house has my favorite, the beautiful and cozy ballroom, which is difficult to believe exists in such a busy and crowded neighborhood.

Chang Se-moon (changsemoon@yahoo.com) is the director of the Gulf Coast Center for Impact Studies.