Lafayette Square Historic District, Washington, D.C.

Lafayette Square Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District
Equestrian sculpture of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square
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Location	President's Park, Washington, D.C.
Coordinates	38°53′58.3″N 77°02′11.6″W / 38.899528°N 77.036556°W / 38.899528; -77.036556
Built	1851
Architect	Pierre Charles L'Enfant; Et al.
Architectural style	Late Victorian, Federal
NRHP reference No.	70000833
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	August 29, 1970[1]
Designated NHLD	August 29, 1970[2]

The Lafayette Square Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District in Washington, D.C., encompassing a portion of the original L'Enfant Plan for the city's core. It includes the 7-acre (2.8 ha) Lafayette Square portion of President's Park, all of the buildings facing it except the White House, and the buildings flanking the White House to the east and west. The district was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970.^[2][3]

Lafayette Square has been used as a racetrack, a graveyard, a zoo, a slave market, an encampment for soldiers during the War of 1812, and many political protests and celebrations. Andrew Jackson Downing landscaped Lafayette Square in 1851 in the picturesque style.

Lafayette Square is surrounded by buildings dating back to the early 19th century, and are in a variety of styles. Due to their proximity to the nation's centers of power, many of them have significance of their own, and are independently listed as National Historic Landmarks.

The west side of Lafayette Square is Jackson Place. It is lined by a series of townhouses that were built in the mid-to-late 19th century. The two at the southern end are part of the Blair House complex for visiting dignitaries; one of these, the Peter Parker House, is a National Historic Landmark. 734 Jackson Place is also known as the American Peace Society house, and 736 Jackson Place was a temporary residence of 26th President Theodore Roosevelt while the White House underwent renovation in 1902. 748 Jackson Place, at the north end of the block, is called the Decatur House; it is a prominent surviving design of Benjamin Henry Latrobe.

Flanking the White House on the west side is the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, constructed 1871–1888, as the State, War and Navy Department Building, once the world's largest office building.

Lafayette Square is flanked on the north by H Street. From west to east, the buildings lining the street are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Building, the Hay–Adams Hotel, St. John's Episcopal Church, the Ashburton House, and the headquarters of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

Two

• List of National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C.
• National Register of Historic Places listings in central Washington, D.C.

• Moser, Edward P. The White House's Unruly Neighborhood: Crime, Scandal and Intrigue in the History of Lafayette Square (McFarland, 2020) online review.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lafayette Square Historic District.

• Lafayette Square Historic District, NRHP 'travel itinerary' listing at the National Park Service
• Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. DC-676, "Lafayette Square, Washington, District of Columbia, DC", 9 photos, 3 measured drawings, 32 data pages, 1 photo caption page
• HABS No. DC-810, "Lafayette Square, Jackson Place", 1 color transparency, 1 photo caption page