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Where Was Grover Cleveland’s House?

March 22, 2015

Here at CPHS, we’ve received quite a flurry of queries from neighbors recently about where Grover Cleveland’s house was. We’re not sure what prompted the sudden interest,* but it seemed like a good topic for a blog post.

Oak View-LOC
Oak View (Library of Congress via Ghosts of DC)

First, some basics:

  • President Cleveland acquired the house in what would become Cleveland Park in 1886, during his first term as President, the year he married Frances Folsom.
  • He bought an 1868 stone farmhouse south of Rosedale from George Forrest Green, grandson of the 18th-century owner of Rosedale (then called “Pretty Prospects”), and hired architect William Poindexter to Victorianize it with the many porches and turrets you see in the picture above.
  • Red TopsThe house’s roofs were red, and everyone called it “Red Top” — everyone, that is, except President Cleveland, who insisted — INSISTED — that its name was Oak View. (Oak View later became the name for the earliest development in this part of the neighborhood.) You can see a color image of Oak View/Red Top on the call box at the corner of Macomb and 35th Streets.
  • Cleveland sold Oak View in 1890 when he was not reelected, and the house was ultimately razed in 1927. (Click here to read an 1890 Washington Post article on the sale of Cleveland’s house.) The house that was built by the new owners of the site in 1927 is the large brick house at 3542 Newark, opposite the entrance to the Rosedale driveway.

We can say with some confidence that the President’s summer property occupied what is now the block between Newark and Macomb and 36th and 35th Streets. Because the house that replaced it is oriented towards Newark Street, it is often assumed that Oak View was, too. But on maps from the time between when Cleveland sold the house and when it was razed, we can see that the house sat much closer to Macomb Street. In this 1903 map, Rosedale is in the square to the north, and President Cleveland’s former property is to the south. The house on that land is marked with the blue arrow:

Baist1903-vol3-plate21 Oak View detail
Location of Oak View on Baist’s Real Estate Atlas for 1903

On the 1903 map, you can see the older street names for Ordway and Macomb Streets, as well as the subdivision names Oak View and Cleveland Heights. Platting and building by developers had begun on the northeast corner of the property, facing Newark.

In the 1919 view of the same blocks, the situation is much the same except that houses have now been built on the southeast corner of Cleveland’s former property, facing Macomb Street:

Oak View 1919 Baist Map
Location of Oak View on Baist’s Real Estate Atlas for 1919

It’s hard to tell from the views of the Cleveland’s house in the images above what vantage point they were taken from, what direction the porches faced, and how the house we see in those images relates to the footprint of the house as depicted in the Baist atlases. If anyone has any more information, please comment and share it with us!

*Ghosts of DC had a great post about President Cleveland’s house in early March, but our mini-flood of queries started before that. Apparently we’re having a Grover Cleveland moment.

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Cleveland Park Historical Society
1 month ago
Cleveland Park Historical Society

Springland Farm: Most Important US Vineyard (September 16 and 17, WalkTown Tours 2023)

As part of WalkTown Tours 2023 (Events DC and Cultural Tourism DC), Chuck Ludlam is again leading a tour of the Springland Farm, arguably the most important vineyard in the history of the US. Springland Farm is located at Tilden/Springland Lane (immediately north of the Cleveland Park Historic District). Signs-ups are open. This tour sells out.

Two Tours: The tour is offered twice: Saturday, September 16 and Sunday, September 17. Both 10:00-12:00.

To sign up for this tour go to: www.eventbrite.com/e/springland-farm-americas-most-important-vineyard-2-tickets-695547179337?aff=...

First-come, first-served. If you sign up and can’t make it, please cancel your reservation so that others can sign up.
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WalkingTown DC | Events DC

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September 16-24 WalkingTown DC is DC’s best public tour program, featuring guided walking tours in neighborhoods throughout the District. More Ways to See DC WalkingTown DC Every September, Washingt...
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Cleveland Park Historical Society
5 months ago
Cleveland Park Historical Society

Vintage postcard of the Broadmoor, at Connecticut Avenue and Porter Street NW in Cleveland Park, a luxury apartment building designed in an eclectic style by noted DC architect Joseph Abel, who specialized in apartment buildings. Completed in 1928, it features a rough "clinkered" brick finish and some hints of Art Deco. ... See MoreSee Less

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Cleveland Park Historical Society
5 months ago
Cleveland Park Historical Society

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