Is the official
residence of the Vice President of the United States.
Located on the
northeast grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., the house was
built in 1893 for its superintendent. The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) liked
the house so much that in 1923 he took over the house for himself. It remained the
residence of the CNO until 1974, when Congress authorized its transformation to
an official residence for the Vice President, though a temporary one. In fact, by
law, it is still the "official temporary residence of the Vice President of
the United States." The 1974 congressional authorization covered the cost of
refurbishment and furnishing the house.
Although Number
One Observatory Circle was made available to the Vice President in 1974, three years
passed before a Vice President lived full-time in the house. Vice President Gerald
Ford became President before he could use the house. His Vice President, Nelson
Rockefeller, primarily used the home for entertaining as he already had a well-secured
residence in Washington, D.C., though the Rockefellers donated millions of dollars
of furnishings to the house. Vice President Walter Mondale was the first Vice President
to move into the house. Every Vice President since has lived there.
The house at
One Observatory Circle was designed by architect Leon E. Dessez and built in 1893
for $20,000 for the use of the superintendent of the Naval Observatory who was the
original resident. It is built in the Queen Anne
style popular in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
It was built
on 13 acres
of land that had originally been part of a 73-acre farm called Northview, which
the Navy purchased in 1880. The home was originally dark red brick. Then in 1960,
it was painted "feather" gray and, in 1963, white with black shutters.
Now it is cream colored.
In 1966, in response to the John
F. Kennedy assassination, Congress passed a law creating "an official residence
for the Vice President of the United States in the District of Columbia" and
designating "approximately ten acres at the United States Naval Observatory"
for such use. The exact location was to be determined by GAO and the Navy later,
and construction was to commence on the residence when funding was available once
the Vietnam War was over. In the interim, the Secret Service paid for expensive
upgrades to the private homes of Vice-Presidents Hubert Humphrey, Spiro Agnew and
Gerald R. Ford. Agnew only lived in his house for three months before resigning,
and shortly thereafter sold it at a large profit, in part because of the upgrades
(additional quarters for the Secret Service, fences and a new driveway for example)
paid for by the government.
This resulted in a minor scandal and a subsequent investigation
showed that it would be cheaper to set up the new Vice-Presidential residence immediately,
rather than continue to secure private homes. In July 1974 Congress passed a new
law to make Admiral's House the "official temporary residence of the Vice-President
of the United States" effective upon the termination of service of the incumbent
Chief of Naval Operations. Work began on preparing Admiral's House to be temporary
Vice-President's residence later that fall, after Nixon's resignation and the CNO
was moved to Quarters A at the Navy Yard.
The house formally
opened as the vice presidential residence in September 1975. However, Nelson Rockefeller,
the vice president at the time, chose to live in his larger private home instead
and only used Admiral's House for entertaining. In January 1977, Walter Mondale
became the first vice president to live in the house, and it has served as the home
of every vice president since.
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