Toutorsky Mansion
Encyclopedia
The Toutorsky Mansion is a five-story, 18-room house located at 1720 16th Street
, NW in the Dupont Circle
neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
The 12000 square feet (1,114.8 m²) mansion was completed in 1894 for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Henry Billings Brown
, who paid $25,000 in 1891 to buy the land from the Riggs
family and spent $40,000 on its construction.
The house was designed by architect William Henry Miller
, the first graduate of Cornell University
's School of Architecture, who modeled the exterior on 16th-century Flemish
buildings, and the interior using a mixture of Gothic
, Elizabethan
, Jacobean
, and Colonial elements. The house contains eight fireplaces and a main staircase featuring hand-carved griffins. "With its stepped and scroll-edged gables, insistent rows of windows, dark red brick, and strong horizontal stone courses, it is a rare iteration of Renaissance Flemish architecture in a city whose architectural ancestry is overwhelmingly English and French," according to the AIA
Guide to the Architecture of Washington, D.C.
The house is a contributing property
to the 16th Street Historic District and cannot be demolished or significantly altered without permission from the city's Historic Preservation Review Board.
-justifying Plessy v. Ferguson
decision and voted to uphold the Chinese Exclusion Act, the nation's first law banning a class of immigrants by race or nationality. Brown lived in the house until he died in 1913.
The house had several owners over the next several decades. From 1924 to 1927, the mansion was rented to the Persian
Legation
to the United States.
In 1942, the house was purchased by the Zionist Organization of America
, which pushed the U.S. government, Congress, and the American public to recognize Israel
in 1948. The group, which used the building as its headquarters through 1947, moved some interior walls to create better office spaces.
, Russia
, Toutorsky was a hereditary nobleman who had studied law at the nobles-only Imperial University of Moscow and music at the Moscow Conservatory of Music. He served in the Imperial Russian Navy
during World War I
, surviving the explosion of the Russian battleship Empress Maria in the Black Sea in 1916; then fought for the White Russian
s who tried to overthrow the October Revolution
. In 1920, he fled from the Crimea
to Turkey and arrived in the United States in 1923. With his wife of 11 years, the Mexican opera singer Maria Ignacia Howard Toutorsky, he opened the Toutorsky Academy of Music and ran it for nearly four decades.
Among the furnishings were collections of dolls; swans; World War I medals, decorations and uniforms; stuffed wild animals; Persian carpets and tapestries; heavy antique furniture; and 21 pianos, including a Bechstein
concert grand on which Franz Liszt
had played.
In November 1988, the Toutorskys bequeathed the house to Johns Hopkins University
's Peabody Conservatory of Music in exchange for an annuity and lifetime use of the mansion's carriage house.
The buyer was Bruce Johnson, who owned a Dupont Circle
firm that performed historic renovations. He pronounced it fundamentally sound, and planned some painting, patching and plastering. Ultimately, he added air-conditioning and bathrooms. The building received much restoration and cosmetic work in preparation for a 1992 fundraising event called "National Symphony Orchestra Decorators' Show House." Johnson used the building to host other community events, meetings and other gatherings. These included "Broadway Cares" benefits for AIDS/HIV research and treatment that featured live performances by cast members of "Angels in America" and other shows visiting the Kennedy Center. Johnson and his partner Keith Kreger also rented out rooms in the house to members of the DC LGBT community, celebrated authors, political biographers, writers for national publications, political organizers, and others.
In 2001, realtor Humberto Gonzalez bought the property for $2.2 million. He sought to run it as a 16-room bed-and-breakfast inn
and event venue, but nearby residents objected, and the city ultimately granted him a license to offer just six rooms for rent. In 2008, Gonzalez began seeking to sell the mansion.
In February 2011, Gonzalez sold the house for $5.75 million to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
, which plans to move its embassy to the property.
16th Street Northwest (Washington, D.C.)
16th Street Northwest is a prominent north-south thoroughfare in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C.Part of Pierre L'Enfant's design for the city, 16th Street begins just north of the White House across Lafayette Park at H Street and continues due north in a straight line passing K Street,...
, NW in the Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood, and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The traffic circle is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue NW, Connecticut Avenue NW, New Hampshire Avenue NW, P Street NW, and 19th Street NW...
neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
The 12000 square feet (1,114.8 m²) mansion was completed in 1894 for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Henry Billings Brown
Henry Billings Brown
Henry Billings Brown was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from January 5, 1891, to May 28, 1906. He was the author of the opinion for the Court in Plessy v...
, who paid $25,000 in 1891 to buy the land from the Riggs
George Washington Riggs
George Washington Riggs was an American businessman and banker. He was known as "The President's Banker."- Life and work :...
family and spent $40,000 on its construction.
The house was designed by architect William Henry Miller
William Henry Miller (architect)
William Henry Miller was an American architect and the first graduate of the architecture school at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.Born in 1848 in Trenton, New York, Miller graduated from Cornell in 1872...
, the first graduate of Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
's School of Architecture, who modeled the exterior on 16th-century Flemish
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
buildings, and the interior using a mixture of Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
, Elizabethan
Elizabethan architecture
Elizabethan architecture is the term given to early Renaissance architecture in England, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Historically, the period corresponds to the Cinquecento in Italy, the Early Renaissance in France, and the Plateresque style in Spain...
, Jacobean
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...
, and Colonial elements. The house contains eight fireplaces and a main staircase featuring hand-carved griffins. "With its stepped and scroll-edged gables, insistent rows of windows, dark red brick, and strong horizontal stone courses, it is a rare iteration of Renaissance Flemish architecture in a city whose architectural ancestry is overwhelmingly English and French," according to the AIA
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
Guide to the Architecture of Washington, D.C.
The house is a contributing property
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to the 16th Street Historic District and cannot be demolished or significantly altered without permission from the city's Historic Preservation Review Board.
History
The mansion "provided shelter for some of the most profound deliberations and negotiations in the nation's history"; while living at the house, Justice Brown wrote the segregationRacial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
-justifying Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in private businesses , under the doctrine of "separate but equal".The decision was handed...
decision and voted to uphold the Chinese Exclusion Act, the nation's first law banning a class of immigrants by race or nationality. Brown lived in the house until he died in 1913.
The house had several owners over the next several decades. From 1924 to 1927, the mansion was rented to the Persian
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
Legation
Legation
A legation was the term used in diplomacy to denote a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an Ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary....
to the United States.
In 1942, the house was purchased by the Zionist Organization of America
Zionist Organization of America
The Zionist Organization of America , founded in 1897, was one of the first official Zionist organizations in the United States, and, especially early in the 20th century, the primary representative of Jewish Americans to the World Zionist Organization, espousing primarily Political Zionism.Today,...
, which pushed the U.S. government, Congress, and the American public to recognize Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in 1948. The group, which used the building as its headquarters through 1947, moved some interior walls to create better office spaces.
Toutorsky purchase
The house was purchased in 1947 by Basil Peter Toutorsky. Born in 1896 in NovocherkasskNovocherkassk
Novocherkassk is a city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Tuzlov River and on the Aksay River. Population: 169,039 ; 170,822 ; 178,000 ; 123,000 ; 81,000 ; 52,000 ....
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Toutorsky was a hereditary nobleman who had studied law at the nobles-only Imperial University of Moscow and music at the Moscow Conservatory of Music. He served in the Imperial Russian Navy
Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, surviving the explosion of the Russian battleship Empress Maria in the Black Sea in 1916; then fought for the White Russian
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
s who tried to overthrow the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
. In 1920, he fled from the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
to Turkey and arrived in the United States in 1923. With his wife of 11 years, the Mexican opera singer Maria Ignacia Howard Toutorsky, he opened the Toutorsky Academy of Music and ran it for nearly four decades.
Among the furnishings were collections of dolls; swans; World War I medals, decorations and uniforms; stuffed wild animals; Persian carpets and tapestries; heavy antique furniture; and 21 pianos, including a Bechstein
C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik
C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik AG is a German manufacturer of pianos, established in 1853 by Carl Bechstein.-Before Bechstein:...
concert grand on which Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
had played.
In November 1988, the Toutorskys bequeathed the house to Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
's Peabody Conservatory of Music in exchange for an annuity and lifetime use of the mansion's carriage house.
Post-Toutorskys
After Maria's death in 1988 and Basil's in 1989, the university rented some rooms to students for $1 a month to keep the house occupied. University officials sought $1.5 million for the house, but ultimately sold it December 1990 for $808,000 and used the proceeds to endow a piano studio and a scholarship fund named for Toutorsky.The buyer was Bruce Johnson, who owned a Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle is a traffic circle, park, neighborhood, and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The traffic circle is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue NW, Connecticut Avenue NW, New Hampshire Avenue NW, P Street NW, and 19th Street NW...
firm that performed historic renovations. He pronounced it fundamentally sound, and planned some painting, patching and plastering. Ultimately, he added air-conditioning and bathrooms. The building received much restoration and cosmetic work in preparation for a 1992 fundraising event called "National Symphony Orchestra Decorators' Show House." Johnson used the building to host other community events, meetings and other gatherings. These included "Broadway Cares" benefits for AIDS/HIV research and treatment that featured live performances by cast members of "Angels in America" and other shows visiting the Kennedy Center. Johnson and his partner Keith Kreger also rented out rooms in the house to members of the DC LGBT community, celebrated authors, political biographers, writers for national publications, political organizers, and others.
In 2001, realtor Humberto Gonzalez bought the property for $2.2 million. He sought to run it as a 16-room bed-and-breakfast inn
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
and event venue, but nearby residents objected, and the city ultimately granted him a license to offer just six rooms for rent. In 2008, Gonzalez began seeking to sell the mansion.
In February 2011, Gonzalez sold the house for $5.75 million to the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, which plans to move its embassy to the property.