Not much has been known about the United States President’s official guest house, Blair House by Nigerians until President Muhammadu Buhari was invited for a working visit by the President of the United States, Barack Obama.
THE HERALD therefore, brings a detailed history about the House and what makes it unique for President Buhari to be hosted in the house. It is said that an invitation from the President of the United States to occupy this historic residence is an honour of the highest significance. He is the first Nigerian president and also the first from West Africa to stay in the house after an invitation from the U.S President.
Blair House is the official state guest house for the President of the United States. It is located at 1651–1653 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., opposite the Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House, off the corner of Lafayette Park. Blair House has served as the President’s Guest House since its purchase by the U.S. government in World War II. Under the stewardship of the Department of State, it welcomes visiting heads of state, ambassadors, and other notables in gracious, secure surroundings in the heart of the nation’s capital
Built as a private home in 1824, Blair House has played an important role in nearly 190 years of American political, diplomatic and cultural history—from Andrew Jackson’s “Kitchen Cabinet,” to private chats with Abraham Lincoln, to Harry S. Truman’s crucial leadership as World War II ended and the Cold War began. Now, as then, U.S. Presidents continue to rely on Blair House as a significant foreign policy tool.
In 1859, Blair built a house for his daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth Blair Lee and Captain Samuel Phillips Lee, at 1653 Pennsylvania Avenue, next door to Blair House at 1651 Pennsylvania Avenue. Captain Lee (later an admiral) was a grandson of Richard Henry Lee and third cousin of Robert E. Lee. The houses have since been combined, and the complex is sometimes referred to as the Blair-Lee House, though Blair House is the official name today.
In 1942, the house was purchased by the U.S. government and has since been the official residence for guests of the U.S. president. Blair House is primarily used to house foreign heads of state visiting the president (when foreign leaders stay there, the house flies their flag), but it has also been used for domestic guests. Several presidents-elect of the United States and their families have spent the last few nights before their initial inauguration as guests in the house.
During much of the presidency of Harry Truman, it served as the residence of the president of the United States, while the interior of the White House, which had been found to have serious structural faults, was completely gutted and rebuilt. The east and west wings of the White House, constructed in 1942 and 1902, respectively, remained in operation while the main structure was rebuilt; President Truman commuted between Blair House and the West Wing each day. On November 1, 1950, Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate President Truman in Blair House. The assassination was foiled, in part by White House Policeman Leslie Coffelt, who killed Torresola, but was mortally wounded by him. A plaque at Blair House commemorates Coffelt’s heroism and sacrifice.
Composed of four seamlessly connected townhomes—two on Pennsylvania Avenue and two facing Lafayette Park on Jackson Place—Blair House retains the unique outward appearance of each original house with a carefully integrated interior.
Today, the complex contains more than 120 rooms, a total area of 60,600 square feet, and a staff of 18 full-time employees to oversee all aspects of hospitality and maintenance.
Blair House has 14 guestrooms, each with a full bathroom, three formal dining rooms, two large conference rooms, a hot and cold kitchen overseen by an executive chef and sous chef, a fully equipped beauty salon, an exercise room, and an in-house laundry facility.
An invitation from the President of the United States to occupy this historic residence is an honour of the highest significance. Operated by the Office of the Chief of Protocol, U.S. Department of State (www.state.gov/s/cpr), Blair House provides accommodations for visiting foreign delegations and office space for State Department protocol, security, facilities and curatorial representatives, as well as for the Blair House Restoration Fund.
The Blair House staff extends the finest of American hospitality to its guests, ensuring their experience is cordial, comfortable and secure and appropriately conveys the honour to which they are entitled. When visiting leaders reside here, the flags of their nations fly proudly over Blair House, a courtesy that serves as both a gracious welcome and a symbol of the home’s crucial role in diplomatic relations.
Blair House serves as a site for American diplomacy in action. In addition to functioning as the President’s Guest House for visiting foreign leaders, Blair House is a stage for a multitude of internationally focused events that help to advance America’s relationship with foreign nations.
Such events have included a summit of the G-8 Foreign Ministers, hosted in 2012 by then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and many initiatives for the Washington Diplomatic Corps hosted by the Chief of Protocol, including “State of the Administration” briefings by Cabinet members and White House officials, and cultural and culinary exchanges for foreign diplomats and their families. President Obama hosted a healthcare summit with congressional leaders at Blair House in 2010.
Blair House is the residence of the president-elect in the days prior to moving into the White House. Blair House also serves as a residence for the family of a deceased former President during a state funeral. It is at Blair House where the family receives condolence calls from former Presidents and First Ladies, foreign leaders, and friends.
A typical schedule for Blair House in a calendar year may include up to thirty visits by foreign leaders, multiple foreign policy–related luncheons, dinners, receptions and teas, and countless official meetings, all of which underscore the unique diplomatic role of the President’s Guest House.
Premier League