Obamas Move to Blair House Before Inauguration
The Obamas, who have been staying at a hotel in Washington, couldn't move into Blair House until Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a temporary guest, left.
Five days before he moves into the White House, President-elect Barack Obama and his family were moving across the street from it on Thursday -- into Blair House, the government's official guest residence.
Built in 1824, Blair House has provided a temporary home to every president since Andrew Jackson. Since 1942, it also has served as a guest house for visiting heads of state.
With 119 rooms and 70,000 square feet of space, Blair House is actually bigger than the White House. The complex includes 14 guest bedrooms, eight staff bedrooms, 35 bathrooms, four dining rooms, kitchen facilities, laundry and dry cleaning facilities, an exercise room, a flower shop, and a fully equipped hair salon.
The complex is filled with history. Abraham Lincoln offered command of the Union Army to Robert E. Lee there before the Civil War. Lee, knowing that his native Virginia was about to secede from the union, declined the offer. Two days later, he resigned from the U.S. Army and assumed command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
In 1950, President Harry S. Truman survived an assassination attempt there by a pair of Puerto Rican nationalists seeking to bring attention to their homeland's independence movement. The would-be-assassins, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Toresola, injured two White House policemen and killed one in an exchange of gunfire. Collazo was injured and Griselio Torresola was killed.
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Five days before he moves into the White House, President-elect Barack Obama and his family were moving across the street from it on Thursday -- into Blair House, the government's official guest residence.
Built in 1824, Blair House has provided a temporary home to every president since Andrew Jackson. Since 1942, it also has served as a guest house for visiting heads of state.
With 119 rooms and 70,000 square feet of space, Blair House is actually bigger than the White House. The complex includes 14 guest bedrooms, eight staff bedrooms, 35 bathrooms, four dining rooms, kitchen facilities, laundry and dry cleaning facilities, an exercise room, a flower shop, and a fully equipped hair salon.
The complex is filled with history. Abraham Lincoln offered command of the Union Army to Robert E. Lee there before the Civil War. Lee, knowing that his native Virginia was about to secede from the union, declined the offer. Two days later, he resigned from the U.S. Army and assumed command of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
In 1950, President Harry S. Truman survived an assassination attempt there by a pair of Puerto Rican nationalists seeking to bring attention to their homeland's independence movement. The would-be-assassins, Oscar Collazo and Griselio Toresola, injured two White House policemen and killed one in an exchange of gunfire. Collazo was injured and Griselio Torresola was killed.