A day after making history by swearing-in as America's first female, first black and first Asian American vice president, Kamala Harris decamped with the country's debut second gentleman to Blair House. Also known as the President's Guest House, Blair House is Harris' temporary home for the foreseeable future while much-needed repairs are carried out at the US Naval Observatory – the official vice president's residence.
With no completion date set for the renovations at the observatory, Madame VP and her husband may be living at Blair House for quite some time. The luxurious executive mansion is around the corner from the White House and has been dubbed the world's most exclusive hotel, with the five-star amenities and service to match.
Blair House is made up of four huge 19th-century townhouses that have been merged to form a 119-room, 35-bathroom mega-mansion, which at 70,000 square feet, is actually bigger than the White House. The oldest property, a private home built for US Army Surgeon General Dr Joseph Lovell, dates from 1824. The interiors whisper refined elegance, including the Dillon Drawing Room with its exquisite 18th-century Chinese wallpaper, Ming vases and antique English furniture.
The original Blair House was purchased by the US government during the Second World War. The decision to buy the property to accommodate visiting dignitaries was said to have been made after the Roosevelts tired of foreign VIPs staying at the White House. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, for instance, had a habit of roaming the corridors at all hours, and once turned up at the president's private quarters at 3am for a late-night convo, much to Eleanor Roosevelt's annoyance. A vision in yellow, the Guest House's Eisenhower Sitting Room is pictured here.
Blair House was the primary residence for President Truman and his family from 1948 to 1952 while the White House was being renovated. In 1950, the mansion hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons when Puerto Rican nationalists attempted to assassinate the POTUS at the property. His personal office, now known as the Truman Study, features an ornate fireplace mantel that was relocated from the White House.
Over the years, the adjacent townhouses were acquired. Notable dignitaries who have stayed at the property include Queen Elizabeth II, Charles de Gaulle, Margaret Thatcher, Vladimir Putin and Justin Trudeau. A staff of 18 including an executive chef cater to guests' every whim, with gourmet meals served in any one of the mansion's three gorgeous dining rooms. This beauty, the Lee Dining Room, has an Irish crystal chandelier dating from 1825 and is decorated with Chinese porcelain and English panelling from the Georgian era.
Blair House is also the place presidents traditionally stay before their inauguration, at least it has been since 1977. The grandest of the property's 14 bedrooms is the master suite. This is almost certainly the room the VP and second gentleman are sleeping in. It was recently revamped by DC-based designer Thomas Pheasant, who opted to update the décor with a muted colour palette and luxurious finishes.
The new vice president's official abode is One Observatory Circle, which is located on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory, hence the name. The 33-room Queen Anne-style mansion was built in 1893 at a cost of $20,000 – around $579,000 (£432k) in today's money – to accommodate the observatory's superintendent and was subsequently the home of several admirals.
The 9,150-square-foot mansion became the official vice president's residence in 1974 – previously, veeps lived in private homes or hotels – but the first VP to reside at the property full-time, Walter Mondale, didn't move in until 1977. While very fancy, One Observatory Circle has a cosy feel as you can see from this shot of the entry foyer captured during an event in 2010.
The now-former Second Lady Karen Pence unveiled her Christmas decorations on Instagram in late November, providing a glimpse into the official residence. The living room's damask drapes, plush furnishings and patterned rug are understated and the residence is far less heavy on antiques and grandeur than Blair House. Perhaps the modern Madame VP and the second gentleman may actually prefer the paired back décor?
The dining room, which is the largest room in the mansion, is equally lovely with its high ceiling, dual-aspect windows and eight-seater table. Fitted with a crystal chandelier, white ornate fireplace and a beautiful wooden floor, this a space perfectly suited to celebrating special occasions.
In addition to the living and dining rooms, the ground floor of One Observatory Circle comprises a capacious reception hall with a fireplace, a sitting room, two lounges, a pantry kitchen, garage and garden room, which leads out to this charming veranda, the perfect place to kick back on a balmy evening. An underground bunker, put in by Dick Cheney following the 9/11 attacks, allegedly lies beneath the property.
The master bedroom and a guest bedroom, office and den are all on the second floor, and there are a further four bedrooms on the third storey, which formerly housed servants. Outside, a heated pool installed by former VP Dan Quayle is at the residents' disposal. Kamala and Doug will have to wait until repairs are carried out on the chimneys and other maintenance tasks are completed to move in and put their mark on the property.
If you're wondering how the vice president and her husband will decorate their new home, the couple's primary private residence in upscale Brentwood, Los Angeles, should no doubt give you a good idea. Shown here from above (it's the building in the centre with the kidney-shaped pool), the property is part of a mini real estate empire worth millions.
The 3,505-square-foot house was purchased in 2012 by Emhoff and transferred to a shared ownership trust after he married Harris. Emhoff paid $2.7 million (£2m) and the property is now valued at $5.2 million (£3.8m) – this is Brentwood after all where celebs like LeBron James, Gwyneth Paltrow and Arnold Schwarzenegger have homes. Harris gave us a glimpse of her home in a number of Zoom calls while on the virtual campaign trail last year, including this stylish home office.
In total, the house has four bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms, two living rooms, a kitchen, a compact garden and that large swimming pool. Like the home office, living room number one is tastefully decorated with a soft colour palette of brown, beige and white, and chic accents such as a faux fur cushion and abstract figurine.
The second living room is more traditional in appearance with wall panels, a Victorian-inspired fireplace and handsome cornices. With walls painted a bold navy blue colour, the space is peppered with understated antique pieces like the gilt-frame mirror hanging above the mantelpiece and the brass chandelier.
In contrast, the veep's kitchen is starkly contemporary. The on-trend grey cabinets are minimal and work wonderfully with the white granite countertops. And if her kettle by cult Italian manufacturer Alessi, stainless steel baking equipment, and matching salt and pepper pots are anything to go by, the nation's most powerful woman has a penchant for quality appliances and cool kitchenware.
Harris bagged a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in this brand new development in Washington DC's Foggy Bottom locale in 2017 when she was elected to the Senate and needed a base in the capital. Then just a California Senator, she paid $1.8 million (£1.3m) for the 1,700-square-foot apartment, which is one of 71 units in the 10-storey Westlight complex. The place is currently valued by Zillow at just under $2 million (£1.5m).
The LEED Gold certified building is big on amenities, with residents enjoying everything from a heated rooftop pool to a private clubroom and 24-hour concierge service. The veep is yet to reveal the interior via Zoom but this neighbouring two-bedroom apartment, which was listed with DC Modern Homes for $1.8 million (£1.3m), has a similar layout and stunning floor-to-ceiling windows.
Completing the veep's property portfolio is a 1,000-square-foot loft apartment in San Francisco's SoMa district. Conveniently located near the Hall of Justice and DA Office, Harris bought it for $489,000 (£358k) in 2004 when she assumed her role as the city's district attorney. The most modest of her properties, it is nonetheless worth a hefty $890,000 (£651k) these days.
The Bidens are the latest in a long line of presidents and first ladies to live in the White House, the first being John and Abigail Adams way back in 1800. Following the inauguration, the couple walked part of the way from the Capitol to America's iconic neo-classical executive mansion to officially take up residence, a tradition that was originated in 1977 by Jimmy Carter.
Donald and Melania Trump had vacated the property only hours before leaving for their Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The Bidens are making themselves at home in the Executive Residence, the columned central building of the White House between the East and West Wings, but won't have had a chance yet to redecorate. The couple, not to mention their German Shepherd dogs Champ and Major, have the run of two floors.
The president and first lady are pictured here in the State Dining Room at the National Prayer Service that followed the inauguration. This room is located on the State Floor along with the less formal Family Dining Room, the grand Red, Blue and Green Rooms, Cross and Entrance Halls and massive East Room.
Upstairs, the principal rooms include the President's Private Sitting Room, Dining Room and Bedroom, and just two other bedrooms, the Queen's and Lincoln Bedrooms. While the Bidens haven't got around to tweaking the residence to their taste, which is considerably less exuberant than the Trumps', the president didn't waste any time in switching up the Oval Office.
While Biden has kept the gold drapes installed by his predecessor, he has removed the military flags, swapped the sunburst carpet designed by Laura Bush for a deep blue rug that decorated the room in the Clinton years, and ditched Trump's Diet Coke button box. The Winston Churchill bust is out, replaced by busts of Martin Luther King, JFK, Rosa Parks and union leader Cesar Chavez, while the painting of controversial president Andrew Johnson has been jettisoned in favour of a portrait of Benjamin Franklin.
The president's other official residence is Camp David, a country retreat situated at an undisclosed location in Maryland's Catoctin Mountain Park. Camp David was constructed in the 1930s as a vacation camp for federal agents and their families and converted into a rural residence by President Roosevelt in 1942. The Aspen Lodge serves as the president's cabin. Pictured here in 1961, it hasn't changed much over the years but now features a pool in the backyard.
The accommodation is famously no-frills and while some presidents – including Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama – loved roughing it at the relatively basic retreat, others were not so enamoured. Donald Trump rarely visited. “Camp David is very rustic; it’s nice; you’d like it,” he is said to have remarked. “You know how long you’d like it? For about 30 minutes.”
The Bidens' primary private residence is this 6,850-square-foot house in the leafy Wilmington suburb of Greenville. The pair bought the land in 1996 for $350,000 (£256k) and had the home built to their exact specifications. The four-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom property was completed in 1998 and is now worth in the region of $2 million (£1.5m) according to the Wall Street Journal.
Despite his humble roots, 'Middle Class Joe' once described himself as the poorest member of Congress. Biden was eventually able to afford an upper-class home but considered selling it after his son Beau was diagnosed in 2013 with brain cancer, in order to fund the treatment. The then VP was talked out of it by Barack Obama, who offered to loan him the money instead. According to the Boston Globe, Biden ran much of his presidential campaign from a studio set up in the mansion's basement recreation room.
The presidential candidate often appeared in Zoom videos with the soon-to-be FLOTUS, Dr Jill Biden from the house in Delaware. Here they are sitting on a leather Chesterfield sofa in what looks like the living room. A fitting touch that echoes Kamala Harris' own Brentwood home, the walls are painted Democrat blue.
Dr Jill Biden posted this picture on Instagram of herself dyeing eggs for Easter back in April 2019, giving us serious kitchen envy in the process. The room's Shaker-style cabinets and central island are simply divine, as are the marble countertops, stainless steel range cooker, vintage-style tap and toaster, and pale blue tiles.
Still, the kitchen is not flash in any way and the homely, down-to-earth theme pervades the rest of the house. The sitting room, which looks out to a covered patio, is refreshingly ordinary. A lived-in brown leather sofa and cream armchair sit on a woven sisal rug, while a brass lamp with a simple cream shade and wool throw are among the few accents.
The couple's other private property is this picture-perfect 4,786-square-foot house in Rehoboth Beach on the Delaware Shore. The pair snapped up the six-bedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom home in 2017 for $2.7 million (£2m), fulfilling a long-held aspiration to own a vacation property by the ocean.
The president released a statement at the time gushing about the purchase. “Throughout our careers, Jill and I have dreamed of being able to buy a place at the beach where we can bring the whole family. We feel very lucky that we're now able to make that happen and are looking forward to spending time with our family in the place that matters most to us in the world,” he wrote.
The property, which has a large living room, dining room, chef's kitchen and plethora of other desirable features besides the ample six bedrooms and five-and-a-half bathrooms, will now likely be labelled the 'Summer White House', the name typically given to private vacation residences of sitting presidents.
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