Many 'presidential' homes still found around D.C.
Here is a sampling of where commanders in chief lived before and after their time in the White House. Several served as congressmen, senators or Cabinet officials before becoming president, and they tended to move around.
John F. Kennedy, for example, resided in many homes in Georgetown and Washington, D.C., but we list the one he lived in just before he moved into the White House.
This survey of presidential homes may be of use to the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. After all, not too long from now - and perhaps he already has started looking - President Barack Obama is likely to go house hunting in Washington. Because it is doubtful he will uproot his daughter before she finishes high school, he and first lady Michelle Obama will need to find a place to live.
Obama is unlikely to return to the modest rowhouse on Sixth Street NE where he lived as a senator. (The first lady reportedly has turned up her nose at that place.) When it comes time to pick a home, he most likely will follow the majority of his predecessors and choose a place in the District. He may be inspired by one of the following.
The early presidents preferred boardinghouses for their lodgings. William McKinley and his wife, Ida, lived at the Ebbitt House at 14th and F streets NW (now the National Press Club building). James Polk lived at Jonathan Elliott's boardinghouse on Pennsylvania Avenue, and Benjamin Harrison lived at Riggs House. These homes were not luxurious. Rutherford B. Hayes, who took rooms on 13th Street, wrote in a letter to his wife, Lucy, that "my surroundings are so-so." Andrew Jackson and Calvin Coolidge stayed at hotels.
Others lodged with prominent citizens in their homes. William Henry Harrison lived at the E Street home of William Seaton, major of Washington. Andrew Johnson was one of the few presidents to live in Maryland. While vice president, he spent time at Francis Blair's home in Silver Spring.
To see an interactive map showing where the presidents' homes are located, go to wapo.st/prez-homes.
1. Gerald R. Ford
514 Crown View Drive, Alexandria, Virginia
While a congressman, Ford and his wife, Betty, built this house in 1955. The family continued to live there for 10 days at the beginning of Ford's presidency. The Secret Service converted the garage into a command post when Ford became vice president.
2. John F. Kennedy
3307 N St. NW
Kennedy occupied several homes around Georgetown during his time in Washington but this was his last one before he moved into the White House. It was from this house that he conducted his presidential campaign.
3. Herbert Hoover
2300 S St. NW
Hoover served as commerce secretary under President Warren G. Harding while living here. After leaving the White House, he lived there from 1933 to 1944. The home is now the Embassy of Myanmar.
4. Abraham Lincoln
140 Rock Creek Church Road NW
The cottage was known as the summer White House during Lincoln's presidency. Lincoln developed the Emancipation Proclamation while living here. The cottage is now run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
5. Dwight D. Eisenhower
2022 Columbia Road NW
Dwight Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie, lived at the Wyoming from 1927 to 1928 and again from 1929 to 1936 while he was stationed in Washington as an Army major.
6. Calvin Coolidge
1401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
When he moved to Washington, Coolidge thought housing prices were too high. Instead of buying a house, he opted to move into the Willard Hotel in 1925. Franklin Pierce lived at the Willard while awaiting Millard Fillmore's departure from the White House. Abraham Lincoln also stayed there before his inauguration.
7. George H.W. Bush
5161 Palisade Lane NW
The elder President Bush lived in this house while serving as CIA director in the 1970s.
8. Martin Van Buren
1610 H St. NW
The Decatur House served as Van Buren's home during his time as secretary of state under Andrew Jackson. It is now maintained by the White House Historical Association.
9. Woodrow Wilson
2340 S St. NW
With the help of his wealthy wife and friends, Wilson bought this 28-room mansion in Kalorama. In his retirement, he received dignitaries such as British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau there. It is now a museum.
10. Richard Nixon
4308 Forest Lane NW
When Nixon first came to Washington, he rented an apartment in Alexandria for $80 a month. He moved into the Broadmoor on Connecticut Avenue while house-hunting with his wife, Pat, before settling in this home.
11. Warren G. Harding
2314 Wyoming Ave. NW
Harding lived there from 1917 to 1921 while serving as a senator from Ohio.
12. Lyndon B. Johnson
Johnson and his family lived in apartments at the Kennedy-Warren and the Woodley Park Towers before buying a house at 4921 30th Place NW. The Johnsons lived there the longest while in Washington. When LBJ became vice president, they moved to 52nd Street.
13. Theodore Roosevelt
736 Jackson Place NW
The Roosevelts lived there for four months in 1902 while the West Wing was being built.
14. Harry S. Truman
4701 Connecticut Ave. NW, Apt. 209
Truman lived in more apartment houses than any other president - Tilden Gardens, Sedgwick Gardens, Carroll Arms, the Warwick, 3930 Connecticut Ave. and finally 4701 Connecticut Ave. From January 1941 to April 1945, Truman lived there as a senator with his wife, Bess, and daughter, Margaret. It was their favorite home in Washington.
15. Franklin D. Roosevelt
2131 R St. NW
In 1913, when Woodrow Wilson appointed Roosevelt assistant secretary of the Navy, he and his wife, Eleanor, rented Anna Roosevelt Cowles's home at 1733 N St. NW. In the autumn of 1917, they rented this larger home.
16. William H. Taft
2215 Wyoming Ave. NW
From the time he became chief justice in 1921 until his death in 1930, Taft lived in this house. It was the Syrian embassy until 2012.
17. Bill Clinton
D.C.'s Massachusetts Avenue Heights neighborhood
The former president and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, live in this house near the Naval Observatory.
18. James Madison
1799 New York Ave. NW
The president and his wife, Dolley, moved into the Octagon in 1814 after the burning of the White House by the British. It is now a museum.
19. James Monroe
2017 I St. NW
While Monroe served as secretary of state and secretary of war under James Madison, he lived in this house. He continued to live here for several months into his presidency. It is now home to the Arts Club of Washington.
20. George Washington
3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Hwy., Alexandria
Washington's father built a modest 1½-story farmhouse on the land in 1735. Washington inherited the property in 1762, and over the years, expanded the house into a 21-room residence.