The facade of Dumbarton Oaks, a historic estate and home to the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, located at 3101 R Street NW in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
The central portion of the home was built in 1801 by William Hammond Dorsey. Later in the 1800s, owner Edward Magruder Linthicum greatly expanded the residence and named it The Oaks. The home's most notable past resident is Senator and Vice President John C. Calhoun, who lived at The Oaks from 1822-1829.
In 1920, Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss purchased the property and began a multiyear renovation and expansion. The finished project, renamed Dumbarton Oaks, was designed by architect Frederick H. Brooke in the Colonial Revival style. The enlarged gardens were designed by landscape architect Beatrix Farrand. In 1940, the house and a portion of the gardens were given to Harvard University, Robert Bliss’s alma mater.
The estate was added to the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites in 1964. The building is also designated as a contributing property to the Georgetown Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1967.
