In my initial piece on the places associated with Francis Scott Key, we looked at the Key Bridge and Memorial in Georgetown. Today we will talk about the nearby house he and his family lived in from 1805 to 1828.
Key Mansion Site, Southwest corner of M Street and Key Bridge
Costing as much as $75 a square foot, rents run high on M Street in Georgetown. A stones throw away from this glitzy retail row lies a small patch of land. Nothing but a lightpole, sidewalk, grass and trees are there, but to some, the price tag for this property is price less.
This site, across from the Car Barn (an interesting story itself) at 3200 M Street, is where Francis Scott Key and his family lived from 1805 to 1828. Thomas Clark built the Federal style house, later known as the “Key Mansion,” in 1795.
Francis Scott Key was born in Terra Rubra, a Federal-style estate in a rural setting about 60 miles north of Washington. After graduating from St. Johns College in Annapolis, he began his career as a lawyer in Frederick, joining with Arthur Shaaf. A few years later he met and married Mary Tayloe Lloyd of Annapolis. The young couple moved to Georgetown, a lovely spot perched between the bluffs on the western edge of the city and the Potomac River down below. (Georgetown remained separate from Washington until 1871).
“…shady lawn and orchard sloping to the Potomac’s edge, and the terraced garden with its lofty walnut and Lombardy poplars…”
The town of Frederick provided some employment opportunities, but living so close to Washington gave Key the opportunity to learn the law under the tutelage of his uncle, Philip Barton Key. Not a bad choice. Uncle Philip built and lived in the famed Woodley mansion in what would become Cleveland Park, and went on to serve as a Federal Judge and Congressman.
The pair also enjoyed a home field advantage other barristers did not, and benefited from the proximity to “richer Federal pickings.” (Weybright).
Key and his wife raised their family at this house. Their early years in Georgetown must have been idyllic. But the summer of 1814 brought high anxiety for Mary and the kids. The British Navy and Army seemed unstoppable, a revengeful mission headed for the capital of the young nation.
From their two and a half story home, the Keys witnessed the burning of Washington on August 24, 1814. The night before, Lt. F.S. Key had served as an aide to General Smith at the Battle of Bladensburg.
It was also here that Richard E. West (Mary’s brother-in-law), hastily arrived in early September to ask for Key’s help. On August 28th, the British had seized Dr. William Beanes, a friend of the Key family, at Upper Marlboro. Key sprung into action and obtained approval from President Madison to negotiate Beane’s release. Two weeks later, Key witnessed the assault on Baltimore from a British ship, the event that inspired the lawyer-poet to pen the lyrics to what would become known as the “Star Spangled Banner.”
The Keys enjoyed their years at this home, frolicking around the back yard and the gardens he made for each of his children. Around 1828, however, work began on the C&O Canal, which would run between the river and his backyard. This prompted the family to move to the southeast part of Washington City.
For the purposes of our look at the Key Mansion, the story should end there. But it’s worth recounting the saga that took place over the next hundred years and more. In “Lost Washington DC,” John DeFarrari documents the story to save the house and its ultimate fate (Key also had an attached office space).
A half-century after Key’s death, the part of Georgetown where he once lived had turned into an industrial area. In 1906, developers wanted to tear the house down and built a commercial site. The Key Association bought the house and hoped to raise money to turn the home into a museum. Those attempts were unsuccessful, so new owners bought it, replaced much of the original material, and turned the house it into a store.
In 1941, plans were approved to build a ramp for the new Whitehurst Freeway. Six years later, Congress approved funds to build a replica, which would rise across the street, but President Truman vetoed the bill. Contractors then dismantled the house, numbering and then placing the bricks in a pile nearby, and the wood in storage.
DeFarrari refers to Barry Mackintosh, an historian for the National Park Service, who wrote an article about the Key Mansion in 1981.
Interviews with National Park Service staff indicate the bricks and stones might have been used in nearby homes or sidewalks. The wood was stored in a warehouse, but at some point was “informally disposed of” or “used elsewhere.”
There’s been debate through the years over the honoring of Francis Scott Key. Are there enough places already, or are even more warranted? (In his book, "Paradoxes of Fame," Sam Meyers covers this quite well).
I’d like to see a commemorative marker on this site. Some might say it isn’t necessary because there is already one over in the memorial park. But the reader faces the sun there and the material is worn. A new one on the site itself, made of more permanent material, would solve that problem and mark the site. Walkers passing by could then be directed to the Memorial Park.
At the far end of the site, by the stoplight, there is a stone marker for the Whitehurst Freeway. That elevated road has lifted a lot of people, but Key’s “Star Spangled Banner” has lifted many, many more.