The
Shingle style home was designed by local architect
Harvey L. Page in 1892 and completed two years later. The original owner was
opera singer Sarah Adams Whittemore, the daughter of Reverend
Henry Adams, a descendant of President
John Adams. In addition to Whittemore, past occupants include Senator
John F. Dryden (1903), railroad entrepreneur and chairman of the
Isthmian Canal Commission Theodore P. Shonts (1906-1907), and Representative
John W. Weeks (1907-1911). In 1907,
Canadian Rockies explorer
Walter Wilcox inherited the house, and lived there from 1911 to 1926. The following year the home was purchased by the WNDC. In 1967, the addition of a ballroom on the Q Street side of the building was completed. The concrete
Modernist expansion was designed by architect
Nicholas Satterlee, whose work includes
Holmes Run Acres. The Whittemore House was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and is designated as a
contributing property to the
Dupont Circle Historic District. ==Current usage==