Meridian House

Meridian House, at 1630 Crescent Place in Washington, D.C., was built by Ambassador Irwin Boyle Laughlin. He purchased the land in 1912, two years after his friend Henry White bought the adjacent site. After a long career with the US Foreign Service, Laughlin retired in 1919 and built Meridian House, filling it with his collection of 18th century French drawings and Oriental porcelains and screens. Although he later returned to the diplomatic corps, serving as Ambassador to Greece and Spain in the 1920s and 30s, Laughlin also played an active role in Washington’s artistic and historical communities. Ambassador Laughlin was married to Therese Iselin, daughter of New York banker Adrian Iselin. Their daughter, Gertrude, who married Rear...