Thomas Law House

{{short description|Historic house in Washington, D.C., United States}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox NRHP | name = Thomas Law House | nrhp_type = | image = Thomas Law House.jpg | caption = The Thomas Law House in 2019 | location = 1252 6th Street, S.W.<br>Washington, D.C. | nearest_city = | coordinates = {{coord|38|52|29.3|N|77|01|11|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = United States Washington, D.C. | area = | built = {{start date and age|1796}} | architect =William Lovering | architecture = Federal | added = August 14, 1973 | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | refnum = 73002093 | mpsub = | governing_body = }} The '''Thomas Law House (Honeymoon House)''' was constructed between 1794 and 1796 near present-day 6th and N Streets SW in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The builder was a syndicate headed by James Greenleaf, an early land speculator in the District of Columbia.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/greenleafandlaw01clargoog/page/n127  Clark, p. 139.] Accessed 2012-12-02.</ref>

In March 1796, Thomas Law moved into the house after his marriage to Martha Washington's eldest granddaughter, Eliza Parke Custis. The house became known as "Honeymoon House" as the Laws lived there during their honeymoon while awaiting completion of their house.<ref name=Robins>{{cite web|last=Brown|first=T. Robins|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120042501/http://focus.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/73002093.pdf|archive-date=2015-11-20|url={{NRHP url|id=73002093}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Law, Thomas, House (Honeymoon House)|date=1973-02-05|publisher=National Park Service|accessdate=2015-11-19}}</ref> They did not stay long, as by the summer of 1796 they moved to their home on the west side of New Jersey Avenue north of C Street.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Clark|first1=Arthur Cunning|title=Greenleaf and Law in the Federal City|date=1901|publisher=Press of W.F. Roberts|pages=[https://archive.org/details/greenleafandlaw00clargoog/page/n242 242]|url=https://archive.org/details/greenleafandlaw00clargoog|accessdate=28 December 2015}}</ref>

Thomas Law was the son of Edmund Law, the Bishop of Carlisle. Among his brothers were: * John Law, Bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh, Bishop of Killala and Achonry, and Bishop of Elphin. * Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice 1802–1818. * George Henry Law, Bishop of Chester 1812–1824, Bishop of Bath and Wells 1824–1845.

Thomas Law spent many years in India, where he made a fortune in trade. Law came to Washington, D.C., in the summer of 1794.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jiIUAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Thomas+Law%22+Greenleaf+November&pg=PA244 Bryan, p. 244.] Accessed 2012-11-02.</ref> He was one of Washington's wealthiest citizens and was active, although not successful, in business enterprises.<ref name=Robins/> He eventually lost his fortune.<ref name=Robins/>

Law met Greenleaf in November or December 1794 and was deeply impressed with him.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/greenleafandlaw01clargoog/page/n197  Clark, p. 94.] Accessed 2012-10-29.</ref> On December 4, 1794,<ref>Dowd, p. 10.</ref> Greenleaf sold 500 city lots to Law for £50,000 (or $133,000). The price per lot was $297.60, a 372 percent increase over the $80 per lot which Greenleaf had paid just a year earlier.<ref>Livermore, p. 165.</ref>

In 1816, former Congressman Richard Bland Lee and his wife Elizabeth (Collins) Lee purchased the house.

During the Civil War, it was the Mt. Vernon Hotel. Starting around 1913, it was the Washington Sanitarium's Mission Hospital. Dr. Henry G. Hadley operated a clinic in the house from 1923 to 1961.

The National Park Service listed the Thomas Law House on the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1973.<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120015833/http://focus.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/73002093|archive-date=2015-11-20|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/73002093|title=Law, Thomas, House|work=Focus: Digital Access Management System|publisher=National Park Service|url-status=live|access-date=2015-11-20}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== *Bryan, Wilhelmus B. ''A History of the National Capital: From Its Foundation Through the Period of the Adoption of the Organic Act.'' New York: Macmillan, 1914. *Clark, Allen. ''Greenleaf and Law in the Federal City.'' Washington, D.C.: Press of W.F. Roberts, 1901. *Dowd, Mary-Jane M. ''Records of the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital: Record Group 42, Inventory No. 16.'' Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992. *Livermore, Shaw. ''Early American Land Companies: Their Influence on Corporate Development.'' Reprint ed. Washington, D.C.: Beard Books, 1999.

==External links== {{Commons category}} *[http://tiberisland.com/tiberisland/ Tiber Island Cooperative Homes - owner of Law House] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222203215/http://www.tiberisland.com/tiberisland/ |date=2007-12-22 }} *[http://www.culturaltourismdc.org/dch_tourism2555/dch_tourism_show.htm?doc_id=43052 Cultural Tourism DC - info on Thomas Law House] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071005073410/http://www.culturaltourismdc.org/dch_tourism2555/dch_tourism_show.htm?doc_id=43052 |date=2007-10-05 }} *[http://wikimapia.org/11391416/The-Thomas-Law-House-Mansion wikimapia] *[http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=20430 HMDB]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Law, Thomas, House}} Category:Houses completed in 1796 Category:Federal architecture in Washington, D.C. Category:Lee family residences Category:Custis family residences Category:Washington family residences Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C. Category:1796 establishments in Washington, D.C. Category:Southwest Waterfront Category:District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites