Joseph Lovell commissioned a brick residence along Pennsylvania Avenue in 1824 while he was the Surgeon General of the United States Army. When the home was purchased by Francis Preston Blair in 1836, it was renamed after the newspaper publisher. In 1939, it became the country’s first National Historic Landmark. Three years later, the U. S. Government bought the property to accommodate dignitaries. Since 1989, after three adjacent properties were combined with the Blair House, it has been officially called the President’s Guest House.
