Thanks to Janice Artemel, historian and archivist of Evermay, we offer the authentic history of this exceptional property:
Samuel Davidson came to Georgetown in 1783 as a merchant and real estate investor, after working with his brother John and his very successful international maritime business based in Annapolis. They were born in Inverness, Scotland, coming to Maryland in the 1760s. As two of the original "proprietors" of the City of Washington, brothers John and Samuel Davidson owned about 300 acres in the heart of the city, including part of the land where the White House now sits, as well as all of Lafayette Park northward to today's Dupont Circle. Samuel Davidson invested in several businesses during the 1790s, including a brickyard which supplied bricks for the construction of public buildings in the City, possibly including the White House and Treasury. In 1792, Samuel Davidson purchased the first parcel of land on the heights of Georgetown which was to become "Evermay." By 1802, when the home was completed, the estate included about 13 acres, extending to Rock Creek on the east. As a bachelor, Davidson lived at Suter's Tavern [later Union Tavern] and had an office near the waterfront, enjoying Evermay as a retreat from his daily business ventures. Much of Davidson's business and personal records remain, so we know quite a bit about the building of Evermay, including that the materials used in its construction came from his lands, bricks from his brickyards, and lumber from this site or nearby estates in Maryland and Virginia.
Evermay is in the Federal style, following the design and plan of Nicholas King, noted surveyor, mapmaker and architect for the City of Washington and Jefferson administration].
With no direct heirs, Samuel Davidson left Evermay to his nephew Lewis Grant, with the stipulation that he must change his surname to Davidson, which Grant did. Evermay remained in the Davidson family until the 1877, when it was sold to John D. McPherson, a local attorney. By this time, about 10 acres of the land had been sold for the use of Oak Hill Cemetery, and the Evermay parcel has been approximately 4 acres since that time. McPherson and his family remained at Evermay until the 1890s, changing its appearance with the addition of porches, a cupola and balconies. Remaining in the McPherson family until 1919, the home was occupied by the William Baxley Orme family.
During the 19th century, the entrance to Evermay was from the south, with an entrance below the current gate, extending to a turn-around at the south facing doorway.
Hoping to take advantage of a new wave of city expansion, Francis H. Duehey bought Evermay in 1919 intending to demolish the house and build either a residential hotel or apartment building when the new bridge on Q Street was completed across Rock Creek. The Georgetown citizens, ever vigilant, strenuously opposed the new zoning and obtained a reversal, limiting building heights to 40-feet. Desperate, Duehey sold the estate to F. Lammot Belin in 1923.
International diplomat Ferdinand Lammot Belin, a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, came to Washington in 1923, after serving in Peking and Paris. With Evermay he embarked upon an ambitious restoration and rehabilitation project between new assignments in Istanbul and London. In 1931 he and his wife, Frances, returned to Washington to complete the restoration of the house and creation of the magnificent gardens. During this period he served at the White House during the Presidency of Herbert Hoover as Chief of the International Conference and Protocol Division and then as Ambassador to Poland in 1933. “Mott” was a founding Trustee and Vice President of the National Gallery of Art, representing it as a founder of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Leading the renaissance of Georgetown, F. Lammot Belin removed Evermay’s Victorian elements in 1924 and restored the house to its Federal-style simplicity. The Belins and their neighbors, Robert and Mildred Bliss at Dumbarton Oaks, reclaimed the historic community and led the Colonial Revival movement locally, which was fueled by the restoration of Williamsburg in the late 1920s. A “sunporch” was added to the east wing ground floor, and the service wing expanded. The grounds were redesigned, and new terracing and walls added. The sensitive restoration is noted for its outstanding attention to detail.
It was during this period that the three garden terraces were added, including fountains, gardens with notable plants and trees. During his many absences from Evermay in the 1920s and early 30's, Mott's brother-in-law, PIerre S. du Pont, came to supervise the care and planting of the garden, with many specimens shared between Evermay and Pierre's home, Longwood. Many of the English boxwoods on the property came from old Virginia tidewater estates, with the plants arriving at the Georgetown wharf by barge.
Mott began planning the "Orangerie" or "Ballroom" in the 1950s, with completion in 1960 when the circular courtyard was completed including the placing of the "Lotus Flower" sculpture by noted Swedish sculptor Carl Milles. The swagged brick walls surrounding this courtyard are modeled after those seen at an English estate. [Note: please note the dates here, with the terracing and gardens in place by the mid 1920s. The linden tree is old, but does not date to the 18th century.] Orangerie plants remain outside during spring and summer months.
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The house was sold in the mid 1800's to Dr. John McPherson, who victorianized the house by adding verandas, balconies, cupolas, etc., and painting the house yellow, a favorite color used in the period to "modernize" brick structures.
Georgetown had lost its grandeur by the 1920's, but Lammot Belin, an architect and DuPont heir, saw through the decay. He bought the house and restored it in 1924, removing the victorian modifications and the yellow paint.
We have the Dupont family to thanks for many such restorations.
Lammot Belin retired as Ambassador to Poland in 1933, when he and his son, Captain Peter Belin supervised the completion of the 15' wall surrounding the orangery and the forecourt, adding the black granite fountain.
Then the construction of the gardens began. Belin changed the gradual slope to an 18th century formal terraced garden. Typically, these early houses were built facing the Potomac, including Mount Vernon, The Custis-Lee House, Tudor Place, etc.
Belin changed the front entrance from the original south side to the north side of the house so that he could have a courtyard entrance.
There are three levels of landscaping on the south side of the house, and wonderful views of the city of Washington. The garden is so complex, it is almost difficult to describe. There are six fountains, an orchard, a tennis court, a Georgian style temple, a Chinese pavilion, a moroccan water garden, a marble fountain, 1920's venetian lead cherubs and swans, and other antique classical statuary. Originally the lawn on the lowest terrace was intended to be a croquet lawn.
Plantings include, boxwood, American Elms, American Holly, and a Linden tree which probably dates to pre 1793. Peonies, roses, camellias, azaleas, dogwood and white wisteria further grace this magnificent property. The orangery contains tubs of gardenia, hibiscus and lemon trees.
