Belgian Residence
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The house was commissioned by Anna Dodge Dillman, widow of car
manufacturer Horace Dodge, as a wedding gift for their daughter
Delphine and her second husband, Raymond T. Baker, who at one
time was Director of the U.S. Mint.
The mansion was designed by the Philadelphia firm of Horace
Trumbauer. Trumbauer has been called the greatest classical
revivalist America has ever produced. While Trumbauer is the
architect of record, it has recently come to light that his
success can be at least partially attributed to his gifted
chief designer, Julian Abele. Abele was the first African
American graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s school
of architecture. He joined Trumbauer’s architectural firm in
1906 and Trumbauer, who had never been abroad, funded a
three-year trip for him to Paris. There Abele became enamored
of eighteenth century French architecture and developed the
expertise to design French-style buildings in the United States.
The Bakers only lived in the house for a little over three years;
Raymond Baker died here and Delphine left Washington, remarried
and herself died an untimely death at age 43 in 1942. Her mother,
who was still living in Grosse Point, Michigan, did not need the
house and put it up for sale.
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