Embassy Row Cosmos Club 20110820
The Cosmos Club is a Washington, D.C., social club founded in 1878 by John Wesley Powell. In addition to Powell, original members included Clarence Edward Dutton, Henry Smith Pritchett, William Harkness, and John Shaw Billings. Among its stated goals is "The advancement of its members in science, literature, and art".[1] Cosmos Club members have included many recipients of the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, and Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Since 1952 the Club's headquarters have been in the Mary Scott (Mrs Richard T.) Townsend house,[2] at 2121 Massachusetts Avenue, NW in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. The free-standing house, set in almost an acre of garden, was designed in the Beaux Arts French style by architects Carrère and Hastings in 1898 and essentially completed in 1901. The mansion continued to be occupied by Mrs Townsend's daughter, who was Mrs B. Sumner Welles, until World War II. It was purchased from Mrs Welles' estate by the Cosmos Club in 1950 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is a contributing property to the Dupont Circle Historic District and Massachusetts Avenue Historic District.
Embassy Row Cosmos Club 20110820
The Cosmos Club is a Washington, D.C., social club founded in 1878 by John Wesley Powell. In addition to Powell, original members included Clarence Edward Dutton, Henry Smith Pritchett, William Harkness, and John Shaw Billings. Among its stated goals is "The advancement of its members in science, literature, and art".[1] Cosmos Club members have included many recipients of the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, and Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Since 1952 the Club's headquarters have been in the Mary Scott (Mrs Richard T.) Townsend house,[2] at 2121 Massachusetts Avenue, NW in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. The free-standing house, set in almost an acre of garden, was designed in the Beaux Arts French style by architects Carrère and Hastings in 1898 and essentially completed in 1901. The mansion continued to be occupied by Mrs Townsend's daughter, who was Mrs B. Sumner Welles, until World War II. It was purchased from Mrs Welles' estate by the Cosmos Club in 1950 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is a contributing property to the Dupont Circle Historic District and Massachusetts Avenue Historic District.