The Fraser Mansion is a building at 1701 20th Street NW, at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue, 20th Street, and R Street in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. constructed in 1890 to be the George S. Fraser mansion, it served as his private residence for five years, a restaurant, a boarding house, the home of the Founding Church of Scientology, and—currently—the location of Scientology's National Affairs office.
The mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
History
George S. Fraser was a merchant born in 1830 in New York, he was the son of Alexander Fraser (farmer) and Ann Fraser. He became a successful merchant and in 1880's decided to build a mansion in Washington D.C. as his permanent house.
Design and construction
The mansion was designed by the architectural firm of Hornblower and Marshall in an early eclectic beaux arts style to serve as the home of George S. Fraser.
The building is three stories tall with two basement levels and an attic. It is constructed of red brick and pink granite with a colonnaded entrance porch with balustraded deck, and a tiled, hipped roof. The interior was planned around a central open stair, with large, central halls on each floor.
Fraser family residency
The building was completed in 1890 at a cost of $75,000, more than ten times the cost of a typical Washington home at that time. and served as Fraser's residence from 1890 until his death in 1896.
In 1901, Fraser's widow sold the mansion to Pennsylvania Congressman Joseph Earlston Thropp, where he took up residence beginning on March 3, 1901.
Joseph Earlston Thropp
The Thropps made exterior alterations, enlarging dormer windows and adding an oriel window in 1901. In 1905, architects Totten and Rogers designed a terrace with an entrance to the house near the oriel window, and also redesigned the garden wall.
The mansion remained in the ownership of Thropp and his wife, Miriam Scott-Thropp, until Scott-Thropp's death in 1930.
Restaurant
In 1932, the lower floor of the mansion began operation as the Parrot Tea Room, a tea house, with a boarding house located on the upper levels. In 1950, upon leasing to John Goldstein, the facility was converted to a restaurant and renamed the Golden Parrot. The mansion was sold in 1974, and the restaurant was renamed the Golden Booeymonger. Later, the mansion became home to nightclubs Larry Brown's and Sagittarius.
The mansion was again sold in 1981 to Walter Sommer for $2 million. In 1982, following a $3 million restoration/renovation, the Fourways fine dining restaurant on the first floor and the Bermuda Bar and Grill below it were opened. The Fourways served Continental European and American dishes under the leadership of chef Jacques Barre.
By 1988, Sommer opened the Bermuda Bar and Grill patio-cafe alongside the Fourways. According to the Nation's Restaurant News, the restaurant seated 40 people inside and 60 outside, and was modeled after the Fourways Restaurant and Inn of Bermuda. Among other things, the restaurant featured an all-you-can-eat salad bar, an unlimited Sunday brunch, and "traditional Bermuda drink, Dark & Stormy, made with Bermuda's Gosling's Black Seal Rum and Ginger Beer. Another Bermudian tradition, Bermuda fish chowder with Outerbridge's Original Sherry Peppers Sauce was always on the menu.
Proposed apartment building
In 1987, Sommer proposed to construct a seven-story, 29-unit apartment building in its parking lot behind the mansion. At the time, the property was zoned residential, with variances permitting a restaurant on the property. Then-owner Walter Sommer claimed that the variances restricted him unfairly, requiring him to go to the zoning board multiple times for changes to his business, in a process that he considered costly and time consuming. Additionally, Sommer claimed that without commercial zoning, he was unable to obtain a "realistic commercial loan" to fund maintenance costs. Between 1982 and 1987, the D.C. Board of Zoning Appeals granted Sommer variances to expand the commercial use of the building above the first floor permitting a private business club on the second floor. The club never opened. The third floor was an apartment for the General Manager.