The Sewall Belmont House has been home to the National Woman’s Party since 1929. It was in this house that women such as Alice Paul aggressively campaigned for a constitutional amendment for the right to vote. The house was originally built for Robert Sewall ca. 1800 in the new city of Washington. The architect of the house is largely unknown but evidence points to architect Leonard Harbaugh. This evidence is based on Harbaugh’s association with Robert Sewall as well as the architectural similarities to his other work. The Sewall Belmont House became a national historic landmark because of its impact during women’s suffrage in America, and although the architect is not widely celebrated for the construction of this particular house, his work can be seen much throughout Washington, DC.
The Sewall Belmont House is located on Constitution Avenue Northeast, Washington, DC. The exact date of the houses construction is unknown and the original house has been added on to and altered over several time periods and by many different owners. The original structure is a brick town house built in the Georgian Style. Robert Sewall contracted the main section of the house in 1799 however, the type of brick used on the section of the house facing Second Street NE, on the west side of the structure indicates that this area was built much earlier, anywhere from 1680-1750. This area of the house is now the kitchen of the Sewall Belmont House.
The way the house stands today is a rectangular, two and one half stores high set on a raised basement. The house is joined at the northeast corner with attachments at the kitchen and the stable. The main façade is three bays across with a central doorway. The front door features sidelights on both sides and a keystone molded archway. A double staircase leads to the central entrance.
The Georgian style floor plan is based around a center axis. A large hall running the full length of the house on both floors marks the center of the plan. The house has a low hip roof with four sloped surfaces, which meet in a point to define the square plan. The walls and moldings are splashed with prominent cornices and ornamentation derived from classical antiquity.
The Sewall-Belmont house went through many renovations over its two hundred year history. The building as it is now is an eclectic combination of many architectural styles that were popular over the centuries and developed in the District of Columbia. The house has been transformed from colonial to Georgian to Federal and Victorian styles.
Colonel Benjamin Young may have contributed to the construction of the kitchen wing. Benjamin Young was the husband of Notley Rosier’s daughter, Anne Rosier Carroll. Notley Rosier was the stepson of the third Lord Baltimore and inherited the land from his father in 1679. When Notley Rosier died in 1727, he left the property to his daughter Anne Rosier Carroll who divided her properties between her two sons Charles Carroll and Notely Young. Charles Carroll received the property of Sewall-Belmont House, which at the time was named Duddington Manor. Charles Carroll died in 1773, leaving Duddington Manor to his nine-year-old son Daniel Carroll. Portions of the land were given to the federal government in 1791 during the development of the new nation’s capital city. The city commissioner divided the land into several lots and ceded back all the property to Carroll. On January 29, 1799, Robert Sewall purchased the land from Daniel Carroll of Duddington for $600.00.
After purchasing the lot from Carroll, Sewall built the largest part of the house. The front faces south on Constitution Avenue at the corner of Second Street. Over the next several years, Sewall leased the house to several prominent Washington politicians, including Albert Gallatin, the Secretary of the Treasury for Thomas Jefferson from 1801-1813. In August 1814, the British Army invaded Maryland, winning the battle at Bladensburg on the 24th. After their victory, they began their March toward Washington in order to burn the new government buildings in the city. According to the August 31, 1814 issue of the Washington, D.C. ‘National Intelligencer,’ shots were fired at the British soldiers from the Sewall House killing British General Ross’ horse. Ross then ordered his soldiers to burn the house.
Robert Sewall repaired his house from 1819-1820. He died on December 16, 1820, leaving his property to his daughters Mary and Susan Sewall. Susan married Henry Daingerfield on Alexandria, Virginia. In 1878-79, the property is listed as owned by Susan S. and Ellen C. Daingerfield, the daughters of Susan and Henry Daingerfield. In 1879 an addition of a partial mansard roof was included onto the house. Mansard roofs first appeared in America during the Second Empire architectural period between 1855-1885. The mansard roof on the Sewall house is only a half mansard. The roof on the front, south-facing side has a mansard design, creating more living space on the interior of the house. The stained glass fanlight was most likely added around this time.
The property was taken over next by Richard Thompson the personal secretary to Susan Daingerfield after her death in 1912. Thompson was named executor of Daingerfield’s estate and let the house fell in to disrepair. In 1922, Senator Porter Dale of Vermont purchased the Sewall House from Richard Thompson. Dale made several improvements to the house that contributed to the structure as it is today. He commissioned J.G. Herbert as the architect and builder for the repairs and improvements. In July 1923, the porch on the rear of the house was repaired and enclosed, and a retaining wall made of 13” brick was built. In August 1923, Dale had new floors lain as well as the installation of three baths for inside three of the upstairs bedroom.
The National Woman’s Party signed a contract with Senator Dale with the intention to eventually purchase the property. In 1927, the Woman’s Party was housed out of the Old Capitol building, which was the proposed site for the new Supreme Court Building. Alva Belmont, a leader in the women’s suffrage movement, made the purchase of The Sewall House on May 21, 1929. She purchased the house for $100,000. According to Belmont’s extensive records, the NWP would begin remodeling and redecorating work on the house under the direction of Madeleine McCandless.
The Historic American Buildings Survey has documented that work was done in the council room and the kitchen on the first floor and new double doors were added in the library at the back of the house. On the second floor, new windows were added to the third bedroom on the left and a new bathroom was installed between two of the bedrooms.
The Sewall Belmont House was home to several prominent families at the rise of American’s political revolution. It’s historical acclaim came however, with the 1917 formation of the National Woman’s Party. The NWP rallied Congress and the White House through a revolutionary strategy of nonviolent protest and campaigning under the philosophy to “hold the party in power responsible.” With the leadership of Alice Paul, the NWP held daily pickets and marches, wrote suffrage songs, suffered violent attacks and arrest. The party gained nationwide public support because of the hunger strikes and brutal prison conditions the women faced after their arrests. In 1920, women were granted the constitutional right to vote with the ratification of the 19th amendment.
The influence of architectural structures on society has throughout history relied on its formal qualities and perhaps the notoriety of the architect. The Sewall Belmont House was named a National Historic landmark and site in 1974. The original architect is thought to be Leonard Harbaugh based on his architectural style and other buildings around the Washington, D.C. area. Harbaugh began his career in Baltimore in 1775 where he worked on several projects including Baltimore’s first apartment building and a stone archway for the city courthouse. Harbaugh was cited as the builder of “His Lordship’s Kindness,” Robert Sewall’s second property, which brought the two into contact.
His other major building commissions include Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown, 1793 and Old North, the oldest building on the Georgetown University campus. His largest buildings commissioned were the Executive Office Building, which housed the Treasury Department and sat on the East side of the White House as well as the War Office buildings built on the West side of the White House.
Some of the architectural features of these buildings are comparable to details on the Sewall Belmont House. The details on the side entrances of the Treasury and War Buildings are almost identical to the front entrance of the Sewall House. All the basements are raised with large staircases leading to the front entrances. These characteristics seem to identify Harbaugh’s particular style.
In addition to the similarities in style of Harbaugh’s known buildings and The Sewall House, his documented professional connections to the Catholic community also seem to tie him to Robert Sewall. A Catholic chapel and a bedroom for a priest were included in the plans for “His Lordship’s Kindness” which proves that Sewall was a practicing Catholic and that Harbaugh although not practicing had a clear understanding of Catholicism.
Although Leonard Harbaugh was a prominent architect in Washington, D.C., his influence on the historical significant of The Sewall-Belmont House is not as strongly rooted as the influence The National Woman’s Party had upon the building.

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[ 1 ]. Scott G. Shultz, "Sewall-Belmont House," Historic American Buildings Survey, No. DC-821: p.4
[ 2 ]. Scott G. Shultz, "Sewall-Belmont House," Historic American Buildings Survey, No. DC-821: p.7
[ 3 ]. Scott G. Shultz, "Sewall-Belmont House," Historic American Buildings Survey, No. DC-821: p.6
[ 4 ]. ‘National Intelligencer’ newspaper, Washington, D.C., August 31, 1814.
[ 5 ]. National Archives, Washington, D.C., General Assessment Books, 1878-1979.
[ 6 ]. Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Liber 5090, Folio 233
[ 7 ]. Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, NWP papers, Liber C.H.B., Folio 298.
[ 8 ]. The Sewall Belmont House and Museum, "144 Constitution Ave. NE." Accessed November 30, 2013. http://www.sewallbelmont.org/learn/144-constitution-ave-ne/.
[ 9 ]. Scott G. Shultz, "Sewall-Belmont House," Historic American Buildings Survey, No. DC-821: p.6
[ 10 ]. Mills Lane, Architecture of the Old South, Maryland (1991).
[ 11 ]. Scott G. Shultz, "Sewall-Belmont House," Historic American Buildings Survey, No. DC-821: p.3