Amid ongoing tariff and immigration disputes between India and the US, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive in Washington, DC, on Wednesday. His visit coincides with snow and sleet expected in the city, making his stay at Blair House, the US Presidential guest house directly across from the White House, even more convenient.
Here's a look at the place where the Prime Minister will be staying during his visit to the US:
Photo Credit: blairhouse.org
Blair House, also known as The President's Guest House, is an official residence in Washington, DC, the capital of the United States. The austere three-story facade is where select foreign visitors have been sumptuously housed, and where one US president escaped an assassination attempt.
Photo Credit: blairhouse.org
Charles de Gaulle, the late queen Elizabeth II and the emperor of Japan are among the guests who have stayed in the venerable brick structure across from the White House, in the heart of the federal capital.
Blair House actually comprises four contiguous buildings, forming a complex of 70,000 square feet (6,500 square meters) -- larger than the White House itself -- including 119 opulently decorated rooms dedicated to welcoming foreign leaders or providing a venue for high-stakes diplomatic talks.
In the back, a quiet garden with a fountain, park benches and ivy-covered walls allows visitors a chance to enjoy fresh air far from the tourists who swarm Pennsylvania Avenue.
The president's guest house, as it is often described, has been the scene of marathon negotiating sessions over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and meetings of G7 finance ministers.
Photo Credit: blairhouse.org
It also played host to a colorful visit in the 1990s by heavy-drinking Russian president Boris Yeltsin who, according to Bill Clinton, was seen one day in 1995 hailing a taxi out front in his underwear and, a day later, was mistaken for a drunken intruder wandering in the building's basement.
In 1998, British prime minister Tony Blair played on the similarity in names, quipping that he felt "kind of at home" when he stayed at Blair House.
Photo Credit: blairhouse.org
In addition to welcoming foreign dignitaries, it is in Blair House where a US president-elect traditionally spends the last few days before his inauguration.
Built in 1824, Blair House was soon purchased by Francis Preston Blair, editor in chief of the Washington Globe newspaper and a close advisor of President Andrew Jackson, who used the building as a venue for a sort of salon for the city's elite.
In 1942, the US government purchased Blair House at the urging of president Franklin D. Roosevelt. His patience had been tried by White House visitor Winston Churchill, who would fill the mansion's hallways with acrid cigar smoke and once tried to rouse FDR at three in the morning for a chat.
(With inputs from AFP)
