Sewall-Belmont House

Sewall-Belmont House Review

Built in 1800 by Robert Sewall, this is one of the oldest homes on Capitol Hill. Today it's the headquarters of the National Woman's Party. A museum inside chronicles the early days of the women's movement and the history of the house; the museum is open for guided 30-minute tours only. There's also a library open to researchers by appointment. From 1801 to 1813 Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin lived here; he finalized the details of the Louisiana Purchase in his front-parlor office. This building was the only private house in Washington that the British set on fire during their invasion of 1814. They did so after a resident fired on advancing British troops from an upper-story window (a fact later documented by the offending British general's sworn testimony, 30 years later, on behalf of the Sewalls in their attempt to secure war reparations from the U.S. government). This shot was, in fact, the only armed resistance the British met that day. The house is filled with period furniture and portraits and busts of suffragists such as Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and longtime resident Alice Paul, who drafted the first version of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923.