Residents of 1789: According to David Cannadine’s masterful biography, Mellon: An American Life, Andrew Mellon made his final visit to Washington as a private citizen in February, 1921. It was on this trip that he visited an apartment he was thinking of renting when he became treasury secretary in the Harding administration. It should be noted, historical mentions of the building refer to its former address of 1785 Massachusetts Ave, NW. However, when AEI relocated our offices to the newly renovated space in 2016, the Post Office agreed to change the number assigned to 1789, a nod to our nation’s founding.

Mellon occupied the top floor of the building at 1789 Massachusetts Ave from 1922 to 1932 while serving as treasury secretary. His apartment had six bedrooms, extensive staff quarters, an oval reception hall, and a large living and dining room measuring around 45 by 24 feet each. The building had many other prominent tenants, including socialite and political hostess Pearl Mesta (one of the many wealthy widows who lived at 1789) and diplomat Sumner Welles. It was in the AEI building that Mellon developed an art collection that became the basis of the National Gallery of Art upon his death. 

At one point, the art dealer Joseph Duveen leased the 4th floor apartment beneath Mellon’s to display the collection he wanted Mellon to buy. Duveen was described in a lengthy 1951 New Yorker profile as “the most spectacular art dealer of all time,” and as someone who “transformed American taste in art.” He had galleries in Paris, New York, and London. According to the New Yorker, he regularly spent a million dollars a season when he came to America in the winter and spring. In New York, he stayed in a five-story, 30-room mansion he constructed where he brought his millionaire clients to inspect pieces he thought they should purchase. 

In 1929, Mellon purchased Raphael’s 1508 “Madonna” known as the “Cowper Madonna” for $970,000. The daring Duveen, according to the profile, “forced American collectors to accumulate great things, infused them with a fierce pride in collecting, and finally got their collections into museums, making it possible for the American people to see a large share of the world’s most beautiful art without having to go abroad.” Reading the delightful New Yorker profile is a wonderful idea for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

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