Completed in 1899 as one of a series of officers’ dwellings, the capacious twenty-one-room brick mansion known as Quarters 1 has been the residence of all the Army chiefs of staff since 1908, when Maj. Gen. J. Franklin Bell became the first chief of staff to make his home at Fort Myer in Arlington County. Gen. Bell was succeeded by Gen. Leonard Wood, who resided here from 1910 to 1914. The modified Queen Anne structure has seen little change since its completion. Its long front porch gives a homey, hospitable air to the quarters of the commander of the world’s dominant military force. Its later occupants have included generals George C. Marshall, Omar N. Bradley, Douglas MacArthur, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Quarters 1, Fort Myer, is conspicuously located at the end of Grant Avenue with a splendid view of the nation’s capital. Signaling its official status is a pair of Fort McNair cannons flanking the entrance.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia