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Society of the Cincinnati headquarters and museum
Photo: AgnosticPreachersKid, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The 55,764-square-foot Anderson House, which is perhaps better described as a castle, was built in 1902-1905, as the home of Larz Anderson and his wife. Upon Anderson's death, the house was given as a gift to the Society of the Cincinnati which was something of an American noble order dedicated to preserving the legacy of the American Revolution founded in 1783 after the Revolutionary War. The house serves as the organization's headquarters, and houses a museum and library with information relating to the Revolutionary War.
Anderson House, also known as Larz Anderson House, is a Gilded Age mansion located at 2118 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, on Embassy Row in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It now houses the Society of the Cincinnati's international headquarters and a research library on 17th- and 18th-century military and naval history and the art of war. It is also open to the public as a historic house museum about life in Washington in the early 20th century.
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Cosmos Club
Almost completed rebuilt by heiress Mary Scott Townsend in 1899, the house features a Beaux Arts, Louis XVI French-inspired design. Townsend lived there until she died in 1931. For a period of time before World War II, Sumner Welles, the son-in-law of Mary Scott Townsend and Franklin D. Roosevelt's Under Secretary of State, lived in the Townsend Mansion. The Cosmos Club, a private social club, bought the house in 1950, and continues to occupy the mansion.
The Phillips Collection, opened in 1921, is America’s first museum of modern art. Featuring a renowned permanent collection of nearly 2,500 works by American and European impressionist and modern artists, the Phillips is internationally recognized for its incomparable art and for its intimate atmosphere. Housed in founder Duncan Phillips' 1897 Georgian Revival home, The Phillips Collection is widely regarded as one of the world’s finest small museums.
Turkish ambassador's residence
Designed by George Oakley Totten, Jr., the 40,000-square-foot house was built in 1914 for industrialist and philanthropist Edward H. Everett. The house was later used as the Turkish embassy, beginning in 1932, and became the Turkish ambassador's residence in 1999 when a new embassy building was built on Massachusetts Ave. The Everett House features a limestone facade, in Beaux-Arts neoclassic style.
A unique hybrid of a small private luxury hotel and a museum. Contains hundreds of rooms, a collection of 20,000 books, dozens of secret passages, a collection of John Lennon's guitars, modern art and curiosities of all stripes in every room (virtually anything of which is for sale if you're interested), frequent concerts by legends of rock and R&B, numerology evaluations, banquets, etc., your curiosity will probably find enough piquing here to justify the advance reservations for tours. It's also a luxury B&B, if you are looking for extremely eccentric accommodations in the city.
Kalorama is a quiet, stately neighborhood, northwest of the circle and is home a few hidden gems. Based on Rome's famous Spanish Steps, these once led up to the Kalorama Mansion, from which the neighborhood gets its name. They now lead up the steep hill to a small fountain and a nice city view, which is best appreciated on a summer night.
Competing with the Smithsonian for top castle status in the District is the Victorian mansion of Christian Heurich, who immigrated to the states from Germany to become a wildly successful real estate baron and brewer. He also holds the title of world's oldest brewer, having kept up his work until his death at a ripe age of 102. It's a striking example of Victorian architecture and design, and even if you don't make it to a tour, there's a nice Victorian garden in the back open to the public M-F 10AM-4PM, spring-fall.