Photo by Oblivious Dude

Today, the Kalorama Heights neighborhood is known as home to Washington’s elite. Two centuries ago, it was where Thomas Jefferson and James Madison would ride up under the sycamores and oaks to speak with Joel Barlow, owner of “Kalorama,” the opulent home from which the neighborhood would eventually reap its name.

When Jefferson and Madison visited Barlow, they would talk about everything from tensions with France to national education to different types of manure, and it was written in the Washington Post that the two American presidents were “as much at home at his house as at their own.”

Barlow and his wife Ruth Baldwin came to Washington in 1807. Richard B. Parker writes about the selection of their home in “Neighbors of the Cosmos Club: The story of Joel Barlow and his Kalorama:”

After toying with the idea of buying Mt. Vernon, they settled on the place Jefferson had recommended, then named Belair, and renamed it Kalorama. They paid $14,000 for the house and 30 acres of land. They immediately began remodeling and expanding the house, which quickly became a social and cultural center of attraction, noted for its large library and the hospitality provided by the Barlows.

Barlow gave the mansion a Greek name, Kalorama, which some say translates to “beautiful view,” others to “spendid vision” or “fine view.” It was written that only the White House exceeded the Kalorama mansion in size and elegance.

Barlow was quite well-known in his time, referred to in The Post as a “rare genius.” He was a celebrated poet, known for the “Vision of Columbus” and “The Hasty Pudding”. Barlow was also an eloquent preacher and an adept lawyer. In 1811, he became American minister plenipotentiary to France, and President Madison charged him with negotiating a trade agreement with Napoléon Bonaparte. He would not succeed. From The Post:

He was invited to meet Napoleon, then leading 400,000 men into Russia, at Wilna. He set out on his journey from Paris, and in consequence of the severity of the weather died of an inflammation of the lungs at Zarnawika, a village near Cracow in Poland, December 22, 1812, aged fifty-four.

Barlow’s property continued under various owners, and in 1886 four-fifths of the estate, known as Kalorama Heights, was sold to John C. Bullett and a syndicate for $400,000. The undivided fifth belonged to the children of a woman who had no interest in selling the property. Developers named the neighborhood after the estate.

Today, two parts of the Kalorama area have acquired historic status: Kalorama Triangle and Sheridan-Kalorama. The mansion, however, didn’t survive past the Civil War. From The Post:

Beautiful Kalorama, that had entertained the great of both Europe and America, was taken during the civil war and used as a smallpox hospital, and at the close of the war was burned, and now all that remains of the once famous country seat are the stately trees that formerly shaded the historic mansion.

And, of course, the neighborhood with its name.