Mary E. Surratt Boarding House

For the Mary Surratt House in Maryland, see Surratt House Museum.

Mary E. Surratt Boarding House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	604 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C., U.S.
Coordinates:	38°53′59.32″N 77°1′13.34″W / 38.8998111°N 77.0203722°W / 38.8998111; -77.0203722Coordinates: 38°53′59.32″N 77°1′13.34″W / 38.8998111°N 77.0203722°W / 38.8998111; -77.0203722
Area:	2900 sq ft (268 sq m)[2]
Built:	1843
Architectural style:	Early Republic, Federal
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	04000118[1]
Added to NRHP:	August 11, 2009[1]

The Mary E. Surratt Boarding House in Washington, D.C. was the site of meetings of conspirators to kidnap and subsequently to assassinate U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.^[2] It was operated as a boarding house by Mary Surratt from September 1864 to April 1865.^[2]

About the house

The building in 1890

The building, at 604 H Street NW, standing three-and-one-half stories tall, was constructed by Jonathan T. Walker in 1843.^[3] It has been described as being in the Early Republic or Federal style or in "vernacular Greek Revival" style.^[4] It stands on a lot measuring 29 feet (8.8 m) by 100 feet (30 m). The building is 23 feet (7.0 m) wide, facing directly onto the sidewalk on south side of the street, and has a depth of 36 feet (11 m). The building was altered in 1925 so that the first floor could be used as a commercial space.^[2] As of 2009^[update], the building is now used as a Chinese and Japanese restaurant named "Wok and Roll".^[3]

John Surratt purchased the house from Augustus A. Gibson on December 6, 1853.^[3] After her husband died in 1862, Mary Surratt chose to rent her property in what was then known as Surratsville, Maryland, to former policeman John Lloyd, and moved into the Washington boardinghouse. The military tribunal heard testimony from residents at the boardinghouse that Surratt had regularly met with John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln conspirators at the house. Lloyd told the tribunal that he had been told by Surratt to provide field glasses and guns to Booth and co-conspirator David Herold. It was on the basis of this evidence that Surratt was convicted and sentenced to death. For her role as a member of the Abraham Lincoln assassination conspiracy plot, she became the first woman to be executed by the United States federal government. She was executed by hanging.^[5]

The building was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on August 11, 2009.^[2][1] The listing was announced as the featured listing in the National Park Service's weekly list of August 28, 2009.^[6]

In April, 2011 the house gained some attention with the release of a film about Mary Surratt, The Conspirator by director Robert Redford.^[7]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in the District of Columbia

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Announcements and actions on properties for the National Register of Historic Places". Weekly Listings. National Park Service. August 28, 2009. http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/listings/20091016.htm. Retrieved October 19, 2009. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Eli Pousson (May, 2009). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Mary E. Surratt Boarding House" (PDF). National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/weekly_features/Surratt_Boarding_House.pdf. Retrieved October 19, 2009.  (31 pages, with eight photos from 2009)
3. ^ ^{a b c} Kauffmann, p. 412.
4. ^ Eli Pousson (May, 2009). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Mary E. Surratt Boarding House" (PDF). (section 7 vs. main text9). National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/feature/weekly_features/Surratt_Boarding_House.pdf. Retrieved October 24, 2009. 
5. ^ Farquhar, Michael. "The Haunting Tale of Mary Surratt; They Hanged Her in 1865. Did Her Ghost Escape the Gallows?", The Washington Post, October 31, 1991. Accessed October 22, 2009.
6. ^ "Weekly List Actions". National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/nrlist.htm. Retrieved October 19, 2009. 
7. ^ Site Of A D.C. Chinese Restaurant Has A Dark Past Art Silverman, National Public Radio, accessed April 19, 2011

Bibliography

• Kauffman, Michael W. American Brutus. New York: Random House, 2004.

External links

• Wok and Roll restaurant