Tag: Tingey House (Washington DC)

Wikipedia says: Tingey House, officially known as Quarters A, is the official residence of the Chief of Naval Operations of the United States Navy. Built in 1804, it is located at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., and is part of the Yard’s historic Officers Quarters. The residence is known as Tingey House in honor of its first resident, former U.S. Navy officer Thomas Tingey. According to popular legend, Tingey’s ghost haunts the property.

Location

Tingey House is located on the grounds of the Washington Navy Yard and adjoins Leutze Park, the yard’s parade ground. It is part of “Admirals’ Row” (Officers Quarters), a group of historic homes that serve as official residences for senior Navy officers and their families. The House is also called the Commandant’s Quarters or Commandant’s House.

Tingey House lies immediately east of the Latrobe Gate (also called the “Main Gate”).

Layout

Tingey House is a two-and-a-half-story structure with a gable roof. According to a 1970s-era National Register of Historic Places nomination form, the first floor contains a dining room, library, kitchen, and two parlors; the second floor contains four bedrooms, and the attic contains two chambers. There is a porte-cochère and enclosed porch on the south and east sides of the House.

Early history

In 1801, Secretary of the Navy Robert Smith ordered the construction of “a house to accommodate the officer of Marines and the Superintendent of the Navy Yard.” The resulting building was designed by William Lovering and completed in 1804. The Georgian-style property was named after its first resident, Thomas Tingey, the superintendent of the Washington Navy Yard. As the British Army advanced on Washington during the War of 1812, the property survived Tingey’s orders to burn the Washington Navy Yard. However, following the British withdrawal from Washington and before Tingey could reoccupy the home, it was looted by area residents.

A memorial plaque to Tingey is fixed to the side of the house:

Captain Thomas Tingey, U.S.N. who for almost half a century served his country as an officer of the Navy. He laid out the Navy Yard and for twenty-eight years was its first Commandant.