General Description
Officer's Quarters One dates from the first phase of construction at the Home and was originally intended to be the home of the governor of the Military Asylum. However, when President Buchanan and his family first arrived at the Home on July 15, 1857, they spent the summer of that year in the newly completed Quarters One because it "was better appointed" than the former Riggs house. The Evening Star, which announced Buchanans relocation to the Soldiers Home in 1857, "sincerely hoped that no one w[ould] intrude business upon him at his retreat. The place he has selected is well calculated from his temporary occupancy and that of his family and will insure him and them against the effects of the malaria which always renders the Executive Mansion so much to be dreaded as a residence in summer and early in the fall." The National Era echoed Buchanans move as a means "to save himself and family from the effects of the malaria, always felt in the region of the Presidential mansion in the summer and early fall." The President recounted to his niece Harriet Lane that he "slept much better at the Asylum than at the White House." Buchanan occupied the dwelling during the summers of 1857 to 1859.
Quarters One is one of three buildings on the site designed by prominent military architect Barton S. Alexander. The two-and-a-half-story dwelling, covered by a shallow-pitched cross-gabled roof with square-butt slate shingles, is constructed of smooth ashlar. The structure is ornamented with elements indicative of the Romanesque Revival style, as illustrated by the semi-circular single and paired window openings topped with projecting lintels, shallow stone parapets with buttresses, large paneled interior chimneys, and scrolled modillions placed to mimic corbelled decorations. One wrap-around porch is supported by narrow metal columns and detailed with a wrought-iron metal balustrade and ogee-molded boxed cornice with dentil molding. A second wrap-around porch has been largely enclosed with screens and partially enclosed by double-hung and fixed windows.
Newspaper accounts in 1861 reported that the Lincolns had planned to stay in the same quarters before the First Battle of Manassas disrupted their summer plans. Accounts from visitors and reporters in 1862 and 1863 also describe the physical details of Lincolns residence, descriptions that do not fit the photographic evidence from this period or the architectural and material composition of the Riggs Cottage as recently documented by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. One such source is the July 4, 1863 dispatch of Sacramento Daily Union reporter, Noah Brooks, who was a family friend of the Lincolns and was to serve as personal secretary of the President during his second term. Brooks wrote, "Near the central building are several two-story cottages, built of stone, in the Gothic style, and occupied by the Surgeon in charge, the Adjutant General and other functionaries, and one is occupied during the Summer by the President and family." Pinsker points to another significant source - the Charles Magnus lithograph, published in 1868. The caption at the bottom of the print identifies Quarters One as the "Presidents Villa" and the Riggs Cottage as the "Governors House." However, the only photographic image of the Soldiers Home in the possession of Mary Lincoln was that of the Riggs Cottage, and other photographs from the nineteenth century archived at the Library of Congress describe the Riggs Cottage as Lincolns residence.
Although research into the occupancy of Quarters One and the Riggs Cottage continues, it has been determined that President James Buchanan occupied Quarters One during his visit and the Lincoln family is known to have lived in the Riggs Cottage in the summer of 1864. President Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885, in office 1869-1877) was initially offered "one of the buildings occupied as officers quarters," although subsequent invitations offer "during the present summer, the building at the Home, known as the "Riggs House." In the 1880s, the house offered to the President and his family was noted in the minutes simply as "the mansion" and "the Presidents Cottage," both presumably referring to the Riggs Cottage.

Central Grounds (is contained within / contains)

James Buchanan (Individual, is related to (general))

Barton Stone Alexander (Architect, was designed by / designed)

Gilbert Cameron (Builder, was built by / built)