The Broadhead-Bell-Morton Mansion at 1500 Rhode Island Avenue, NW
Updated: March 28, 2025
The mansion at 1500 Rhode Island Avenue has been home to famed inventor Alexander Graham Bell, U.S. vice president Levi Morton, and the Russian embassy. For the past 75 years, it was home to the headquarters of the American Coatings Association.
The original Victorian era, Queen Anne-style house was built in 1879 for John Thornton Brodhead, a West Point graduate and Marine Lieutenant, and his wife, Jessie. It was designed by prominent Philadelphia architect John Fraser, who had designed the British Legation building at Connecticut Avenue and N Streets in 1873, Senator Van Wyck’s house at 1800 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, and the still-standing James Blaine mansion at 2000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.
The Brodheads may never have lived in the house themselves. In 1879, they were living in a more modest townhouse on 14th Street. In 1880, Brodhea…
