The title "French Minister's Residence" is just part of the story. This is in <i>Capital Losses</i> as the "Corcoran House". The original house on the property was built in 1828 (architect unknown) by Thomas Swann, a Maryland attorney, located on the corner of H and Connecticut streets, across from the northwest corner of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President%27s_Park" class="extiw" title="w:President's Park">Lafayette Square</a>. It was given to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Webster" class="extiw" title="w:Daniel Webster">Daniel Webster</a> in 1840 or so; the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster%E2%80%93Ashburton_Treaty" class="extiw" title="w:Webster–Ashburton Treaty">Webster–Ashburton Treaty</a> was negotiated in the house.  Webster sold it to <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:William_Wilson_Corcoran&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" class="new" title="Template:William Wilson Corcoran (page does not exist)">Template:William Wilson Corcoran</a> in 1848, who had architect <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Renwick,_Jr." class="extiw" title="w:James Renwick, Jr.">James Renwick, Jr.</a> completely remodel and expand it in 1849.  Photo of it <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/npc2007000074/">here (LOC)</a>. Corcoran was a Southern sympathizer, so he left for Europe at the outbreak of the Civil War, renting the house to the French Legation, which gave it diplomatic immunity. (Another of his buildings a block away, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, also designed by Renwick and built in 1858, was seized by the U.S. Government, though given back after the war; today it is the Renwick Gallery). He returned from France right at the end of the war, so I guess this was taken during the Civil War sometime. Corcoran died in 1888 and left the house to his grandson, who rented it to a "succession of prominent senators and government officials". It was torn down in 1922 to make way for the Chamber of Commerce building, which is there today. <i>Capital Losses</i> has a bunch of Frances Benjamin Johnston photographs made of the house, including some interior ones (pretty spectacular) credited to the Library of Congress; looks like a few are online <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001698390/">here</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001698391/">here</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001698392/">here</a>, and an interior one <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2009631996/">here</a>. - (lightly edited from remarks by <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Clindberg" class="mw-redirect" title="User:Clindberg">Carl Lindberg</a>, originally made at <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jmabel/Stereo_cards_of_Washington,_D.C." title="User talk:Jmabel/Stereo cards of Washington, D.C.">User talk:Jmabel/Stereo cards of Washington, D.C.</a>)
<div class="fn value">
Unknown artist<span style="display: none;">Unknown artist</span></div>
<p>Created: 1860-1885.
</p><p><br>
Coverage: 1860-1885.
Source Imprint: 1860?-1885?.
</p>
Digital item published 12-1-2005; updated 2-12-2009.
This image is available from the <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_York_Public_Library" title="New York Public Library">New York Public Library</a>'s Digital Library under the digital ID G90F108_010F: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?G90F108_010F">digitalgallery.nypl.org</a> → <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?keywords=G90F108_010F">digitalcollections.nypl.org</a>