This house on Lafayette Avenue in Lafayette Square was built in 1878 as the home of William S. Simpson. Simpson was the head of the cast iron manufacturing company Christopher and Simpson, along with his partner Jacob Christopher, who also lived on the Square. Many of the cast iron storefronts in the city were produced by this company, and they can be found on both the North and South sides of the city. By 1893, Simpson had moved down the street into a Romanesque mansion at the front of his own private street, which he named Simpson Place. This mansion, along with many others fell into disrepair following the Great Depression, and was in danger of being removed for a highway, although it was eventually saved and restored. Today, 50 years after the first houses were beginning to be restored, the neighborhood has been almost completely restored and is one of the largest Gilded Age districts in the US.
