In Washington D.C. the first British Legation was established in 1820 but during the next 54 years the Mission moved 10 times. By 1874, it had moved to 1300 Connecticut Avenue, a classical building with mansard roofs (sloping on four sides) and a porte-cochère (or covered entrance) facing the avenue. This appears to be the building in depicted in Arthur Musgrave’s oil painting. In 1893, the Legation became an Embassy. By 1925, Connecticut Avenue was a busy, noisy street and so the Embassy was moved to Massachusetts Avenue. Musgrave’s painting, made in 1925, may have been commissioned to commemorate the old Embassy building, just before it was vacated.
