Perle Mesta was U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg from 1949 to 1953. She is best known, however, as a Washington socialite, knicknamed “The Hostess with the Mostest” for her lavish parties that combined national political figures with artists and entertainers.
Mesta is the author of a memoir, Perle: My Story (1960). She moved to DC in 1940, and was active in the National Woman’s Party and an early supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. A close friend of Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, her parties were bipartisan and glamorous, and being included was considered a sure sign that you had reached the inner circle of DC political society.
Mesta was the inspiration for the Irving Berlin musical Call Me Madam, starring Ethel Merman as Mesta.
The Homes
2300 S St. NW, Washington, DC (Embassy of Myanmar)
Also known as the Gales House, this Georgian Revival mansion is notable for its wide projecting central bay. This house, and the neighboring Myers House, were the site of Kalorama, the mansion once owned by poet and diplomat Joel Barlow, that gives the neighborhood its name.
Also home to: Herbert Hoover
4040 52nd St. NW, Washington, DC
Known as “The Elms,” this building now serves as the Embassy of Algiers.
1785 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC (McCormick Apartments)
This luxury Beaux Arts apartment building originally had 6 large units, and quarters for over 40 servants. This building was also a former home to Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, who also founded the National Gallery of Art; diplomat and art collector Robert Woods Bliss; Secretary of Agriculture Edwin Thomas Meredith; Under Secretary of State Benjamin Sumner Welles; and Ambassador Alanson B. Houghton. Now the American Enterprise Institute.
Perle Mesta
2300 S St. NW, Washington DC
Located in Sheridan/Kalorama neighborhood, Northwest - East of Rock Creek
Perle Mesta
2600 Woodley Rd. NW
Located in Woodley Park neighborhood, Northwest- West of Rock Creek
Perle Mesta
4040 52nd St. NW
Located in Spring Valley neighborhood, Northwest- West of Rock Creek
Perle Mesta
1785 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Located in Dupont Circle neighborhood, Northwest - East of Rock Creek