THE CHINESE GHOST OF STEWART'S FOLLY
In 1901, Stewart's Castle or Stewart's Folly as it was also known was demolished. It had been built for Nevada Senator William Morris Stewart after the end of the Civil War.
Contrary to popular expectations as to who would be the phantom to haunt this place, it was not anyone from the Stewart family, but the origins stem from the time this building served as the Chinese Legation from 1886 to 1893.
Stewart’s Castle was completed in 1873 off Massachusetts Avenue on Dupont Circle. The home was as the most richly furnished of any house in Washington. Senator Stewart from Nevada was said to have spent his entire fortune in its furnishings, and during his time in Washington hired Mark Twain as his secretary. After the vast expenditure he was forced to leave it unoccupied and without care. At this time it was considered an undesirable part of town.
Moths and rust eventually corrupted the home, and it earned its name of Stewart's Folly "because it was built, as it would seem, to ease a man overburdened with money, more than to please art or cater to comfort, like Shoddy's wife at a ball, all diamonds and red face."
In 1877, it was rumored that Castle Stewart was to be occupied by the Spanish Minister.
In January 1880, the mansion caught fire, however the damage must have been contained because it became the Chinese Legation in 1881. Perhaps not all of its fifty rooms were damaged.
In January, 1887, the ball given at the Chinese Legation to celebrate the Chinese New Year was the "swellest social affair of the season, outside of the White House." The ambassador was Chang Yen Hoon and his secretaries and staff wore "costumes silken and finely embroidered, with big diamond studs in the front of their caps." The other legations in Washington D.C. attended as did the Senate and Judiciary.
The Chinese Legation remained there until 1893, flying the yellow flag with the imperial dragon from the tower.
The Stewart family returned to the mansion that same year. By then it had become one of the most desirable areas of Washington D.C. Close by was the Cosmos Club the largest scientific club in the world once known as the Curtis Hillyer mansion. Dolly Madison had lived there for 15 years.
Close by at 2000 Massachusetts Avenue, James Gillespie Blaine broke ground at a new brick mansion, however like Senator Stewart his fortunes changed for the worse within a few months of his new home being started. In September 1881, President Garfield was killed by an assassin's bullet. Blaine was serving as Secretary of State. He lasted only 3 months in the Chester Arthur administration.
Blaine lived only two years at the house on Massachusetts Avenue, then rented it out. He died in 1893.
In 1899, Senator William Clark of Montana, purchased the Castle. Somehow, it wasn’t quite grand enough for him, and he razed it in 1901, to build something larger. Funds ran out, and as Senator Clark worked things out, the lot sat vacant, strewn with the rubble of the castle.
Was there something about this land which brought financial problems to any who tried to erect a structure upon it?
In August, 1902, The Washington Post described an encounter a passerby experienced when he came near the vacant lot where Stewart's Castle once stood.
Some weeks before, late one evening, a Mr. S. L. Lwehg was walking home to Georgetown. Being a particularly warm night, he decided to stop and rest on a nearby park bench when he noticed the erratic movements of a man dressed in Chinese garments at the newly razed site of Stewart’s Castle. At first, it seemed he might be looking for something, but the man was simply wandering about the site. the Celestial would walk first in one direction and then in another, and sometimes would go across the lot from sidewalk to sidewalk. Finally he vanished.
The identity of the ghost was linked to a news story dating back to August, 1886. A new minister brought with him a protégé from China, whose father held an eminent position at the Chinese court. The young man was to be trained in politics and was to inherit a vast fortune.
Residents of the city would promenade on Dupont Circle where the Castle was situated, and this is where the young man saw the beautiful daughter of a War Department official.
The young Chinese man started to calls at her home in the afternoon, until one day when he asked her to marry him. She refused him and told him jokingly that she could "never think of such a thing as long as he wore a queue and his native costume."
The young man then returned to her home after cutting off his queue and he was dressed in a modern suit. She was horrified to realize that he had taken her seriously. Her parents explained to him that a marriage could not take place. When he returned to the Legation there was a furious argument between the minister and the young man.
When he discovered the girl's parents had send her away from the city, he threatened to commit suicide.
The story that developed appeared on August 14, 1886, described when pedestrians in the Dupont Circle neighborhood saw a young "Celestial, attired in a loosely fitting garment of silk, standing on the windowsill" on the fourth floor. He had a rope around neck. He jumped and was gurgling when servants busted the door down and pulled him in. He held a picture of the young woman he had fallen in love with in one hand.
It was said this was his second attempt at suicide. The first time was when he tried to drown himself in a bathtub, or had tried to hang himself.
There is some mystery as to what happened to the young man. In one version, he was rescued in time to save his, however in another, he had been dangling for some time before he was taken into the legation, and was already dead. It was noted the legation was very reticent about the affair, since no doubt a suicide on the premises would have have been embarrassing, since the story circulated as far away as London.
The Stewart family returned to the house in 1893, and redecorated it. It was sold in 1899 to Senator Clark.
First Clark thought to erect an apartment building or hotel, but ultimately decided to build a large residence. However he too met unexpected political turmoil after purchasing the property. He was embroiled in a scandal when it was found he had bribed members of the Montana Legislature for their vote. The U.S. Senate refused to seat him. He never lived at Stewart's Castle and returned to New York, however he allowed charity functions to be held there.
In 1901, Stewart's Folly was razed, and Clark built another house next to it at 1915 Massachusetts Ave, which eventually would be demolished as well.
The identity of the mysterious victim was never ascertained, or even if the death had been a murder or a suicide. But clearly, there seemed to be a link with the current spirit seen in 1902, which was now reported by several people wandering about the grounds where the legation once existed.
It was described as “only one of the picturesque figures to be seen in the vicinity of the Chinese legation”. But upon further inspection, “in the glare of the electric light, the flowing sleeves of his dark red jacket appear very filmy, and the gown of light blue looks like mist.” What’s more, his “feet make no sound as the ghostly sandals pass along the walks.” Finally, and most tellingly, just before the spirit would vanish, its hands would spring up “to loosen the long black cord that is tightly twisted and knotted about his neck.”
Naturally, the article spurred a bit of interest, and a few days later, the newspaper wrote a follow up article. Onlookers began to gather, and a MPD officer, Sergeant Sullivan, helpfully advised them that between one and two in the morning was the most auspicious time to see the ghost, or at the very least, that’s when he usually saw it.
The land where Stewart's Castle once stood, became unoccupied and overgrown for the next 20 years. Only foundations stones of the house remained. Clark sold it in 1922 to Riggs Bank (now PNC Financial Services).