The Pen Arts Building - Home of American Pen Women
The Pen Arts building has been the headquarters of the National League of American Pen Women since 1951 when President Dorothy Betts Marvin arranged to buy a permanent home for the organization offices and a haven for Pen Women to gather when they came to Washington. Until then, many places had served as headquarters for Pen Women over the years: hotels such as the Mayflower and the Willard, private homes, the old Ebbitt house, rented retail space and other temporary locations.
In 1887, William M. Poindexter, who had served briefly in the Confederate Army, designed the twenty room mansion for its first owner, Sarah Adams Whittemore, opera singer and descendant of President John Adams. The mansion’s most famous occupant was the eldest son of Abraham Lincoln, Robert Todd Lincoln. In addition to being used as a private home, the building at one time housed the Eastman School for girls and later served as a boarding house.
By the close of Dr. Marvin’s second term as League president, the $65,000 mortgage was retired. Her vision of the house as “a home away from home” for Pen Women has been realized for the many who have found shelter beneath its slate roof and turrets. For a modest donation, members have the privilege of staying at “the Mansion.”
The house bustles with activity during Board meetings when national representatives meet to conduct the business of the League. Conclaves on finance, confabs for outreach, and committees for every aspect of the League’s operation consult in clusters on each floor, not unlike a college dorm at exam time. In quieter moments, Pen Women from any part of
A suite is set aside for the President of the League. During her two year term, she “lives above the shop,” attending to the operations of the League. She greets visitors and fellow Pen Women who come to Pen Arts and is the official hostess of events at the mansion. 
Copyright ©2010 The National League of American Pen Women. All Rights Reserved.