Headquarters of the American News Women’s Club

Cranford House, the stately home of the American News Women’s Club, is an elegant, historic four-story French Revival townhouse located on a quiet street on Embassy Row in the Nation’s Capital. This architecturally notable house was custom designed in 1906 for J. H. Cranford by the renowned architectural firm of A. B. Mullet and Company.

Albert Bult Mullett, the architectural firm’s founder, was considered a premier “architectural engineer” in the mid to late 19th century. From 1866 to 1874 he served as the supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury winning acclaim from California to Washington, DC for his public and private building designs. One of his most impressive and famous building designs is the mansard-roofed Old Executive Office Building located adjacent to the White House. After Albert Mullett’s death in 1890, his two sons, Thomas A. and Frederick W. continued his work and kept the firm thriving into the 1930’s.

J.H. Cranford, the original owner of the house at 1607 22nd Street, was known as a man of exceptional taste and wealth. His name has long been associated with the unique design of the house. Original 1906 details still make a design statement today. House visitors take particular note of the commanding brick and limestone exterior with its arched balconies, the decorative mosaic-floored foyer that transitions into a black-and-white checkerboard pattern (as in the Old Executive Office Building), the grand stairwell with its rich wood trim and ornate milled pickets, the various formal rooms each with its own fireplace, and the beautiful crown molding and milled ceiling beams seen throughout the house.

In 1961 the American News Women’s Club purchased Cranford House as the Club’s permanent home, and in 2002, the Society of Professional Journalists designated the house as a historic site in journalism. The American New Women’s Club at Cranford House continues to this day to serve journalists, independent authors and communicators representing newspapers, radio and television stations, publishing companies, Web sites, public relations firms, corporations, academic institutions and government.

The stately elegance of historic Cranford House with its long impressive history as host to word famous luminaries provides an inviting home for large or small gatherings blending the elegance of the past with the conveniences of today.