THE GADSBY WING
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The Gadsby Wing is not only an important component of the Decatur House site, but is also significant as one of only a few remaining examples of slave quarters in urban areas. Further, structure is especially unique as preserved physical evidence that African Americans were held in bondage in sight of the White House.

After John Gadsby, former landlord of Gadsby’s Tavern in Alexandria, Virginia, and his wife Providence, moved into Decatur House in 1836 he built a separate structure dedicated to the work and living areas of his slaves. These new “quarters” not only created a barrier between the black and white residents of the property, but also allowed the Gadsbys to control slave access to the main house and to the city. The design of the building, with no doors leading onto H Street, meant that all movement was directed into the courtyard. There slaves could be easily supervised from the windows of the main house. This architectural arrangement was common for slave quarters throughout the South.

Like many urban residences for enslaved servants, the Decatur House addition was two stories. The top floor provided sleeping rooms, while the lower level housed a kitchen, laundry, and a dining hall. Unlike the attics and basements where most slaves lived, the upper-level sleeping quarters were unusual in the fact that they had windows and fireplaces.

The Gadsby domestic staff consisted primarily of two enslaved families, the Kings and the Williamses, and a few other individuals. They lived in the rooms on the second floor and worked below in the kitchen and laundry. Some may have worked at Decatur House or at Gadsby’s nearby National Hotel, while others may have been confined on the property prior to being sold. The
following people, listed in John Gadsby’s 1844 will were likely those living at Decatur House in the 1830s and 40s:

Nace (Ignatius Newton), age 50
Henry King, age 40
Maria King, age 35
Celia King, age 16
Charles King, age 9
Sarah Jane King, age 4
George King, age 18 months
Maria Williams, age 30
Martha Ann Williams, age 7
Mary Ellen Williams, age 4
James Williams, age 18 months
Kesiah Williams, age 28
Mary Frances Williams, age 7
William Williams, age 5
Rosa Marks, age 48
Nancy Syphax, age 45
James Long, age 24

Bequeathed in Gadsby's will to his wife Providence, most of the members of these families and their descendants remained with the Gadsbys and their children, August and Julia, until slavery was abolished in the District of
Columbia in 1862. Of the Williams family, Kesiah, William, Martha Ann, Sarah Jane, and Mary Ellen disappear from the record after being listed in Gadsby’s 1844 will.

Today the second floor of the Gadsby wing houses Decatur House exhibit gallery, which includes a permanent exhibit on slavery in Washington, DC and
at Decatur House. Although most of the interior architectural features were removed by the National Trust in the mid-1960s, a chimney and hearth with the ghostmarks of a mantle are still visible and the building’s original wall timbers form the backdrop for the slavery exhibit.