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O Say Can You See: 1908
1908. "Key Mansion, Washington, D.C." The Georgetown residence of "Star-Spangled Banner" author Francis Scott Key, transmogrified over the years into a freeway ramp. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative. View full size.
Checkered Past
In 1908, Key's poem, set to music, was still many years away from becoming America's official anthem (in 1931). One wonders what the good citizens of 1908 would have thought had they known that the song's melody was borrowed from the 1775 bawdy drinking song "Anacreon in Heaven," the first verse of which can be heard here:
Manor a Mouse
I gotta say, someone was playing fast and loose with the word "mansion."
(Not the original title of my post, but your title is much better)
O Say, Can You See
Ironic that right before what's left of the house was taken down (and later lost), the business occupying the Key Mansion remnant was selling tents, awnings and ... flags.
Short Article Regarding the Missing Mansion
By the dawn's early light
of about 1912, the entire gabled top floor was removed and replaced with a flat roof. That was the twilight's last gleaming for the old Key Mansion.
See no more.
Despite local efforts to save the building, it was razed in 1948 to make way for a ramp connecting the Whitehurst Freeway to the Key Bridge:
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