JD Vance, 40, is making history as the second-youngest vice president in American history — and leaving behind his many Cincinnati digs to do it. The Ohio resident is trading in his five-bedroom, 4.5-bathroom, 6,400-square-foot home for the Vice President’s rumored Washington, D.C. residence.
Vance and his wife, Usha, 39, are moving into the six-bedroom, 9,150-square-foot Queen Anne-style mansion at the U.S. Naval Observatory. The house, named the official residence of the VP in 1974, has hosted seven other vice presidents before him, according to the White House.
Located on 12 acres of the 72-acre observatory, the three-story white residence features an enclosed porch, green shutters, a turret, and a blue roof. Built of brick and wood, it’s a picturesque place for the new VP to call home.
The ground floor has a dining room with a fireplace, a pantry kitchen that was reworked by the family of Vice President Dick Cheney, a lounge with a fireplace, a living room with a rounded beginning, a sitting room, two parlors and a garden room, plus a garage, according to a floor plan at WhiteHouseMuseum.org, which is not affiliated with the US government.
The second floor has two bedrooms, an office and a den, and the third floor has four additional bedrooms. The kitchen and staff quarters are at basement level. It is also said to have a bunker, according to the book Number One Observatory Circle by Charles Denyer.
The house is filled with art, including studio pottery made by Joan Mondale (wife of Vice President Walter Mondale) and art on loan from museums, including Helen Frankenthaler’s Lush Spring, Andrew Wyeth’s Siri, and paintings western by George Catlin, according to the White House Archives.
The backyard has a vine-covered gazebo, a heated pool installed by the Cheneys and a pool house, according to photos on the White House Museum website. A tree plaque reads “Joe loves Jill, Valentine’s Day 2010,” courtesy of now-President Joe Biden. Biden also installed the Vice Presidential Family Heritage Garden in 2012, which includes the names of families (and pets) who have lived there.
DC architect Leon E. Dessez built the house in 1893 for the superintendent of the US Naval Observatory. It cost just $20,000, according to Denyer, which is equivalent to about $575,000 today, according to inflation calculators.
The chief of naval operations quickly commandeered the house as his home in 1923 because “the house was so beautiful,” according to the White House website. Since then, millions of dollars in renovations have been poured into the home, raised in part by the Vice Presidential Residence Foundation, established by Vice President Dan Quayle in 1991.
Vice President Kamala Harris spent $458,597 on home renovations, art and other improvements in 2024, tax records show.
The house became the vice president’s official residence when housing prices near DC became a burden for vice presidents during Richard Nixon’s tenure.
Residents including the Mondales, Gores and Bushes have expressed what a pleasure it was to live in the home, with Al Gore’s wife, Tipper Gore, calling it an “amazing place,” according to Denyer’s book.
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