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The McLain mansion at 1500 Connecticut Avenue was an exemplar of early 20th-century luxury. Originally bought by newspaper magnate John R. McLain in 1884, it was expanded into a Renaissance Revival villa with a grand marble entrance, French salons, and a ballroom that attracted elite parties and political gatherings. During the 1930s, after the death of McLain, the house was repurposed as government offices, and by 1939, it was demolished to make way for a large office complex.