Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, second Mr. Doug Emhoff, will move temporarily to Blair House, which is near the White House, before moving into the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory, Harris aide said.
Seven Vice Presidents have called Number One Observatory Circle their home during their tenure, starting with Vice President Walter Mondale. The house at the US Naval Observatory is not open to the public and is only a few miles from the White House. CBS News was the first to report that Harris and her husband would not immediately move into the vice president’s home because of “repairs to the home that can be more easily done when the home is empty.”
According to one assistant, some of the repairs included replacing liners in the chimneys and “other household maintenance.” The requests were not from Harris or Emhoff, but from the Navy.
While Harris and her husband own a condominium in Washington, DC, the house does not meet security protocols for a sitting vice president.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
Blair House is located on Pennsylvania Avenue, opposite the White House. Built in 1824, the house is used to house official guests of the president, including foreign heads of state. Elected Presidents and their families have also spent inauguration evening at Blair House for the past 40 years. Recently, President Joe Biden and several of his family stayed at Blair House the night before he was sworn in as president.
The vice president’s office did not specify how long Harris and Emhoff would stay in their new temporary home.