Page "Blair House" Paragraph 3

In 1942 the house was purchased by the U. S. government and has since been the official residence for guests of the U. S. president.

Blair House is primarily used to house foreign heads of state visiting the president ( when foreign leaders stay there, the house flies their flag and, in effect, becomes foreign soil ), but it has also been used for domestic guests.

Several presidents-elect of the United States and their families have spent the last few nights before their initial inauguration as guests in the house.