Upon returning from a trip to Europe, she was reported as saying that she “was relieved to set my feet on American terra cotta.” She was particularly proud of one acquisition and proudly showed guests “the bust of my daughter’s hand, done by Rodin.” At one of their dinners, Marguerite Cassini tried to refuse the terrapin soup. She quickly developed a reputation for comical malapropisms and social missteps. Mary Leiter’s early attempt to enter Washington society was awkward at best. The Leiters were well-traveled and took many trips abroad to visit their daughters. Daisy married the Earl of Suffolk, and Nancy married Colin Campbell, a colonel in the British army. She would die in India in 1906, shortly after her arrival there. Mary Victoria married George, Lord Curzon, who became Viceroy of India. In the spirit of Edith Wharton’s The Buccaneers, all three daughters married high-ranking Englishmen, using the Leiter fortune to ensure their husband’s economic standing while at the same time boosting their own social standing in both Europe and the U.S. Leiter mansion at 1500 New Hampshire Avenue, NW under construction c. The original house was three stories plus basement, 55 rooms, 96’ across the front, 75’ deep, and 62’ in height and cost $125,000 to construct. Chandler to design his own palatial mansion in DC. Shunning the architects of Chicago and Washington, DC, Leiter chose Philadelphia architect Theophilus P. Undoubtedly, when folks saw Leiter coming, prices would likely skyrocket knowing that Leiter would never balk at any price asked. In 1891, the Leiters decided to move to Washington permanently and purchased a lot at 1500 New Hampshire Avenue, NW for $83,276.53 (again an astronomical price to pay for any real estate at that time). Either way, the rent allowed Blaine to comfortably relocate to Seward house on Lafayette Square and the Leiters to establish a foothold in Dupont Circle. People either gasped that they would pay that much, or more probably that they were so easily relieved of their money by Blaine. In 1883, the Leiters rented the Blaine mansion at 2000 Massachusetts Avenue for a whopping sum of $11,500 a year, the amount they were more than happy to quote to any who asked, or even didn't ask. Even in light of significant contributions to the city of Chicago, they would never fully be accepted by Chicago’s high society. While not exactly born poor, Levi Leiter was considered a self-made man and Mrs. Like so many of the nouveau riche of that period, or parvenus as Mark Twain referred to them, the Leiters decided to establish themselves in Washington, DC. The couple had four children: Joseph, Nancy, Marguerite (Daisy) and Mary Victoria. Mary was the daughter of Benjamin Carver, a wealthy banker from Utica, New York and a descendant of John Carver, the first president of the Plymouth Colony. Leiter married Mary Theresa Carver in 1866. William LeBaron Jenney’s Leiter Building in Chicago. He also served as the second president of the Chicago Art Institute, provided a new building for the Chicago Historical Society, and donated generously to the Chicago Public Library. While still in Chicago, he became associated with the Chicago School of architecture and was the builder of the first true steel skeleton building-the William LeBaron Jenney’s Leiter Building (1889). Leiter developed an interest in real estate and invested heavily in the city, helping it to recover from the fire of 1871 and building his already immense fortune. Marshall Field and Company survived until 2005, when it was acquired by Macy’s Inc. Deciding to retire from the dry goods business, Leiter sold his interest in the company to Field in 1881, and the company name was changed to Marshall Field and Company. In 1867, Palmer left the business and the company was renamed Field, Leiter & Co. With a fellow employee, Marshall Field, Leiter bought an interest in the store and in 1865 sold it to go into business with Potter Palmer as Field, Palmer, Leiter & Co. Leiter began working as a clerk in the village store in Leitersburg, but in 1855 at the age of 21 he moved to Chicago to work as a clerk in a dry goods store there. While some of his ancestors were Mennonites, Levi Leiter was raised as a Lutheran. Levi Ziegler Leiter was born in Leitersburg, Maryland (just north of Hagerstown) in the town founded by and named after his grandfather, Abraham Leiter. The current site of the large International-style hotel at 1500 New Hampshire Avenue was once home to one of the largest and grandest mansions in Washington, built by Levi Ziegler Leiter (1834-1904).
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