Meridian House, at 1630 Crescent Place in Washington, D.C., was built by Ambassador Irwin Boyle Laughlin. He purchased the land in 1912, two years after his friend Henry White bought the adjacent site. After a long career with the US Foreign Service, Laughlin retired in 1919 and built Meridian House, filling it with his collection of 18th century French drawings and Oriental porcelains and screens.