The Christian Heurich Mansion or otherwise known as the Heurich House Museum, or Brewmaster’s Castle, was built in between the years 1892 and 1894 by a German immigrant and an American beer baron Christian Heurich. The first two floors include all the original furnishings and architectural deatils. In the year 1955, Heurich’s widow deeded the house to the Historical Historical Society of Washington D.C.. 2003 was the year that the Historical Society moved out of the house and deeded it to the Heurich House Foundation.

The house was originally built as a private residence for Christian Heurich, who happened to be one of Washington’s wealthiest citizens and known philanthropists. Christian was born in 1842 and became a brewer while still in Europe and arrived in the United States at the close of the Civil War. The Christian Heurich Brewing Company was once known as the Christian Heurich Larger Beer Brewery and was the solely owned by Christian Heurich in 1873.

Inside the house most of the family furniture, has been carefully preserved and displayed as it was when Heurich lived there. Some of the most famous sites within the house are: the curving staircase made of brass, marble and onyx, the elaborately carved wooden fireplace (which can be found in almost every room), and the large quantities of gold leaf decorations. The bathtubs and washbasins are richly ornamented.

Heurich ran his brewery until he died at the age of 102. He was also Washington’s second largest landowner. His brewery is the world’s oldest and was the largest privately owned in the nation’s capital. The mansion was the first fireproof home in the city. It was built of reinforced steel, and poured concrete. It was a novel construction technique at the time, and unheard of for residential construction. To help ensure the safety, none of the fireplaces were ever used. The top tower features a salamander, which in mythology, a creature that guards against fire.

The mansion has thirty one rooms, fifteen fireplaces with individually carved mantels and cast cast bronze fire backs, hand painted ceiling canvases. The rooms were luxuriously furnished and are an original turn of the century collection.