Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial (Va.)

Arlington House is the historic family residence of Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War in Arlington County, Virginia.[5] The estate of the historic home along with a memorial to Lee are now the center of Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, where they overlook the Potomac River and the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Built by Lee's father-in-law G.W.P. Custis in 1803–1818, Arlington House is a Greek Revival style mansion designed by the English architect George Hadfield. Its garden and adjoined structures are also preserved.

During the U.S. Civil War, the mansion was used as a U.S. Army headquarters and its grounds were later selected as the site of Arlington National Cemetery, in part to ensure that Lee would never again be able to reside there. Arlington House is part of the Arlington National Cemetery Historical Region on the National Register of Historic Places. Although the United States Department of the Army maintains Arlington National Cemetery, the National Park Service administers Arlington House. There, the U.S. flag flies at half-staff during funerals. On March 4, 1925, the 68th United States Congress enacted Public Resolution 74, which authorized the restoration of the Lee Mansion in the Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.[33] The War Department then began to restore Arlington House, and the Department of the Army continues to manage over half of the original plantation's 1,100 acres (450 ha), as Arlington National Cemetery. However, for several years after Congress enacted the authorizing legislation, the War Department, which was responsible for managing the house and grounds, largely ignored the legislation. Contradicting the authorizing legislation, the department, largely at the insistence of Charles Moore, the director of the United States Commission of Fine Arts, furnished and interpreted the Mansion to “the first half of the republic.” This decision was based, in part, on the popularity of the Colonial Revival movement which was still popular in 1925. The Mansion was restored to the period of George Washington Parke Custis, and no furniture manufactured after 1830 was accepted. This approach negated Lee's role and presence at Arlington.

In 1955, the 84th United States Congress enacted Public Law 84–107, a joint resolution that designated the manor as the "Custis-Lee Mansion" as a permanent memorial to Robert E. Lee. The resolution directed the United States Secretary of the Interior to erect on the premises a memorial plaque and to correct governmental records to bring them into compliance with the designation, "thus ensuring that the correct interpretation of its history would be applied".[34] Gradually the house was furnished and interpreted to the period of Robert E. Lee as specified in the original legislation. The National Park Service received jurisdiction over the building and some 28 acres (11 ha) of adjacent gardens (distinguished from the cemetery) beginning June 10, 1933.[35] In 1972, the 92nd United States Congress enacted Public Law 92-333, an Act that amended Public Law 84–107 to designate the manor as "Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial".[36]

In 2020, members of congress began to introduce bills to change the name again, to "The Arlington House National Historic Site".[37] By 2022 they won the support of a variety of descendants of former residents, including the Lees.[38][39][40]