Diplomat, Cornelius Engert, lived in this building in 1967. He was U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan from 1942 to 1945 and was considered one of the State Department's foremost experts on the Middle East. His foreign service career spanned two world wars. As U.S. Minister Resident in Addis Ababa (1935 to 1937) Engert, his wife, and several aides took up arms to protect the American delegation from Italian strongman Benito Mussolini's invading troops. Engert passed away in 1985.