1922, steel magnate Alfred Lefevre and Albertine Reckinger purchased the property at 22 Boulevard Emmanuel Servais, and built a maison de maître — a grand family house. Designed by Luxembourgish architect Gust Schopen, the house's opulence reflected the wealth Luxembourg’s steel industry, centered in Esch-sur-Alzette.[2] However, for unknown reasons, the Lefevres never inhabited their new estate, and in 1929, sold it to the German government, who used it as their embassy.[2]
On 10 September 1944, the United States Army liberated Luxembourg City. The Lefevre house, in the meanwhile, was used as barracks for American soldiers.[2] In the days following the Battle of the Bulge, the American Chargé d'Affaires to Luxembourg, George Platt Waller, returned after having been forced out in 1941, reestablishing the diplomatic connection between the US and Luxembourg.[2]
Just before leaving Luxembourg permanently, Chargé Waller signed the papers sealing the purchase of the Lefevre mansion from the Luxembourgish government on 24 June 1948 for $155,000 ($1.55 million in 2015 dollars[3]).[2] In fact, the American government got the property for free, as Belgium covered the cost as part of its repayment to the United States under the Lend-Lease program.[2]
The Embassy in Luxembourg has been the home of several 'first-of-their-kind' US ambassadors, including Perle Mesta, one of the first female ambassadors, Patricia Roberts Harris, the first African-American female ambassador, and John E. Dolibois, the first and only native-born Luxembourger.[2] Indeed, of such quality was his service that in October 2003, the United States Senate passed a resolution officially naming the embassy building the Dolibois House, in his honor.[1]
‡ Missions which are located in countries or cities that may be considered a part of more than one continent
1 Consulates-General which function as an embassy (ie. consul reports to State Department, not the respective country's ambassador)
2 The American Institute in Taiwan is ostensibly a public, non-profit organization to promote US-Taiwanese relations, but through State Department staffing & assistance, functions as an informal US diplomatic mission.
