In 1924, Kazys Bizauskas, the envoy of the Republic of Lithuania to the United States, purchased a building with a substantial plot of land on 16th Street for 90,000 dollars.

Therefore, Stasys Antanas Bačkis organized a fundraising campaign among Lithuanian Americans and collected about $130,000.

[3] Between 2004 and 2007, the building was extended by a new western wing in the courtyard, and a capsule containing a letter from the President of the Republic of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus, to future generations was embedded in the wall.

At the time, the legation was the standard form of diplomatic mission, and only Great Powers established embassies in each other's capitals.

Although Lithuania was occupied and incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, its prewar government had instructed its diplomats to maintain an independent presence in exile.