Remembering Austin Kiplinger, Tudor Place Champion

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT
November 23, 2015 Mandy Katz
  Director of Communications
  ph: 202.580.7329

This is a charmed place. It just raises your spirits whenever you’re here. And I feel that way and I have felt that way for many years and I’m continuously reminded that there is a continuity in life, and the more we know about it, the better we can cope with changes that are coming… 

— Austin Kiplinger, Honoree, 20th Annual Tudor Place
Spring Garden Party, May 2012

The board and staff of Tudor Place mourn the loss of Trustee Emeritus Austin H. Kiplinger, known as “Kip,” who died November 20 at age 97. His passing leaves a void among lovers of D.C. history. His enthusiasm for preservation and gleanings from our shared past will be sorely missed.

“Working with him for 15 years, I found him to be gracious, ebullient, and generous in sharing his love for the history he knew so well of this city and of Tudor Place,” said Leslie Buhler, Tudor Place Executive Director until October 2015. “He connected the past to the present in very real terms,” she added, praising his “extraordinary memory, sparkle in his eyes, and thirst for knowledge.”

Mr. Kiplinger championed Tudor Place since the museum opened in 1988. He first delved into its history after he and his wife purchased Montevideo, a dilapidated 1830 house in Montgomery County, Maryland, in 1958. Montevideo’s builder, John Parke Custis Peter, was the son of Martha Parke Custis and Thomas Peter, the founders of Tudor Place. Peter built Montevideo to match the Federal-style center block of Tudor Place, his childhood home. His parents’ graves and those of two of their children remain on the property.

With painstaking attention to detail and sound preservation practices, Mr. Kiplinger restored Montevideo, raising his family there with a keen shared interest in its past and its “parentage” at Tudor Place, Ms. Buhler noted. When Tudor Place opened to the public in 1988, he joined the foundation’s Board of Trustees, becoming president two years later and serving in that role for eight years. He continued to support the museum for the rest of his life. Tudor Place celebrated his lasting leadership and commitment in 2012 by naming him honoree of  the 20th Annual Spring Garden Party.

On that occasion, he recalled first encountering Tudor Place not as a homeowner, but as a boy. “When I was in my teens and a student at the great, distinguished Western High School here in Georgetown,” he told the audience of several hundred gathered in his honor, “I used to wander past this great place up on the hill and wonder about it and wonder what went on behind that gate. And little did I know at the time that a lot of American history went on behind that gate, a reflection of it at least, in five generations of one family.”  (See the video.)

A pioneering publisher and journalist, Mr. Kiplinger recognized innately the importance of knowing history to understanding modern times. At Tudor Place, he said in his Garden Party address, six generations of one family “lived through some of the most tortured times in any nation’s history…  And we can deal with the present and the future better if we know something about the past.”

Tudor Place extends condolences to Mr. Kiplinger’s his son and daughter-in-law, Knight and Ann Kiplinger, his companion, Bonnie Barker Nicholson, and the extended Kiplinger family.

Mark Hudson Appointed to Lead Tudor Place Into Its Third Century

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 27, 2015
contact: Mandy Katz

Tudor Place South Facade

Tudor Place and its iconic Federal-style south facade with Portico.
[credit: Ron Blunt Photography]

Tudor Place is pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Hudson as the museum’s next executive director, commencing October 5, 2015, on the cusp of the National Historic Landmark’s bicentennial year. Mr. Hudson succeeds Leslie Buhler,

who is retiring after 15 years of extraordinary leadership during which she established Tudor Place — first opened to the public in 1988 — as a noteworthy contributor to the nation’s historic and cultural life.

“Mark brings to the position extensive professional experience, a strong academic background, and remarkable enthusiasm for the future of Tudor Place,” said Geoffrey B. Baker, president of the Tudor Place Board of Trustees.  Mr. Hudson comes to Tudor Place from the Vermont Historical Society, which he has directed since 2009.  The Vermont Historical Society is a multifaceted statewide organization encompassing a museum and substantial collections, a genealogical research library, a biennial state History Expo, the Vermont Women’s History Project, and a publishing arm.

Mark Hudson“I have for a number of years been following the activities at Tudor Place, particularly with respect to the care of its extraordinary collections,” Mr. Hudson said of his appointment. With respect to the Master Preservation Plan and Bicentennial initiatives underway, Mr. Hudson noted, “having the opportunity to lead Tudor Place as it embarks upon these ambitious endeavors is amazing.”

Mr. Hudson looks forward to bringing to fruition the plan to secure Tudor Place’s historical and cultural assets for a new century. “As I have learned more about this historic treasure,” he noted, “my enthusiasm has grown. The museum’s master plan reflects a bold vision that demonstrates a commitment to the preservation and interpretation of this nationally significant site,” he said.

During Mr. Hudson’s tenure, the Vermont Historical Society received the 2012 American Association for State and Local History’s Leadership in History Awards for the History Explorer website and the publication, A Very Fine Appearance: The Vermont Civil War Photographs of George Houghton. His work at Tudor Place marks a return to our region, as he directed the Historical Society of Frederick County, Maryland, from 1998-2009. During his term there, the society secured accreditation from the American Association of Museums (in 2003) and received the 2005 Small Museum Association’s Hunter-Burley Award for advancing public access and professional growth in an individual institution. Early in his distinguished career, Mark was curator of the Boone County Historical Society in Missouri, his home state.

Mr. Hudson’s other professional and civic commitments include, since 2010, chairing the Vermont Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission by gubernatorial appointment. He served six times as a Museums for America field reviewer for the Institute for Museum and Library Services. His Board service includes the Save Historic Antietam Foundation (2006-2009) and Maryland Association of History Museums (1999-2005).

Mark was selected by Tudor Place Trustees following an extensive national search conducted by a firm specializing in museum placements.

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May 20 Garden Party to Honor Museum Champion Ellen Charles

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CONTACT

TICKETS
Mary Michael Wachur Click here.
Associate Director for Annual Giving & Events
202.580.7323 | mwachur@tudorplace.org

Some 500 celebrants will gather at Tudor Place on Wednesday, May 20, 2015, at 6 p.m. for the site’s 23rd Annual Spring Garden Party. The festive social event, chaired by Elizabeth Powell of Georgetown, draws prominent Washingtonians and guests from around the nation and abroad. Ellen MacNeille Charles, a transformative and longtime leader of Tudor Place, will be honored . Mrs. Charles’s special blend of experience, wisdom, and good humor benefits and enriches every organization she touches — including Tudor Place, where her leadership and advocacy have made an indelible mark. Tudor Place hosts more than 23,000 visitors annually. Its education programs serve more than 3,000 school children each year from schools in D.C. and surrounding communities, providing a living classroom on American history, the environment, architecture and other subjects.

Thank You, Sponsors

The Spring Garden Party, as Tudor Place’s most important fundraiser of the year, provides more than 20 percent of its annual operating budget. enabling it to serve as a destination for education and entertainment of broad audiences of local, national, and international visitors. Corporate sponsorship is led by Washington Fine Properties and Cooke & Bieler, and supported by Wagner Roofing, Davey Trees, and Huntington T. Block. Proceeds also support innovative programs employing Tudor Place as a living classroom for the teaching of American history, science and environmental studies, and architecture, for more than 3,000 public and private school children a year.

Director Leslie Buhler to Retire, Leaving Tudor Place Strengthened

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January 22, 2015

Knot Garden with Arbor by Ron Blunt

Knot Garden and Grape Arbor [CREDIT: Ron Blunt Photography]

A Change in Leadership

Leslie L. Buhler has announced she will retire as Executive Director of Tudor Place at the end of June 2015 after 15 years of transformational leadership. Since 2000, Leslie created on the historic site an engaging and educational modern museum serving a diverse audience of Washington-area residents, visitors to the nation’s capital, and a worldwide digital audience. A professional search for her successor is underway.

Executive Director Leslie BuhlerTudor Place was completed in 1816 by Thomas Peter and his wife Martha Custis Peter, a granddaughter of Martha Washington, and is noted for its architecture, archive, and extensive collections, including more than 200 items owned by Martha and George Washington. Now a National Historic Landmark on five and a half acres in Georgetown, the estate had been open to the public 12 years when Leslie took the helm. Her innovations and accomplishments included establishing regular tour hours and appropriate zoning as a permanent museum; building a rich schedule of education programs; undertaking archaeological explorations into the site’s past; and transferring many museum operations outside of the historic house so it could be properly preserved and interpreted.

“I’ve experienced great professional and personal satisfaction in advancing one of the greatest house museums in the nation’s capital, bringing attention to the extraordinary collection and archive it holds, and engaging the public with wonderful historic and cultural resources unique to Tudor Place,” Leslie said. “I look forward to the next chapter in my life knowing that the museum is stronger and poised to successfully complete a capital campaign to ensure its future as a 21st century museum.”

Assessing, Repairing, Readying for the Future

scaffold on South Facade
When Leslie came to Tudor Place, it badly needed repair and restoration. First tackling deferred maintenance and undertaking studies to assess restoration needs, she led a forward-thinking effort to develop a Master Preservation Plan to secure all the site’s historic and cultural assets. A first phase of work on the National Historic Landmark house was funded by a $3.5-million campaign funded in part by awards from Save America’s Treasures and the D.C. Government. In addition, Leslie advanced conservation of the landscape, collection, and archive and also built a strong, competent staff charged with continuing the museum’s momentum.

“Tudor Place has benefited enormously from Leslie’s outstanding leadership and engagement with the community,” said Geoffrey B. Baker, President of the Board of Trustees. “She has led the institution through a major assessment and planning process and developed an educational component that engages young and old with the powerful lessons of American history and culture. It is with profound gratitude that we wish Leslie well.”

Building Audiences, Collections, and the Institution

2 students with shardFrom early in her tenure, Leslie made it a priority to increase and diversify the visitor pool while enlarging the museum’s core supporters, and she broadened the museum’s reach into the local community through a lively education program. These efforts substantially increased visits by Washington-area children, families, young adults, and seniors. The dynamic school program introduced under her leadership now reaches 3,000 children each year.

Augmenting the collection, Peter family members gave several significant gifts during Leslie’s tenure. These include a collection of rare books from the original library of Martha and Thomas Peter and a William G. Webster pocket watch that Martha and George Washington gave Eleanor Calvert upon her marriage to Martha Washington’s son, John Parke Custis.

Leslie’s contributions also include judicious management in expanding the museum’s budget, increasing reserve funds, and raising monies from private and public sources to increase the capacity of the museum’s conservation, education and outreach programs.
Thank you for your support of Tudor Place.

Holidays Through History Open House | Saturday, December 6, 2014

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Tudor Place Recognized with National Award for Preservation and Collections Care

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT
May 21, 2014 Communications Officer Mandy Katz
202.486.7645 | mkatz@tudorplace.org

The Tudor Place Foundation has been honored with the 2014 Ross Merrill Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections at Tudor Place Historic House & Garden. The award, established in 1999, is presented jointly by Heritage Preservation and the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC). Recipients are selected by a panel of distinguished preservation and conservation experts from across the nation.

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Curator Erin Kuykendall and specialist Mark Adler preserved and made minor repairs to an 1804 Broadwood & Son pianoforte.

The Ross Merrill award recognizes the systematic and strategic work of Tudor Place over the years to preserve and care for all its historic and cultural assets belonging to the National Historic Landmark. Since it assumed ownership of Tudor Place in 1984 from its last private owner, the Foundation has committed itself to inventorying, cataloguing, assessing, and conserving its historic and cultural assets – the buildings, object collection, archive, book collection, and landscape – and expanded its collections staff from one person to three. In recent years, significant effort has enabled a comprehensive Master Preservation Plan that will permit the public’s engagement with the museum’s assets while also protecting them.

Conservation-02

Conservator Greg Byrne and Erin Kuykendall compare X-radiographs and a wax figure from a tableau created for Martha Washington. Additional funding is sought to complete this significant project.

“It is an honor to see the often quiet work of many years recognized with this highly coveted award,” Executive Director Leslie Buhler said. “Heritage Preservation and the AIC are internationally renowned for their work to preserve our country’s cultural resources. We are gratified to see Tudor Place recognized for its contributions toward that goal.”

Tudor Place has clearly demonstrated its commitment to protecting, preserving, maintaining, and interpreting its historic property and collections. Beginning in 1990 with a Conservation Assessment Program grant, the museum has methodically assessed its holdings.  From 2004 to 2011 alone, the organization solicited the help of more than a dozen conservation professionals to assess the condition of its collections. In addition, staff are tasked with conducting a detailed condition assessment of every object on display annually.

The museum’s dedication to better understanding its collections has allowed it to identify deliberate short and long-range conservation goals and priorities. This attentiveness has also served as the impetus for the museum’s comprehensive polices and plans throughout the years from the implementation of an integrated pest management plan in 1996 to improved environmental monitoring in 2007. In fact, in 2008 Tudor Place created a Master Preservation Plan that outlines clear goals for the site and primacy on preservation best practices.

Jennifer A. Zemanek, a textile conservator who worked with Tudor Place on conserving a 1783 shell and waxwork tableau, commended the board’s and staff’s “…enthusiasm, patience and diligence in tackling this very complex conservation project, ultimately making decisions that exemplify Tudor Place’s absolute dedication to the preservation and conservation of its collections.”

The award committee was also impressed by the museum’s conservation-focused outreach activities both for its own staff and the general public. Tudor Place’s collections team—which has grown from one staff member to three since 2000—works collaboratively with all departments to inform staff of preventive steps they can take to ensure events, tours, and educational programs do not harm the grounds, house, or collections. Through newsletters, public reports, and programs, the general public is also informed of the museum’s conservation efforts.

“The Museum’s sustained commitment to issues of preservation is truly impressive,” said Lawrence L. Reger, Heritage Preservation president. “I, along with AIC, applaud the Tudor Place for its achievements and commend both its board and staff for their tireless efforts.”

The Ross Merrill Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections will be presented during a ceremony at Tudor Place Historic House and Garden on Wednesday, June 18.

The Award

The Ross Merrill Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections has been presented on an annual basis since 1999. Previous recipients include nationally prominent organizations such as Colonial Williamsburg and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and smaller institutions such as the Historical Society of Frederick Country (Maryland) and Maymont Foundation (Richmond, Virginia). In 2012, the Alaska State Museum and the Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame received the award. The Indianapolis Museum of Art was also a recipient of the 2013 award.

About AIC

The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works is the national membership organization of conservation professionals dedicated to preserving the art and historic artifacts of our cultural heritage for future generations. AIC plays a crucial role in establishing and upholding professional standards, promoting research and publications, providing educational opportunities, and fostering the exchange of knowledge among conservators, allied professionals, and the public. Learn more about AIC at www.conservation-us.org.

About Heritage Preservation

Heritage Preservation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving our nation’s heritage. Its members include museums, libraries, archives, and other organizations concerned with saving the past for the future. Learn more about Heritage Preservation at www.heritagepreservation.org.

Presentation of the award will take place at a reception at Tudor Place on Wednesday, June 18, 2014. Attendees will include many of the several dozen conservators, advisors, donors, staff, and past employees who have contributed to conserving and preserving Tudor Place’s assets.

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Download This! Woodturning and Artisanry Featured at Free Georgetown Festival

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woodturner demonstrations

Woodturners will demonstrate at Tudor Place, Saturday.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

contact: Mandy Katz Washington DC 20007
cellphone: 202.486.7645
office:202.965.0400
email: mkatz@tudorplace.org

WASHINGTON, DC – Don’t expect flat screens or Google Glass at the free public festival in Georgetown this Saturday, March 29, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. In fact, protective goggles may be the only unusual eyewear on hand at the first Tudor Place Tree Fest, on the grounds of Tudor Place Historic House & Garden. The outdoor, rain-or-shine event celebrates the tree canopy and open space in the city and introduces a just planted “future old-growth” tree, a white oak.

The schedule features active, person-to-person experiences like mini garden tours, nature-oriented puppet shows and craft projects for children, artisan demonstrations, and a Market Fair featuring locally made handicrafts and food. Tours of the historic house will also be available, at the usual entry price. (The full schedule can be viewed here. Puppetry and crafts will be moved indoors in the event of rain.)

Also expect demonstrations of lathe work by local woodturners from the Montgomery County and Chesapeake Woodturners clubs. In May 2013, several of them salvaged heavy trunk pieces from a towering 200-year-old oak in the museum’s North Garden that had to be felled due to disease. (The newly planted tree replaces it.) In the woodturners’ hands, this “dead” wood received new life in stunning bowls, bottle stoppers, and other pieces, some of which will be on view Saturday.

 

wood bowl

Bowl by Don Van Ryk from the Tudor Place white oak.

“It means a lot to see such beauty come from what started as a sad event – the loss of a tree that lived through the change from a port to a thriving neighborhood,” explained Tudor Place Director of Education and Visitor Services Talia Mosconi. “The woodturners are keeping an ancient craft alive, and it’s fascinating to see how they do it.”

The bowls reflect not just skilled craftsmanship, but the artists’ ability to find refined beauty in raw and rough-hewn pieces, often turning irregularities or “blemishes” in the wood into distinctive features of a crafted piece. Bowls from the Tudor Place white oak are on sale now and during the Tree Fest from the Museum Shop. The demonstrating wood turners will have additional hand-crafted pieces available for purchase during the festival.

 

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Tudor Place Receives $100,000 Matching Grant from DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities

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Tudor Place South Facade
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE &#183 Feb. 26, 2014
Contact Mandy Katz
mkatz@tudorplace.org
202.486.7645

WASHINGTON, DC: In recognition of its important role in making historic resources available to residents of all eight wards of the District, the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities has awarded Tudor Place Historic House & Garden a $100,000 matching grant for 2014 to maintain and restore critical infrastructure. The project, which requires Tudor Place to raise an equal amount, is funded in part by the DCAH, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The grant and matching funds will help Tudor Place continue serving local students and residents as well as visitors to the Capital City and protecting valuable artistic and cultural collections.  It includes replacement of a late 19th-century roof, repointing of a brick structure, and restoration painting of the exterior woodwork on the National Historic Landmark house, which welcomes over 20,000 visitors a year.

“It is one thing to make the case for splashy restoration projects the public sees every day,” commented Tudor Place Executive Director Leslie Buhler, “but the kind of long-term preservation and maintenance covered by this grant are no less essential. We applaud DCAH for supporting the literal foundations of an impressive historic resource in our city.”

   better horizon. pic stitch

Tudor Place Historic House & Garden, a 5-½-acre estate in the city’s Georgetown neighborhood, is a 501(c)3 non-profit serving schools and residents from across the District.  The National Historic Landmark house is a unique testament to our city’s past, described by the U.S Commission on Fine Arts as, “without doubt, the most significant early 19th-century residence in Washington.” The site serves over 3,000 D.C. students annually, the majority of them in Title I schools.

In addition to providing enriching field trips, Tudor Place offers public programs in history and culture; sponsors historic and archeological research into the economy, labor, and demographic history of D.C.’s free and enslaved residents; and hosts professional development workshops for over 350 teachers annually. The historic site connects the public to American history through the personal experiences of those who lived and worked on the estate and encourages all people to know their own stories and recognize their roles in shaping history.
1644 31st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007

Home for the Holidays in DC? FOUR Historic Homes Welcome You!

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Press Contact:

Communications Officer

Mandy Katz, mkatz@tudorplace.org

202.965.0400

Website: www.tudorplace.org

Tudor Place Historic House and Garden

1644 31st Street NW

Washington, DC 2007

Download the PDF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 17, 2012

Washington, D.C. – October 17, 2012 — Four museum neighbors will open their doors to
celebrate the season with a special “Holidays through History” multi-house tour on Saturday,
December 14, from four o’clock until eight o’clock in the evening. Advance tickets are now on
sale for the event, which includes Dupont Circle’s Anderson House and The President Woodrow Wilson House, and their Georgetown neighbors, Dumbarton House and Tudor Place Historic House and Garden.

The public is invited to experience these four privately-owned historic house museums – all on
the U.S. Register of Historic Places and three designated National Historic Landmarks – fully
decked out for the holidays. Guests can stroll the mansions’ historic rooms, delight in the
ambiance of festive period decorations, enjoy music that will interpret traditional holiday
celebrations from the Federal period through the Roaring Twenties, and sample seasonal treats.

At Anderson House, a grand Beaux-Arts mansion completed in 1905, visitors will learn about Gilded Age Christmas traditions at the turn of the 20th century through the eyes of Ambassador Larz and Isabel Anderson, one of the era’s most distinguished couples. Visitors are invited to stroll through the festively decorated house, where each room will present a different theme—including decorations, gift giving, entertaining and charity. Traditional holiday music will be performed live throughout the evening. Light refreshments inspired by the Gilded Age period will be served in the Winter Garden. Guests will also have the opportunity to view the exhibition Remembering the Revolutionaries: Heroes of the Revolutionary War in American Culture, 1783-1863 (through March 1, 2014). Anderson House is located at 2118 Massachusetts Avenue, Northwest.

Dumbarton House, built circa 1800 on the heights of Georgetown, is a fine example of Federal period architecture. The home will be decorated in elegant and simple Federal-period style with greenery and an elaborate dining table where Joseph Nourse, first register of the U.S. Treasury, and his wife Maria entertained guests. The formal Parlor will come alive with music of the period performed by musicians from The Friday Morning Music Club. Our newest exhibit “Five Generations of Nourse Family Artists” will be on view, bringing this honored family tradition into the 21st century. Guests will be invited to partake of light refreshments and crafts in the contemporary Belle Vue Room ballroom. Dumbarton House is located at 2715 Q Street, Northwest.

Tudor Place Historic House and Garden, an elegant neoclassical house dating to 1816, inaugurates a change this season, blending tradition and 21st-century flair. Through six generations, the Peter family celebrated their heritage here while also embracing contemporary art and fashion. For the first time, in 2013, the museum imagines how they might have decorated for a contemporary Christmas, blending heirloom spaces and collections with modern style, in winter greenery, ribbons and bows, and the sparkle of lights and color. Visitors are invited to stroll through the mansion while listening to enchanting holiday music performed by Seraphim. Family fun continues with children’s craft activities and light refreshments. Tudor Place is located at 1644 31st Street, Northwest.

The President Woodrow Wilson House, was the final home of our twenty-eighth President. Furnished as it was in Wilson’s time, the fashionable 1915 house just off Embassy Row is a living textbook of modern American life in the 1920s—from sound recordings to silent films, from flapper dresses to zinc sinks. A splendid ten-foot tree, heavily adorned with electric lights, will fill the solarium and radiate through the Palladian window at the top of the foyer stairs. Guests will have the opportunity to explore the main museum rooms, decorated in the style of the 1920s, and visit the craft table to make their own ornaments. Woodrow Wilson House is located at 2340 S Street, Northwest.

The tour can be easily walked. Complimentary shuttle bus transportation will also be provided
for all ticketed guests, with frequent shuttles among the sites from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.

ADMISSION: Entry to all four sites is $16 in advance and $20 at the door; children aged 17 and younger are ten dollars ($10) each. Admission to one museum only (adults or children) is $10. Admission for the museums’ members is complimentary.

Tickets may be purchased at https://holidaysthroughhistory2013.eventbrite.com/

For additional information, please contact:

  • Anderson House, 202-785-2040
  • Dumbarton House, 202-337-2288
  • Tudor Place Historic House and Garden, 202-965-0400
Located in Georgetown’s Historic District, this National Historic Landmark is a house museum distinguished for its neoclassical architecture, decorative arts collection, and five-and-a-half acre garden. Built in 1816, it was home to Thomas Peter and his wife, Martha Custis Peter, granddaughter of Martha Washington. It housed six generations of the Peter family over the course of 180 years. Now, open to the public, the historic home is one of our nation’s hidden gems. For details visit www.tudorplace.org

– Woodrow Wilson House, 202-387-4062

With Loss of 220-Year-Old White Oak, Tudor Place Re-Invests in Old-Growth Canopy

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Press Contact:
Communications Officer
Mandy Katz, mkatz@tudorplace.org
202.965.0400
Website: www.tudorplace.org
Tudor Place Historic House and Garden
1644 31st Street NW
Washington, DC 2007

Download the PDF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2013

Planting the tall trees of tomorrow today

Washington, D.C. – May 9, 2013 — Chainsaws and a 75-ton crane will arrive in the Tudor Place North Garden Monday morning, May 12, to remove a white oak tree looming more than 100 feet tall that may have taken root in the 18th century. Arborists have determined that the oak is leaning dangerously, and soil fissures at its roots indicate failure. Press are invited to witness the procedure and the planned replacement planting in fall. Archival photographs like the one at right from the early 1900s show that the tree towered over past generations of the Peter family, who owned the estate for more than 180 years.

For safety reasons, the tree’s removal had to be scheduled with little notice: Its upper limbs were thinned Tuesday as a temporary measure while awaiting a crane’s availability. Tudor Place staff, Board, and supporters are bidding a reluctant farewell to this old friend. The tree stands out even on a property renowned for old-growth specimens, including the ancient Tulip Poplar named by the America the Beautiful Fund as D.C.’s “Millennium Tree.”

“The loss of this majestic tree will reshape Tudor Place’s north landscape,” said Executive Director Leslie Buhler. “However, just as previous owners honored the site’s past while planning for its future, we will replace it with a new white oak in the fall.”

While a sad event, it’s not without an optimistic side, especially for history lovers and curators
accustomed to a the long view: Measured against the Peters’s two centuries of stewarding the landscape, the time it takes for a replacement sapling to mature into a future “old-growth” tree is the proverbial eye blink. It’s not hard to picture the day when it will offer coming generations shade and the same powerful feelings stirred by nature’s gifts at Tudor Place today. (It is hoped donors will share the same vision: To defray the extraordinary cost of removing and replacing the oak and sustaining and replenishing the site’s other tall trees, a dedicated fund will be formally announced.)

Since 1983, Tudor Place Foundation has continued the Peter family tradition of nurturing the city’s tree canopy. With green spaces under threat all around us, our long view of the past that equips Tudor Place to foresee — and prepare for — a leafy future to come.

Located in Georgetown’s Historic District, this National Historic Landmark is a house museum distinguished for its neoclassical architecture, decorative arts collection, and five-and-a-half acre garden. Built in 1816, it was home to Thomas Peter and his wife, Martha Custis Peter, granddaughter of Martha Washington. It housed six generations of the Peter family over the course of 180 years. Now, open to the public, the historic home is one of our nation’s hidden gems. For details visit www.tudorplace.org