Press Contact:
Communications Officer
Mandy Katz, mkatz@tudorplace.org
202.965.0400 ext. 112
Website: www.tudorplace.org
Tudor Place Historic House and Garden
1644 31st Street NW
Washington, DC 2007

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 25, 2012

Washington, D.C. – January 25, 2012 — Tudor Place Historic House & Garden conservators andcurators received a rare glimpse of early American interior design this week with the discovery of a well-preserved sample of block-printed 18th-century wallpaper. The roughly 10-inch piece had been used on a handmade cabinet belonging to George Washington and his wife. Martha Washington’s granddaughter, Martha Custis Peter, and her husband, the founders of Tudor Place, purchased the cabinet in 1802 from Mrs. Washington’s estate.

The wallpaper had covered the top of the Washingtons’ piece, a wax and shellwork tableau
crafted by New York entrepreneur Samuel Fraunces in the 1780s. Its discovery and
conservation portend other valuable insights likely to emerge from study of the Fraunces
piece, which is undergoing a two-year, $37,400 conservation project involving specialists
in wax, textiles, and paper. The Richard C. von Hess Foundation, based in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, is funding the project.

“We are thrilled with this significant discovery and look forward to further research
opportunities presented by the samples,” said Tudor Place Executive Director Leslie
Buhler.

Adding further interest to the paper’s discovery are indications that it was manufactured
by a burgeoning domestic industry, rather than in England. A few American wallpaper
manufactories were established by the end of the 1700s, and some produced papers that
surpassed the quality of British or French imports, notes Curator of Collections Erin
Kuykendall. “The simple, repeating floral pattern printed in pink and green is typical for
late eighteenth-century American-made wallpapers,” she said. “Further research may help
identify a specific American manufacturer or retailer.”

Decorating walls with printed papers from England, France, or America was common in elite and middling American households by the late 1700s. Samples rarely survive, however, due to paper’s inherent fragility and householders’ tendency to remove or paint it over time. And samples like this one, over 10 inches in length and bearing multiple design repeats, are particularly rare. Wallpaper samples that do survive are most commonly found sealing the backs of picture frames, covering and lining books, or lining the interior of boxes and trunks, making this an unusual find.

The waxwork paper sample bears a polychromatic floral-and-vine stripe design block printed on laid paper and appears to be torn around the edges. Conservators found it under two additional layers of paper applied over time. The middle piece was a monochromatic blue wallpaper of a lesser quality in extremely poor condition. The outermost layer consisted of a patterned wallpaper dating stylistically to the mid-19th century that had been cut into multiple pieces and attached in a sort of patchwork.

“We were surprised by the excellent condition of the eighteenth-century paper, despite a
significant accumulation of soiling trapped above and below the layer,” noted conservator
Nancy Purinton, of Purinton Preservation, Inc. During the three days removal process,
conservators first humidified the layers to relax the adhesive binding them. Next, using
special spatulas, they gently lifted each layer onto a piece of archival fabric inserted
beneath it. Using the fabric as a support, they then lifted each paper away from the wooden
case.

The wallpaper removal is one of many complicated procedures involved in the overall
conservation of Fraunces’s rare wax and shellwork tableau depicting the Greek warrior,
Hector, bidding farewell to Andromache as he returns to battle. Fraunces, who served as
steward of the Washingtons’ presidential household in Philadelphia, operated Manhattan
enterprises including the Queen Charlotte’s Head Tavern near Wall Street and the former
Vauxhall pleasure gardens on the Upper East Side.

Press Contact:
Director of Communications
Heather Bartlow, hbartlow@tudorplace.org
202.965.0400
Website: www.tudorplace.org
Tudor Place Historic House and Garden
1644 31st Street NW
Washington, DC 2007

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2010

Washington, D.C. – July 19, 2010 — The chest-on-chest that once stood next to the fireplace in George Washington’s bedroom has returned to Tudor Place after 6 months of conservation treatment. The chest-on-chest sits in the second floor hall at Tudor Place where it has stood for almost 200 years. The conservation took away years of grime, blended in minor repairs, and removed a poor refinishing completed in earlier years. The full conservation treatment restored the original finish and brass pulls and escutcheons. The piece looks as it did when George Washington himself gazed upon it in his bedchamber at Mount Vernon. Chest-on-chests such as this one were made to ship belongs and goods from England and Scotland to the Colonies. The piece is extremely rare as there are only a dozen documented English pieces imported to the Colonies in the mid 18th century that exist today.

Major Findings During the Assessment and Conservation

• On the rear of the upper section of the chest-on-chest is the cipher “GWFx No. 2” and on the lower section is the cipher “GWFx No. 1”. This discovery confirmed the provenance of the piece. The chest-on-chest originally belonged to George William Fairfax and is now dated to 1740s – 1760.
• The original finish was discovered under the escutcheon on the lowest drawer and further visible and longwave ultraviolet radiation indicated its composition.
• The pulls, escutcheons, and key are original to the piece. The
  brass escutcheons were sand cast.

George William Fairfax of Belvoir Plantation originally shipped the chest-on-chest from England. The date of manufacture is thought to be between the late 1740’s to the 1760’s. Like
other pieces of the time, it was loaded on board ship, covered, and then tied to the gunwale for transport.

Years later the chest-on-chest was purchased by George Washington at the 1773 sale of the furnishings of Belvoir Plantation. George William Fairfax, owner of Belvoir at that time, was a friend of Washington and husband to Sally Fairfax. Washington purchased the mahogany chest and drawers that stood in Mrs. Fairfax’s chamber for £12 10s. Not a fine piece of furniture, Washington would have purchased it for practical purposes. It stood in his bedroom next to the fireplace. A depiction of the chest-on-chest is seen in John Gadsby Chapman’s 1834 painting of the room in which George Washington died. The chest-on-chest was purchased by Thomas and Martha Peter of Tudor Place at the 1802 estate sale after the death of Martha Washington, Mrs. Peter’s grandmother.

Press Contact:
Director of Communications
Heather Bartlow, hbartlow@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 18, 2010

AN EXHIBITION AND PLAY ABOUT TUDOR PLACE

Washington, D.C. – May 18, 2010 — Stoddert Elementary School’s 5th grade class, in partnership with Tudor Place Historic House and Garden, will be presenting Tudor Place Stories an exhibition about the history of Tudor Place and a series of short plays written by the students and performed on the historic grounds of Tudor Place on Thursday, May 27 at 6:00 p.m. (Rain date: Friday, May 28)

Tudor Place Stories is the culmination of an innovative year long school program entitled Presenting the Past. This program was piloted in September 2008 and was designed to build a close working relationship with Tudor Place and Stoddert Elementary School to utilize the wide variety of historic and natural resources available at Tudor Place “Tudor Place provides students with a unique opportunity to experience the lives of people who lived in the past, and see how daily life changed in Washington from the founding of the capital city to modern day.” says Education Director, Talia Mosconi.

Stoddert students participated in eight field trips and in-class presentations to actually experience life in the 1800’s including dressing in period clothing, learning proper etiquette and manners, singing songs from the period and learning traditional dances. Students also became history detectives as they investigated artifacts, documents, paintings, and photographs to learn about daily life in Washington from 1816 to 1983. Students then used their newly acquired knowledge from primary sources in a series of exhibit design and play-writing workshops led by the Education Staff at Tudor Place. “The process has been fantastic!” says Stoddert teacher Steve Dingledine.

Press Contact:
Heather Bartlow, hbartlow@tudorplace.org
202.965.0400 ext. 104
Website: www.tudorplace.org
Tudor Place Historic House and Garden
1644 31st Street NW
Washington, DC 2007

Download the PDF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 22, 2010

Washington, D.C. – March 22, 2010 — In the Tudor Place collection is an unassuming gold edged locket. Behind glass on each side of the locket are curled locks of George and Martha Washington’s hair (DNA tested and confirmed by the FBI). This locket is one of a number of pieces of hairwork jewelry that is currently on display at Tudor Place through April 30, 2010. The exhibit is free with regular admission. A special lecture “Strands of Time: Lecture on Tudor Place’s Hair Jewelry” will be held on March 30, at 6:45pm. The cost is $8 per person and is free for Tudor Place members.

“During the 19th century hairwork jewelry exploded in popularity fueled by Britain’s Queen Victoria, who wore hairwork jewelry while mourning the death of her late husband in 1861. Fashion in both Britain and America began to reflect a growing trend for this type of jewelry of sentiment.” notes Collections Manager, Fay Winkle. “The heavy losses of life during the Civil War increased the market for hairwork jewelry in the late 19th century, as wives, mothers and friends wanted mementos of their lost loved ones.”

“Though jewelry made with hair sounds rather macabre, this collection and the complex techniques used to make these pieces is actually quite beautiful,” says Winkle. The intimacy of a lock of hair as a means of preserving the memory of a person is still as powerful today as it was in the 19th century and earlier. In our current era of photographs, videos, and webcams it is interesting to note that clipping and retaining a lock of a baby’s hair is still a common practice, though now placed in a baby book or scrapbook.

The idea for this exhibit came from a discovery last summer of a note containing a lock of child’s hair from 1845. The note helped the Tudor Place staff trace the provenance of a locket in the collection containing hair and inscribed “our child”.

Press Contact:
Heather Bartlow, hbartlow@tudorplace.org
202.965.0400 ext. 104
Website: www.tudorplace.org
Tudor Place Historic House and Garden
1644 31st Street NW
Washington, DC 2007

Download the PDF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 12, 2009

Washington, DC – November 12, 2009 — Tudor Place Historic House and Garden received a special exception at a Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA) hearing Tuesday morning to permanently operate as a museum in a residential neighborhood. Multiple unsolicited letters of approval from community members were sent to the BZA in support of Tudor Place’s 2009 application for permanent exception; however a preliminary hearing only granted Tudor Place an exception for 10 years. Executive Director, Leslie Buhler and Board Member/Strategic Planning Committee Chair Geoffrey Baker among other supporters, were not satisfied and appealed to the BZA for the full permanent exception.

Tudor Place is one of the only museums located in a DC residential area that has had to operate with this limited exception. Other museums such as Dumbarton House and the Textile Museum have operated in residential areas without restriction for years. In 2004, Tudor Place’s application for a permanent exception was met with widespread community disapproval. The hearing resulted in the requirement that Tudor Place re-apply for zoning permissions every 5 years. Now, five years later, Tudor Place has dramatically improved its standing in the community. Ms. Buhler notes, “Tudor Place takes great efforts to work with the community and to listen and respond positively to concerns.” The importance of a permanent exception to Tudor Place was stated by Mr. Baker, “Putting a time limit on the permission to use the property as a museum ties Tudor Place’s hands and makes its future uncertain. It does not make sense for Tudor Place to invest the millions of dollars required for improvements without any assurance that it can continue to operate beyond ten years.”