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TUDOR PLACE | Is currently closed. Click here for info

The Historic House

Architectural Design

Dr. William Thornton (May 20, 1759 – March 28, 1828) was a British-American physician, inventor, painter and architect. As a family friend, he played his favorite role as architect and designed the house we know today. In his plans for Tudor Place, Thornton expressed Palladio’s forms in a distinctly Federal, American style, melding French-influenced romantic classicism with traditional English forms. Thornton’s drawings drew upon Neoclassical ideas of proportion and balance popularized by Andrea Palladio, whose seminal 16th-century publication, Quattro Libri dell’ Architettura (The Four Books on Architecture) strongly influenced 18th- and early 19th-century American design.

The house’s five-part structure, with two-story central block and low hyphens connecting to higher, two-story wings, followed a form immensely popular in the Chesapeake region during the Federal period.  The most architecturally significant feature is the domed, marble-floored Temple Portico. Unlike the more common half-round porches attached to exterior walls of many early 19th-century houses, Thornton’s circular structure extends into the house itself, with a curved wall of floor-to-ceiling windows serving as a transition between interior spaces and the garden. It is the only known full temple portico embedded into a U.S. residence standing today. The exterior of the brick house Thornton clad in stucco scored to resemble blocks of finished stone, a common Federal Period technique. This was coated with a golden limewash, against which scored lines in the stucco were picked out with white lime to resemble stonework joints. Work began with renovation of the existing wings and construction of the hyphens, proceeding last to the center block, and finished in 1816.

Dr. William Thornton (1759-1828). Photo: Redwood Library & Athenaeum, Newport, RI. RLC.PA.080

Thornton’s Presentation Drawing

Floor Plan_1st Floor

Temple Portico (exterior view)

Temple Portico (interior view)

Interior Features & Rooms

As was the norm for homes of the Federal period, the floor plan reflects a pronounced public-private divide. Guests came into the house through the double doors of the austere north entry and encountered soaring 15-foot tall ceilings as they passed through the vestibule directly into the impressive Saloon. Here they were greeted by an expansive southern vista over the port of Georgetown and, on either side, grand reception rooms.

Within the entrance vestibule, double doors to the left opened to the main staircase and bedrooms above, while matching doors to the right led to the service wing of the house. Few visitors to the home would ever have seen these utilitarian and private spaces, spending their time instead in the grand Saloon, Parlor and Drawing Room. These three principal rooms together constituted one of the largest private entertaining suites in Georgetown or the Federal City.

Rather than being interpreted to reflect a single era, the rooms of Tudor Place are furnished as they appeared during the occupancy of the last owners, Armistead Peter 3rd and his wife Caroline, from the early 1920s to 1983. Through six generations, Peter family descendants mixed new furnishings with inherited objects, taking great care to preserve the historic fabric of the original design.

Take a virtual tour with Executive Director Mark Hudson, as he walks you through the Historic House and around 5 1/2 acres of this national landmark.

Photo: Bruce White

Vestibule. Photo Credit: Bruce White

Temple Portico (interior view)

Stair hall (west view). Photo credit: Bruce White

Saloon (west corner)

Drawing Room. Photo Credit: Bruce White

Parlor. Photo Credit: Bruce White

Dining Room. Photo Credit: Bruce White

Office. Photo Credit: Bruce White

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canal boat on C&O canal

Changing City: Tobacco, Transportation & Georgetown

February 10, 2021
March 3, 2021
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Tudor Explorers: Be the Curator

December 17, 2020
March 18, 2021
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https://tudorplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/3003.08ab.jpg 692 710 Comms2018 https://tudorplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-23-300x155.png Comms20182020-12-17 13:42:272021-01-28 12:45:10Tudor Explorers: Be the Curator

Black Georgetown Community History Project: Family Heirlooms

February 10, 2021
March 19, 2021
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https://tudorplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/BGCHP-Website-Graphic.jpg 420 752 Comms2018 https://tudorplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-23-300x155.png Comms20182021-02-10 09:57:442021-02-17 13:57:35Black Georgetown Community History Project: Family Heirlooms
C&O Canal with stone walls and buildings alongsideGeorgetown Heritage

Free Landmark Lecture: The Past and Future of the C&O Canal in Georgetown

February 24, 2021
April 13, 2021
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https://tudorplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Nichols-Canal1.jpg 800 1400 Comms2018 https://tudorplace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-23-300x155.png Comms20182021-02-24 13:22:112021-02-24 13:25:35Free Landmark Lecture: The Past and Future of the C&O Canal in Georgetown
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SLAVERY AT TUDOR PLACE

As an historic site that bears the scars of slavery, Tudor Place seeks to look this injustice in the eye.  Click here to learn more.

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1644 31st Street, NW | Washington, DC 20007
202-965-0400 | info@tudorplace.org

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SUGGESTED TOUR DONATION

Book online or call for tickets | Reservation with Timed Ticket Entry Required

1644 31st Street, NW | Washington, DC 20007
202-965-0400 | info@tudorplace.org

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