Tudor Place

Tudor Place is an early eighteenth-century house in Georgetown. (Incidentally, the architect is the same one who designed the Octagon House.) The house remained in the same family's hands from when it was built to when it was converted into a house museum in the late twentieth century. That's a long time. One family member lived here for nearly her entire life. Can you imagine living in only one place for your entire life?

Di Yin and I took a tour.

Because the house remained in one family for so many years, it has items from many eras. It's hard to imagine living in a place with so many family heirloom/antiques. Lots of items were purchased from Martha Washington's estate sale. The original builder/owner was the grand-daughter of Martha Washington, so she got first dibs. Estate sales are handy for stocking a house quickly and cheaply.

I enjoyed seeing/hearing about the evolution of the house, at least as it relates to lighting technologies. We saw hanging candle fixtures, hanging gas fixtures, and electric chandeliers. The former two types of fixtures were converted to take electric bulbs but the hanging structure, vases, and design remained the same.

I also saw my first (I think) partners desk: a desk with drawers on both sides.

Sorry I have no pictures. Pictures weren't allowed inside, and my camera was acting up so I didn't take any pictures on Tudor Place's nicely landscaped five acre estate. The estate, by the way, is half formal garden and half wide, sloping lawn. Di Yin took some pictures of the garden; I'll link to them if they appear online.

The estate's a pleasant place to wander; the house tour it turns out in retrospect we needn't have done.