The original tract of land occupied by Tudor Place was part of the "Rock of Dumbarton" (originally, "Dunbarton") tract in George Beall's second addition to Georgetown, an area also known as Georgetown Heights. In 1794, Beall's grandson, Thomas Beall, sold a portion of his land to Francis Lowndes, a merchant and importer from Bladensburg, Maryland. Lowndes owned the property for eleven years during which he constructed the two wings of the present historic house. Lowndes intended to complete the house but never did, instead selling the property to Martha and Thomas Peter. Martha and Thomas Peter contracted with Dr. William Thornton, who also designed the United States Capitol as well as The Octagon House, to design Tudor Place. From the two wings in existence, Thornton then provided the central structure and the joining elements to the wings - called hyphens, combined them with buff-colored stucco over brick. The "temple" porch and supporting columns provide a most striking addition to the front.
The garden and the collections are as rich and interesting as the home itself. A focal point is the collection of numerous objects that belonged to George and Martha Washington, making Tudor Place the largest public depository of objects belonging to the first Presidential family outside of Mount Vernon.The decorations included four chair-cushions embroidered by Martha Washington in 1801 "executed upon coarse canvas in a design of shells, done in brown and yellow wools, the highlights being flecked in gold-colored silk" as well as a decorative cover for a bed whose trimmings also were embroidered by Martha Washington.[4]
As a historic site that bears the scars of slavery, Tudor Place seeks to look this injustice in the eye. From Martha Washington's will, Martha Parke Custis Peter inherited 90 enslaved people. Enslaved workers and domestic servants worked and lived on site.
On September 28, 1811, Martha Peter's mother, Eleanor Calvert, age 56, a prominent member of the Calvert family of Maryland, Martha Washington's daughter-in-law, and George Washington's stepdaughter-in-law, died at Tudor Place.[5] Martha Peter noted in a February 15, 1812 letter to a friend, Eliza Susan Quincy (1798–1884), how important it was to Martha that she was able to spend the last fortnight of her mother's life with her mother at Tudor Place to render attentions that could not be paid elsewhere.[6]
In March 1813, after resigning his seat in the United States Congress, U.S. educator and political figureJosiah Quincy III and his wife, Eliza Susan Quincy, visited the Peters at Tudor Place.[7] While there, Mrs. Peter gave Josiah General Washington's silver gorget with the ribbon attached to it.[7] Washington's gorget, prominently featured in Charles Willson Peale's 1772 portrait of Colonel George Washington, was a metal collar designed to protect the throat of the wearer and Mrs. Peter had received the gorget at the division of her grandfather's estate.[7] Quincy gave the gorget to the Washington Benevolent Society of Boston in Mrs. Peter's name on April 13, 1813.[7][8][9]
Thomas and Martha Peter raised eight children in Tudor Place, and hosted the Marquis de Lafayette during his 1824 tour of the United States. When the third child and eldest son, John Parke Custis Peter, came of age, his father conveyed a farm around Seneca, Maryland. John P.C. Peter built a small replica of Tudor Place from 1828 to 1830 called Montevideo. The farm also included the redstone Seneca Quarry, whose stone Peter would bid on and win the Smithsonian Institution Building project in 1847.[11]
Following the death of Martha Peter in 1854, daughter Britannia Peter Kennon became the next owner of the home. She was the widow of Commodore Beverley Kennon I (1793–1844).[12] following their marriage ceremony in the house.[13]
In about 1869, Robert E. Lee, the former commanding general of the Confederate army in the 1861–1865 American Civil War, paid his last visit to the District of Columbia at Tudor Place before his death on October 12, 1870.[14] By 1874, Tudor Place was occupied by Thos. Beverley Kennon (1830–1890),[14] a grandson of Thomas Peter, a former U.S. Civil War captain with the Confederate Secret Service, and a post U.S. Civil War soldier under the Khedive of Egypt.[15][unreliable source] In 1890, the year that Beverley Kennon died and at a time when Brittania W. Kennon was the oldest living descendant of Mrs. Washington, The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine published an extensive article that detailed the collection of Martha Washington's relics that were maintained inside Tudor Place.[4]
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.[2][16] Tudor Place is located at 1644 31st Street, N.W. and is open to the public.
This elevation of the Temple Portico of Tudor Place is from a laser scan project conducted by nonprofit CyArk. The circular Temple Portico that extends into the space of the Saloon is a prominent architectural feature of the house.
Image of Tudor Place from the South, point cloud data from a Laser scan project conducted by nonprofit CyArk.
Cutaway image of Tudor Place central interior, point cloud data from a Laser scan project conducted by nonprofit CyArk.
William Thornton was an American physician, inventor, painter and architect who designed the United States Capitol. He also served as the first Architect of the Capitol and first Superintendent of the United States Patent Office.
Arlington House is the historic family residence of Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War in Arlington County, Virginia. The estate of the historic home along with a memorial to Lee are now the center of Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, where they overlook the Potomac River and the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
George Washington Parke Custis was an American plantation owner, antiquarian, author, and playwright. His father John Parke Custis was a stepson of George Washington. He and his sister Eleanor grew up at Mount Vernon and in the Washington presidential household.
Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee was the wife of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee and the last private owner of Arlington Estate. She was the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis who was the grandson of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, the wife of George Washington.
Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis, known as "Nelly", was a granddaughter of Martha Washington and a step-granddaughter of George Washington.
John Parke Custis was an American planter. He was a son of Martha Washington and stepson of George Washington.
CyArk is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization located in Oakland, California, United States founded in 2003. CyArk's mission is to "digitally record, archive and share the world's most significant cultural heritage and ensure that these places continue to inspire wonder and curiosity for decades to come."
MacAlpine, Rebecca's Lot is a historic home located at Ellicott City, Howard County, Maryland, United States. It was built by wealthy Baltimore attorney, James Mackubin, for his second wife, Gabriella Peter, a great-great-granddaughter of Martha Washington. She grew up at nearby Linwood, the daughter of Maj. George Washington Parke Custis Peter, who was the second son of Martha Parke Custis Peter of Tudor Place, Georgetown. She attended the famed Patapsco Female Institute and was a leading society member in Maryland. She was a cousin of Robert E. Lee's wife and his children spent many summers here after his death. Gabriella was known to be gracious but demanding. She initially lived at nearby Grey Rock but refused to stay there long as her husband had shared that home with his first wife. Her daughters were unable to leave her side during her lifetime, especially after the accidental 1903 death of her youngest son, Parke Custis, rendering them middle-aged spinsters at the time of her death.
Martha Parke Custis Peter was a granddaughter of Martha Dandridge Washington and a step-granddaughter of George Washington.
Elizabeth (Eliza) Parke Custis Law was the eldest granddaughter of Martha Dandridge Washington and a step-grandchild of George Washington. She married Thomas Law, the youngest son of the late bishop of Carlisle, England, and an experienced administrator with the East India Company.
Eleanor Calvert Custis Stuart, born Eleanor Calvert, was a prominent member of the wealthy Calvert family of Maryland. Upon her marriage to John Parke Custis, she became the daughter-in-law of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington and the step-daughter-in-law of George Washington. Her portrait hangs today at Mount Airy Mansion in Rosaryville State Park, Maryland.
The White House was a late 17th-century plantation on the Pamunkey River near White House in New Kent County, Virginia. There were a total of three White Houses all built on the original pre-1700 foundation. The original White House Mansion was built by Colonel John Lightfoot III just before 1700 and while he was Counselor of State.
Holt House is an historic house, located on the grounds of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Thought to have been built before 1814, it is one of the most important examples of early Neoclassical architecture in the city, and was one of the major houses in the new national capital when it was built. Since 1889, its caretaker has been the Smithsonian Institution. It is the oldest building under the Smithsonian's management, but has been left vacant since the 1980s.
Hope Park was an 18th and 19th-century plantation in Fairfax County in the U.S. state of Virginia, where Dr. David Stuart (1753–1814), an old friend of and correspondent with George Washington lived with his wife, Eleanor Calvert Custis (1758–1811), and family. It was approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Fairfax Court House.
Rosalie Stier Calvert was a plantation owner and correspondent in nineteenth century Maryland. A collection of her letters, titled Mistress of Riversdale, The Plantation Letters of Rosalie Stier Calvert, was published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 1991. The letters range in date from 1795 to 1821, and illuminate the life of Calvert's plantation household, including the events leading up to and during the War of 1812.
Thomas Law, was a reformer of British policy in India, where he served as collector of revenue for the East India Company. Working with Lord Cornwallis, governor-general of India, Law formulated a major policy known as the Permanent Settlement, which served as the basis for land tenure and taxation policy for natives during subsequent decades of British rule. He returned to England for his health in 1791, taking with him his three illegitimate sons borne of his Indian mistress.
William Costin was a free African-American activist and scholar who successfully challenged District of Columbia slave codes in the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia.
Beverley Kennon was a career officer in the United States Navy who attained the rank of captain as head of the Bureau of Construction and Repair. He died as a result of the explosion aboard USS Princeton.
Louisa Parke Costin established a school for African American children in 1823. Located on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., it was known as the first public school for black children in the city. She was related to Martha Washington through her father John Dandridge, who was Costin's paternal grandfather. Martha Washington was her mother's slaveholder. When Washington died, her granddaughter Elizabeth Parke Custis Law inherited Delphy. Two years later, Delphy and her daughters Louisa and Ann were manumitted by Elizabeth and her husband Thomas Law.
Robert Peter was an American politician, merchant, and landowner who served as the first mayor of Georgetown.
↑ "Died". The Lady's Miscellany, or, Weekly Visitor, for the Use and Amusement of Both Sexes. M'Carty & White. 13: 398. 1811. Died. At Tudor Place, thereat of Thomas Peter, esq- near George-Town, Mrs. Eleanor Stuart, consort of David Stuart, esq.-of Osian Hall, in the county of Fairfax—in the 56th year of her age
↑ Quincy, Eliza Susan (1861). Memoir of the life of Eliza S.M. Quincy. J. Wilson and Son. p.145.
↑ Quincy, Eliza Susan (1861). Memoir of the life of Eliza S.M. Quincy. J. Wilson and Son. p.165.
↑ Massachusetts Historical Society (1878). "Washington Benevolent Society of Massachusetts". Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The Society. 15: 402. At a quarterly meeting of the Washington Benevolent Society of Massachusetts, on Tuesday evening, April 13, 1813, the Hon. Mr. Quincy delivered to the President the Gorget of Washington, being a part of his uniform, when, as a colonel in the service of the State of Virginia, he served under General Braddock, in the war of 1756; having the arms of that State engraven thereon
↑ "The Tudor Place Manuscript Collection". 2010. Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2010. MS-9. Captain Beverley Kennon II (1830-1890) Papers -- 0.3 linear foot. These papers span 1845-96, and contain fragmentary correspondence, legal and financial records, and printed material. They relate to Kennon's service during the Civil War with the Confederate Secret Service and later with the Khedive of Egypt. Captain Beverley Kennon II was the son of Commodore Beverley Kennon by his first marriage to Elizabeth Dandridge Claiborne.
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