Tudor Place

Two stone whippets at the entrance of the Bowling Green at Tudor Place.

In need of a break, I took the train to Washington, DC last week to visit some dear friends for a few days and relax. There were lots of fun activities including going out to Nationals Park to watch a live broadcast of the Washington National Opera Company's performance of Mozart's The Magic Flute. Earlier that day, we ventured over to Georgetown to check out Tudor Place, a historic home and garden.

In 1805, merchant Thomas Peter purchased 8½ acres of land in Georgetown Heights for $8,000, money that his wife, Martha Parke Custis Peter, a granddaughter of Martha Washington, had inherited from George Washington. Dr. William Thornton was chosen to design a home for the Peters and their children that would befit a family of their status. Utilizing some existing buildings on the property as wings for a larger house, Thornton created a grand building that mixed Federal and neoclassical design and included a marble-floored Temple Portico. Finished in 1816 and named Tudor Place, it would be home to six generations of the Peter family.

While I normally like visiting historic houses, we were interested in the garden. When originally designed, the garden would have been used mainly to grow food and herbs for the family. Today, it’s purely ornamental with stone paths, a bowling green, small dell, and the most wonderful sloping south lawn. I could only imagine how delightful it would be for a child to live here, able to play adventurer in the dell or roll down the lawn. 

There were some flowers in bloom but not as many as I would have wished to have seen (a lone tulip told me I had missed my chance by a few weeks). Nonetheless, there were some pretty little roses to be found as well as massive peonies, hydrangeas, and bright pink azaleas. 

The garden is broken up into different sections, which gives you the feeling of stepping from one land into another. While the dell is overgrown and filled with old growth trees (on one of which we spotted a black squirrel) other parts of the garden are very structured like the Flower Knot, in the center of which stands a sundial from Crossbasket Castle in Scotland, the Peter family's ancestral home. Speaking of the dell, there is a brick semicircular seat above it that's a great place to sit for a spell. Look closely at its wrought iron back, and you'll find the intertwined initials of the last owner of Tudor Place, Armistead Peter III, and his wife, Caroline.

One of the nicest surprises wasn't garden related at all. Rather it was Armistead Peter III's beloved 1919 Pierce Arrow roadster in the garage. Costing more than the original price of the property, it immediately conjured up images of flappers and Gatsby.

Sitting on a bench behind the house, listening to the birds in the trees, it was easy to see why Tudor Place stayed in the Peter family as long as it did. It's absolutely lovely.  

Tudor Place is located on a street filled with loads of historic homes and so after the garden we went for a stroll. We walked by Dumbarton Oaks, which I've visited before to see their beautiful garden (this time we just stopped to admire their lush lilac hanging over a wall and the shiny "1920" lettering on the gate).

There were so many nice houses to see, some with small gardens of their own and others with interesting signage (delivery and service entrance this way) and even a friendly neighbourhood cat. It was a perfect way to spend a sunny afternoon in Washington, DC.

For more information about Tudor Place, visit here. 

All photos by Michele.

Mrs. Parker Goes to Washington

The Capitol Dome.

Last weekend I headed down to Washington, DC to visit some dear friends from grad school. And oh what a beautiful weekend it was. After torrential rains the day before, the skies were blue and the air was dry for my entire visit so we spent a lot of the time outdoors.

The artillery section of the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial.

The U.S. Botanical Garden.

Inside the conservatory.

Just one of the many orchids on display.

Ducks in the pond!

Roses in the park.

Saturday, after checking out the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, we headed over to the U.S. Botanical Garden. Inside the large conservatory we saw plants from around the country and a special exhibit on carnivorous plants. Most impressive was the section on orchids. Outside we strolled through the adjoining National Garden and Bartholdi Park where a mama duck and her growing babies were hanging out in a small pond while the roses nearby perfumed the air.

The National Cathedral.

A brilliant blue sky.

A detail from one of the Cathedral gates.

The Bishop's Garden.

Lush Magnolias in the garden.

That afternoon we trekked up to the National Cathedral. Although still showing damage from last year’s earthquake, it’s an incredibly impressive building complete with gargoyles and stained glass windows that add a touch of the Gothic to the city. We tried to spot the Darth Vader gargoyle (unfortunately you need binoculars) before walking through the grounds designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. The Bishop’s Garden with its stone paths, rose and herb gardens, and benches made for sitting with a book was perfectly lovely.

After a leisurely brunch on Sunday, we decided to visit the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Located in a pretty Renaissance Revival style building, it’s a perfect sized museum to wile away a few hours.

"Melancholy" Constance Marie Charpentier (1801)

On view was “Royalists to Romantics: Women Artists from the Louvre, Versailles, and Other French National Collections.” Charting the history of French women artists from the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to the restoration of the monarchy (with the revolution and Napoleon in-between), the exhibit is a fascinating insight into the challenges women artists faced at the time. Many came from aristocratic or artistic families who had to use their connections to get them into schools where they were not given the same instruction as their male counterparts (for example, women were not allowed to sketch nude models). And most had to fight to be recognized as artists. Prior to the Revolution, the prestigious French Academy only accepted four women. After the Revolution, women's rights disappeared (so much for égalité) and their number at the Academy dropped to zero.

"Portrait of a Woman" Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (1787)

Although the majority of the exhibit is comprised of paintings, one of my favourite pieces was a letter opener (I thought it was a dagger at first glance) by Félicie de Fauveau depicting Romeo climbing up to Juliet on her balcony. I also quite liked Adélaïde Labille-Guiard's "Portrait of a Woman." Although a supporter of the Revolution, she was a painter of Royal portraits and was asked to destroy some of her work, which must have been devastating. 

With a few exceptions, like Élisabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun, a favourite of Marie Antoinette, most of the 35 artists in the exhibit are largely unknown and this exhibit is the first time that many of their work has been seen outside France. That alone made the exhibit worth viewing. “Royalists to Romantics" runs until July 29, 2012. For more information, visit the museum's website here.

That evening I was on the train back to New York, tired and a bit red from the sun. I'm already looking forward to my next visit.

All photos, except for the ones of the paintings, by Michele.