Tudor Place is among the foremost Federal-era mansions in the nation, designed by William Thornton, architect of the U.S. Capitol. Construction of the house began circa 1794, was completed circa 1815, and was financed by an inheritance from the President.
The house's owner, Thomas Peter, and his wife, Martha Parke Custis Peter, had significant connections to the Washington, Custis, and Lee families. Thomas Peter served as the mayor of Georgetown from 1789 to 1798, and Martha Parke Custis was the granddaughter of Martha Washington. Upon the death of Mrs. Washington, the Peter family inherited the ownership of numerous enslaved individuals from Mount Vernon. The Peter family continued to enslave these individuals for many years, many of whom were only freed by results of the Civil War. A staunchly Confederate family, the owner of Tudor Place during the Civil War (Britannia Wellington Peter Kennon) was forced to house Union boarders and military officers during the war due to diminished funds and wartime necessity. The structure is historically significant for its connection to famous families, its role in the Civil War, and as a site of enslavement.
The house sits at the crest of a hill on a large estate with lawns and gardens. The structure is exceptionally plain on the north elevation, but is in startling contrast the south elevation, overlooking Georgetown, which is a tour-de-force of Regency design. The main house has end pavilions connected by loggias, stuccoed brick facades with spare detail, and Tuscan columns. The building has an unusual floor plan but fine interior finishes.
Tudor Place has been virtually unaltered since its original construction and is open to visitors.
DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
National Register: October 15, 1966
National Historic Landmark: December 19, 1960
Within Georgetown Historic District
This site is included on the Capital City Slavery Tour for its owners’ enslavement of eight to fourteen individuals on the property. For further information on the role of enslaved laborers in the development of Washington, D.C. view the sources below or explore our Capital City Slavery Digital Exhibit.
]]>Construction started on Saint John's Church in 1796, building on land that had originally been purchased and set aside by the Church of England in 1769. The church's exterior, designed in the Federal style by Architect of the Capitol William Thornton, was completed around 1804, but the church was not consecrated until the interior was completed in 1809. The Episcopal church became an important site in early Georgetown.
After years of growth followed by years of financial problems, St. John’s was closed in 1831, sold and rented as a studio for the German sculptor Ferdinand Pettrich. In 1838, a group of young ladies from the parish raised $50 to purchase the church building and return it to sacred use. A year later, improvements were made, including the installation of a new organ and a new tower entrance. Additional enhancements followed in 1843 with the enlargement of the church, the addition of a basement lecture room, and a baptismal font in the center front. Six years later, the parish commissioned a new pulpit, began improvements to altar rails, added a reading desk, a communion table of black Egyptian marble, a replacement organ, and a bell in the steeple.
DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
Within Georgetown Historic District
]]>Funded by one of the newly created Federal City’s leading families, Octagon House was physically constructed with enslaved labor. Originally built between 1799 and 1800 as a town residence for Colonel John Tayloe of Mount Airy, Richmond County, Virginia, the Octagon was designed by Dr. William Thornton, architect of the U.S. Capitol. The unusual house is notable for its inhabitants and their place in American and DC history, as well as for its strikingly original architecture.
The house's first inhabitants, the Tayloes, were a plantation family who constructed many additional outbuildings on the property, only one of which—an ice house—survives. The Tayloes enslaved hundreds of people to work for them, including 12 to 18 individuals at the Octagon. Although John Tayloe had originally planned to use the house as a winter residence only, the family lived there year-round from 1818 to 1855.
As one of the city's finest structures, the house served as the temporary residence of President James Madison for six months, following the burning of the White House during the War of 1812. It is the only surviving house other than the White House to have served as the Presidential residence.
The Octagon is built of red brick over a stone basement and is trimmed with Aquia Creek sandstone. Not an octagon at all, the house is an irregular hexagon with a projecting semicircular bay that contains the circular entrance hall on the main floor and the "Treaty Room" on the second floor.
This three-story brick house breaks with the traditional late Georgian and early Federal house planning that preceded it. Many of the leading European architects of the late 18th century sought to achieve a new direction in architecture through a design philosophy that sought to combine simple, basic geometrical shapes while using a minimum of unnecessary decoration. Thornton, the Octagon's architect, traveled extensively in both England and in France and was no doubt alive to this philosophy. Presented with a building site that did not lend itself readily to a stereotyped solution, Thornton took full advantage of his opportunity and brought to the new Federal City a building of startling freshness and originality which has never been surpassed.
Due to its architectural originality, the building became the home of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1898. In the 1970s, the AIA moved to an outbuilding behind the house, on the former site of the Octagon's outbuildings, and began to operate the old house as a museum, which is now administered by the Architects Foundation.
DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
National Register: October 15, 1966
National Historic Landmark: December 19, 1960
This site is included in the Capital City Slavery Tour for its owner’s enslavement of twelve to eighteen individuals on the property, and the construction of the home through enslaved labor. For further information on the role of enslaved laborers in the development of Washington, D.C., view the sources below or explore our Capital City Slavery Digital Exhibit.
This site is also included on the Haunted History of DC Tour. Its unique shape isn’t the only notable thing about the Octagon House. People have reported doors opening, lights flickering, and bells ringing on their own. Even Jackie Kennedy Onassis has her own story, believing to have encountered the ghost of Dolley Madison inside the home while working as a photographer and journalist for the Washington Times-Herald in the early 1950s. Why Dolley Madison? President James Madison and the First Lady temporarily resided in the Octagon House after the British burned down the White House in 1814 during the War of 1812.
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