April, 1906 
AVE RtGCANe HOMES AND GARDENS 
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The Tudor Place, Washington, D. C. 
By Leila 
HE Tudor Place, on Georgetown Heights, 
which overlook the federal city, was built in 
1810 by Thomas Peter, whose wife was 
Martha Custis, the granddaughter andname- 
sake of Mrs. Washington, and it is owned 
and still occupied by his daughter, Mrs. 
Beverly Kennon. During the entire period of its existence 
it has been in the sole possession of the single family, and 
while it has witnessed marvelous changes on every side it has 
remained both without and within virtually unaltered. 
Dr. William Thornton, that universal genius whose plan 
for the United States capitol was the first accepted and 
utilized, was the architect, and much does it redound to his 
credit. Where Thornton got his architectural training is not 
known. Some say that he had only two weeks’ study in the 
profession, others credit him with two 
months, but his works bespeak larger equip- 
ment. He was born on one of the West 
India Islands—Torlela—in 1761, and when 
only five years of age was sent home to Eng- 
land to school. He graduated in due course 
and after studying medicine and traveling tc 
some extent on the Continent came to 
America and, in 1793, made his home in 
Georgetown, the aristocratic little settlement 
across the creek from where the national 
capital was some day to be built. Perhaps it 
was a desire to have a hand in the building 
which brought him to the “wilderness of 
Washington.” Perhaps it was a natural 
fancy for new things. At any rate he re- 
mained there until his death, in 1828, and 
was helpful in many directions. He was one 
of the first commissioners of the district, to 
whom was entrusted the task of carrying out 
L’Enfant’s plans; he was one of the first 
commissioners of patents, and a zealot in 
the cause of science. He helped Fitch make 
his trial steamboat, and laid a wager with 
Fulton, it is said, as to its possible speed; 
he assisted in the organization of the Colum- 
bian Scientific Institute; he was a favorite in 
society; and yet, in some way, he found the 
time to paint a few pictures, write some 
essays and poems, and design a number of 
noteworthy private houses. Mrs. Kennon 
has an exceedingly clever little medallion 
portrait which he painted, in miniature, of 
George Washington; and Madison’s famous 
home at Montpelier, Va. Taylor’s ‘““Octagon House,”’ now 
the headquarters of the American Institute of Architects, 
and the Tudor Place, stand as monuments to his architectural 
ability and good taste. 
The original plan and elevation which he made for Mr. 
Peter’s residence are still in existence and in a very fair state 
of preservation. They show an arrangement qu'te out of 
the ordinary, and an interesting solution of a somewhat 
dificult problem. 
On the premises at the time the plans were drawn were 
two rectangular buildings placed on parallel lines about ninety 
feet apart, and these he took for the nucleus of his design. 
Between them he placed a large, well proportioned structure, 
The North Front is Largely Screened by Trees and Vines. 
Mechlin 
with which he connected them by means of inclosed galleries 
as wings. The design, taken as a whole, suggests that of the 
present, remodeled White House, which, strange as it may 
seem, is very similar to Thornton’s original plan for the 
“President’s Mansion,” rejected, and only lately brought to 
light. 
Two elliptical rooms and a circular inset portico were the 
unique features of the first design, but for lack of ready 
money—temporary financial embarrassment—the first of 
these had unfortunately to give way to a plain facade and 
straight walls. 
and forms to-day the central unit of the south front. 
Like all houses of that period, Tudor Place faces the river 
and has no traditional The formal approach and 
driveway are on the north, whereas on the south there is 
The circular portico was, however, realized 
rear. 
The Entrance 
is Unaffected, yet Hospitable 
entire privacy and an unbroken lawn. ‘This may, in a meas- 
ure, explain the characteristics of the two facades; the one 
severely plain, dignified and reserved, the other less simple, 
more genial and informal. It is as if one approached from 
the north a stranger, and was admitted on the south into the 
intimacy of the home. But perhaps the effect is heightened 
by the difference in light. There is something very attractive 
about the entire structure, very dignified, whole-souled and 
substantial. 
The material is brick covered with stucco, smoothly fin- 
ished, neatly marked off, and yellow in tint. The roof, which 
is low pitched, is of blue-gray slate; the dome of the portico 
tinned and painted a dull, dark red; the wood work, window 
Oo 
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