Washington Winter Show 2010

TUDOR PLACE MARTHA PARKE CUSTIS PETER AND THOMAS PETER On June 5, 1805 Thomas Peter (1769–1834) sold land which his wife, Martha Parke Custis Peter (1777–1854), inherited from her step-grandfather, George Washington. That same day, he purchased eight and a half acres of the Rock of Dumbarton tract to build his family’s seat. With the completion of their impressive neoclassical home overlooking the port of George- town in 1816, Martha and Thomas Peter elegantly entertained friends and notable politicians. The Marquis de Lafayette, An- drew Jackson, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and Robert E. Lee, as well as other local and foreign dignitaries visited, dined, and danced at Tudor Place during the first half of the nineteenth century. “A gay and fashionable society had grown up there [in Georgetown], trade had prospered, wealth had accumulated, and there had come an ease and culture to its inhabitants that attracted men of fashion and distinction. In this way Georgetown took the national capital under its wing and became the centre of social and diplomatic society.” 1 Martha and Thomas Peter furnished their home with fine S ix generations of the Peter family lived at Tudor Place. As Georgetown and the Federal City grew, family members augmented their inheritance with purchases in the latest styles and fashions. Today, Tudor Place is the repository for an extraordinary collection of decorative and everyday objects, manuscripts, letters, account books, diaries, deeds, plats and maps, blueprints, broadsides, early moving picture film, photographs, and books, which spans the years 1750–1983. Gifts from family members as well as select acquisitions of objects illustrating Georgetown history and culture have further enriched the original collection. While six generations of the family lived at Tudor Place, the 2011 Washington Winter Show Loan Exhibition highlights the wide range of objects cherished and collected by the four property owners: Martha Parke Custis and Thomas Peter; Britannia Peter Kennon; Armistead Peter, Jr.; and Armistead Peter III (Figure 1). Six Generations of Style Figure 1: South façade of Tudor Place, 2003. 30 This page is sponsored in memory of Barry Weber by the Washington Winter Show Directors LOAN EXHIBITION