Tea Room
Tea Room
Dimensions: 15' 1" × 11' 2"; ceiling 17' 11"
Order: Doric
Source: A building in Albano, Italy, depicted in Fréart, Parallèle de l'Architecture Antique avec la Moderne[1]
Color: Unpainted plaster; today the room is painted to replicate a plaster finish
Purpose of Room: Dining area; reading and writing area for Jefferson
Architectural features: Double pocket doors on rollers separate the Tea Room – the western-most, and coldest, room in the house – from the Dining Room; based on one of Jefferson's favorite architectural shapes, the octagon
Furnishings of Note: In this room, Jefferson displayed his "most honorable suite":[2] likenesses of his friends and American heroes, including busts of Benjamin Franklin, John Paul Jones, Marquis de Lafayette, and George Washington; the room had a reading and writing arrangement perhaps similar to the one Jefferson kept in his Cabinet; at one time the room had a stove in a semi-circular niche in the wall.
Objects on Display in this Room
- Benjamin Franklin Bust by Houdon (Sculpture)
- Benjamin Smith Barton (Physiognotrace)
- Brescia Marble Table
- Coffee Urn
- Cream Pots
- Decanter Stand
- Dessert Spoons
- Dumbwaiters
- George Washington Bust by Houdon (Sculpture)
- Henry Dearborn (Physiognotrace)
- Jefferson Oval Portrait by Memin (Physiognotrace)
- John Paul Jones Bust (Sculpture)
- Soup Ladle
- Dickerson, Mahlon (Physiognotrace)
- Marquis de Lafayette Bust (Sculpture)
- Seau Crénelé
- Shield Back Side Chair
- Silver Plates by Lamine
- Table Forks by Anthiaume
- Table Forks by Sommé
- Tablespoons by Anthiaume
- Tripod Salts
- Vegetable Dishes
References
- ^ Roland Fréart de Chambray, Parallèle de l'Architecture Antique avec la Moderne... (Paris: Chez l'auteur, libraire du roi pour l'artillerie et le génie, à l'image Notre-Dame, 1766).
- ^ Jefferson to James Ronaldson, February 7, 1820, in PTJ:RS, 15:383. Transcription available in Founders Online.