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 Moderne1

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

• 1. 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).
• 2. Jefferson to James Ronaldson, February 7, 1820, in PTJ:RS, 15:383. Transcription available in Founders Online.