Georgetown Current · Tudor Place combines old and new for holidays

18 Wednesday, december 11, 2013
The currenT
Holidays inWashington
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Tudor Place combines old and new for holidays
By KAT LUCERO
Current Staff Writer
I
f Thomas and Martha Custis
Peter were immortal and still
lived in their early 19th-century
estate in Georgetown, they would
adorn the mantels and staircases
with evergreen at Christmastime. To
spruce up that traditional decor for
the present day, they would probably add scintillating colors and electrical lights.
In “Red, Green & Gold, The
New and the Old: Tudor Place
Sparkles for Christmas,” Tudor
Place Historic House and Garden
decorated the main floor of the
Peters’ grand home around this
theme of reimagining how the
prominent Washingtonians — son
of the first mayor of Georgetown
and granddaughter of former first
lady Martha Washington — might
have decorated their residence in
2013.
“We’ve done historical period
Christmas installations in the past,
but we thought we’d go outside the
box and try to imagine what the
family could’ve done during the
present day,” said curator Erin
Kuykendall.
This year, the museum worked
with local interior designer John
Peters Irelan, a longtime Washingtonian who has embellished several
rooms inside the U.S. Supreme
Court building with holiday decor.
At Tudor Place, he offered guidance
on how to brighten up the otherwise
plain-looking decorations of the
Kat Lucero/The Current
Tudor Place brightened the 19th-century parlor (left) and
drawing room (above) by adding scintillating colors and a
Christmas tree with electric lights.
Peters’ day.
“If you go back to 19th-century
decorations, they didn’t do much,”
said Irelan, also a patron of the
museum. “When they do period
decorations, they’re kind of dull for
the 21st-century eye. Let’s pretend
that the family is still living in the
house. Let’s puff it up and make it
sparkle and brighter using reflective
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colors to bring more of the Christmas atmosphere.”
Kuykendall said the idea for
modernizing Tudor Place for the
holidays was Irelan’s, and that he
also came up with the installation’s
name. “He approached us over the
summer. That’s when the staff started brainstorming with him on how
to freshen up the Christmas installation,” she said.
This year, adding contemporary
pep to the golden yellow-clad parlor
and drawing rooms are the sequined
Christmas ball trees on the mantel.
And next to the drawing room window is a brightly lit Christmas tree
— a German-inspired custom not
common in America before England’s Queen Victoria popularized it
in the late 1800s.
On the main floor, traditional
Colonial Revival holiday decorations on tables include fruit topiaries, status symbols for wealthy
households in the early 19th
See Decor/Page 19
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The currenT
Party,
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Wednesday, december 11, 2013
19
Holidays inWashington
EVENTS
From Page 17
active video projections, and Chloe
Yaiche will present “Zodiac,” an
artistic display of constellations
inspired by NASA satellite imagery,
on Dec. 13 and 14. Other events
will take place throughout the week;
visit georgetowndc.com
and click on “Events,” then “Holiday Happenings” for details.
The festival will coincide with
the second annual Georgetown Holiday Window Competition, in
which neighborhood merchants create holiday-themed window displays using only four different
materials.
The festival is sponsored by the
Georgetown Business Improvement
District, Alliance Française de
Washington, Art Soiree Productions,
SPAIN Arts & Culture, The JBG
Cos., Wallonie-Bruxelles International and Electricite de France.
■ The Duke Ellington School of
the Arts will stage Langston
Hughes’ “Black Nativity” through
Dec. 15.
The show retells the Nativity
story and celebrates the AfricanAmerican experience through gospel music, song and dance. The production features the choreography
of the late Mike Malone, the
school’s co-founder and director of
the regional holiday favorite during
a seven-year run at the Kennedy
Center. Malone’s protégés Katherine Smith and Tracie Jade Jenkins
are co-directors of this year’s show,
which draws on every arts discipline taught at Ellington.
Before each show, the Ellington
Theatre’s lobby will feature a Nativity Village with costumed singers,
dancers and musicians.
Performance times vary. Tickets
cost $25 to $40. The Duke Ellington School of the Arts is located at
3500 R St. NW. 202-337-4825;
ellingtonschool.org.
■ BUILD Metro DC will present a
Holiday Sales Bazaar from 6 to 8
p.m. Dec. 17 at start-up incubator
1776, located on the 12th floor at
1133 15th St. NW.
Students involved in BUILD’s
college-readiness program will present their own businesses and sell
products as they compete for prizes
from Microsoft. For details visit
build.org/dc/bazaar.
■ Fahrney’s Pens is holding a
“Letter to Santa” contest for children through Dec. 18, with the winner slated to receive a new Pelikan
Twist Fountain Pen, Workbook and
Practice Pad.
Entrants are asked to show off
their cursive penmanship. An entry
will be selected at random on Dec.
20, and the prize will be mailed in
time to arrive before Christmas.
Entries may be placed in a mailbox at the store, located at 1317 F
St. NW. They may also be mailed to
Letter to Santa Contest, 8329 Old
Marlboro Pike B13, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772.
DECOR
From Page 18
century. Evergreen kissing balls
loom over the entryways of the parlor and drawing room. Pulled from
the museum collection, period
stockings hang over the parlor’s
fireplace, a custom that started after
the poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” (best known for its first line
“’Twas the night before Christmas”) was published in 1823.
In the dining room, Tudor Place
showcases parts of its extensive collections of 2,000 pieces of silverware and 59 sets of China porcelain, many more than two centuries
old.
To add more to the glittery
theme, Irelan followed the Christmas custom of placing a single
lighted candle on each of the northside windows, similar to the traditions of Colonial Williamsburg during the holidays, he said. He donated battery-operated candles with
flameless wicks that flicker like real
fire when they’re on.
Tudor Place, located at 1644
31st St., unveiled the Christmas
decor last Thursday at its quarterly
themed-evening event that invites
the public to view various aspects
of the museum’s collection.
The installation will also be a
part of “Holidays Through History,”
a multi-house tour taking place Saturday from 4 to 8 p.m. The ticketed
event includes viewings at the
Anderson House, 2118 Massachusetts Ave.; the Woodrow Wilson
House, 2340 S St.; and Dumbarton
House, 2715 Q St. For more information, visit tudorplace.org.
“SIMPLY GORGEOUS!”
~The Washington Post
DECEMBER 5–29
at the historic Warner Theatre
Tickets now on sale!
washingtonballet.org
or 202.397.SEAT
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“A beloved Washington holiday tradition.”
-- The Washington Post
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*Includes $2 preservation fee.
Francesca Dugarte by Tony Brown, imijphoto.com