Dumbarton House Offers Hard-Hat Tour, Talk

While closed for the replacement of its HVAC system, Federal-period museum Dumbarton House — headquarters of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America — is offering programs on the theme of “Preservation in Action!”

Located since 1915 at 2715 Q St. NW (about 100 feet north of its original site, in the middle of what is now Q Street), the house will reopen to visitors in April. The grand reopening is set for June 1, after the furnishings and collection return.

On Thursday, Feb. 16, at 6 p.m., Collections and Facilities Manager Jerry Foust, who is managing the $1.3-million project, will speak about the process of moving more than a thousand historic objects, stripping the interiors of the 1799 house down to the framing and installing a state-of-the-art climate-control system. The free talk will take place at Anderson House, 2118 Massachusetts Ave. NW.

On Saturday, Feb. 25, at 11 a.m., there will be a hard-hat tour of Dumbarton House, giving participants a look at its exposed structure. Admission is $20 ($10 for members) and registration is required. To register, visit [dumbartonhouse.org](http://dumbartonhouse.org).

Grants totaling about $500,000 were received from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. An early plan to install a geothermal system was dropped after it came in over budget.

The society purchased the house, designed and briefly occupied by Philadelphia merchant Samuel Jackson, in 1928, opening it as a museum in 1932, the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth. There have been a number of renovations, additions and reconstructions, most recently in the 1990s, when the adjacent lot, donated by the Belin family in the 1950s, was made into the East Park, designed by M. Meade Palmer and underwritten by the Georgetown Garden Club.

According to Education Manager Stephanie Boyle, the new interpretive plan for the house will focus on the years 1804 to 1813, when the then-eight-acre property was owned by Joseph Nourse, who served as Registrar of the U.S. Treasury under Washington and the following five presidents. The visitor center is also being reconceived.

Additional programs will be offered in the coming months. Updates on the project, for which the contractor (and hard-hat supplier) is Corbett Construction, are being posted on Dumbarton House’s blog and social-media accounts.