Dumbarton House

Dumbarton House is a Federal style house located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.. It was completed around 1800. Its first occupant was Joseph Nourse, the first Register of the Treasury.

The home was purchased by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in 1928 and opened to the public in 1932.

To celebrate its centennial in 1991, The NSCDA renovated Dumbarton House, and restored features identified over the previous six decades. Updates were added, such as modern climate control to the house; compliance with contemporary fire, safety, and accessibility codes; enlargement of the premises, the creation of a banquet/meeting space and outdoor terraces and gardens that now allow a variety of educational programs, as well as civic, private, and organizational events.

Today Dumbarton House is one of the few stately brick homes in Washington to survive the heady days when the country and its capital were new. The design of the house reflects the shift from Georgian tradition to the Adamesque Federal style that would take hold as the new republic defined itself. From the parlor to the dining room, through the music room to the bedrooms upstairs, visitors to Dumbarton House today see a wealth of furniture, paintings, textiles, silver, and ceramics that were made and used in the republic’s formative years.