Elaine M.
Yelp
I kind of despise when people refer to something as "off the beaten path," or when people wet themselves over how adventurous they are because they visited a sparsely-poulated site during their travels, but Tudor Place truly is off the beaten path, or at least, off the Dumbarton Oaks-trod path. Indeed, we happened on the Tudor House & Garden only because Dumbarton Oaks was characteristically closed. Unfortunately, the neoclassical exterior of the house was having some stucco replacement work done, but the house tour was still going in full force and cost a mere $5 with AAA membership ($6 without). Given that the house was no smaller than Mt. Vernon, and a whole lot more pleasing aesthetically (none of the walls were the toothpastey, agrarian green, for one!), this was a small bargain.
Our tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable. He spoke mostly about the Peter family's--the owners of the house-- collection and some about the history of the house and the connection with the Washingtons. There was only one other couple on the tour with us, and the wife felt the need to "bless [the] hearts" of the Peter family continuously. I don't think they need your blessings, San Diego tourist lady, they seemed to have done pretty well for themselves.
I would particularly recommend this tour as a comprehensive slice of D.C.-area history over the last 200-years. As Gayle mentioned, the Peter family was related to George Washington through his (wealthy) wife Martha, and they held on to the place all the way up to 1984. Portraits and photos of the Peter family hang everywhere and convey every era. I really felt like I was inhabiting a world of filial dysfunction. Especially interesting are the photos and portraits of Armistead Peter III and his wife, their heydey in the 1920s-40s. Peter was a painter himself, and one of his oeuvres, an enthralling portrait of his wife sporting the coquettish green cap, a fashion import from France at the time, hung proudly in the salon.
The gardens are nice too. The landscaping isn't breathtaking, but it is certainly peaceful.