This winter we are renovating the modern and preserving the historic parts of Dumbarton House. To accomplish this we will close the museum at the end of November and remain closed until the springtime. //// We are so excited for all these new changes and we hope you're excited to see the results! We'll have more information on our closing, opening, and what you can expect to see when this long-overdue project is finished. Please visit our website for details or give us a call!!

Federal-period historic house museum. Dumbarton House hosts a regular schedule of special tours, free concerts, lectures, tastings, school programs and summer camps, and is also available for private rentals such as corporate, social, and wedding events. Limited parking and ADA-access is available behind the Museum via 27th Street at Q. Metrorail: Red Line, DuPont Circle’s Q Street exit. Metrobus: D-1, D-2, D-3, D-6 to 27th Street stop. DC Circulator’s Georgetown connection, 28th Street, NW stop.

Dumbarton House is a fine example of Federal period architecture and offers visitors to Washington, D.C., a unique opportunity to enhance their appreciation of early American history. Closely connected to the first years of the American Republic, the house has stood on the heights of Georgetown for over two centuries

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.

Dumbarton House provides an intimate, historic setting for events ranging from small corporate meetings, luncheons or conferences, to elegant wedding receptions, bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah celebrations, rehearsal dinners or teas. The museum rooms of the house are always open at events, providing your guests with a unique opportunity for casual touring of the museum.

While rental for events allows you use of the entire building and grounds, dinners and receptions are generally held in the Belle Vue Room and our outdoor gardens and terraces. The Belle Vue Room is an elegant modern banquet space with light wood-paneled floors, walls paneled in pale yellow fabric, and thirteen foot white coffered ceilings. The banquet space is also adjoined by a beautiful courtyard area that can be tented to provide additional dining space.

The mission of Dumbarton House, a Federal period historic house museum, ca. 1800, is to preserve the historic structure and its collections and to educate the public about life in Washington, DC, during the early years of the Republic. The museum features a significant collection of Federal era decorative arts, paintings and furniture, and is one of only a few such properties open to the public in Washington. Dumbarton House is accredited by the American Association of Museums.

Since 1932, Dumbarton House has served as the headquarters for The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America (The NSCDA), a women’s organization that actively promotes our national heritage through historic preservation, patriotic service and educational projects. The NSCDA is comprised of 44 state societies that own or support 80 other properties around the country of architectural or historic value (www.nscda.org).