The Tea Room served as a place for overflow seating during meals as well as a reading and writing area for the Jefferson family. The coldest room in the house, the Tea Room housed a now missing stove in the semi-circular niche. Jefferson referred to the Tea Room as his "most honorable suite" where he displayed likenesses of friends and Revolutionary heroes, such as Lafayette, Washington, Franklin and Paul Jones.
The elliptical arch into the Tea Room from the Dining Room features two sets of pocket doors that slide into the wall and a transom that is filled in with glass on both sides. The pocket doors are designed to admit light into the Dining Room and reduce the exchange of warm and cold air from one room to the other.
Virtual tours of this room
How to see this room: Included in most tours of Monticello.
The Houdon Bust of Lafayette
Jefferson had three portraits of America's "favorite fighting Frenchman," the Marquis de Lafayette, at Monticello.
Objects typically on display in this room
- Benjamin Franklin Bust by Houdon (Sculpture)
- Benjamin Smith Barton (Physiognotrace)
- Brescia Marble Table
- Coffee Urn
- Cream Pots
- Decanter Stand
- Dessert Spoons
- Dumbwaiters
- George Washington Bust by Houdon (Sculpture)
- Henry Dearborn (Physiognotrace)
- Jefferson Oval Portrait by Memin (Physiognotrace)
- John Paul Jones Bust (Sculpture)
- Soup Ladle
- Dickerson, Mahlon (Physiognotrace)
- Marquis de Lafayette Bust (Sculpture)
- Seau Crénelé
- Shield Back Side Chair
- Silver Plates by Lamine
- Table Forks by Anthiaume
- Table Forks by Sommé
- Tablespoons by Anthiaume
- Tripod Salts
- Vegetable Dishes