Dimensions: 15' 1" × 11' 2"; ceiling 17' 11"
Order: Doric
Source: A building in Albano, Italy, depicted in Fréart, Parallèle de l'Architecture Antique avec la Moderne[1]
Color: Unpainted plaster; today the room is painted to replicate a plaster finish
Purpose of Room: Dining area; reading and writing area for Jefferson
Architectural features: Double pocket doors on rollers separate the Tea Room – the western-most, and coldest, room in the house – from the Dining Room; based on one of Jefferson's favorite architectural shapes, the octagon
Furnishings of Note: In this room, Jefferson displayed his "most honorable suite":[2] likenesses of his friends and American heroes, including busts of Benjamin Franklin, John Paul Jones, Marquis de Lafayette, and George Washington; the room had a reading and writing arrangement perhaps similar to the one Jefferson kept in his Cabinet; at one time the room had a stove in a semi-circular niche in the wall.
ADDRESS:
931 Thomas Jefferson Parkway
Charlottesville, VA 22902
GENERAL INFORMATION:
(434) 984-9800