Julia Child’s Washington, DC, home where she cooked her famous recipes from her critically acclaimed book “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” is up for sale at $3.5 million.
Located in Georgetown, the butter yellow clapboard house was home to Child from 1948 until she moved out over a decade later with her husband Paul Child in 1959.
Child had started cooking her famous recipes in the home beginning in 1956 after she fell in love with French cooking thanks to a sojourn to Paris, where her husband was stationed for the US Information Agency.
The 19th-century home was built by trailblazing African-American carpenter Edgar Murphy at a time when the neighborhood was predominantly black, according to the Washington Post.
Child also taught French cooking in the home to a group of women after remodeling the kitchen and installing a $400 Garland Model 182 — a commercial gas range with a steel griddle. Dishes taught include how to poach eggs and saute chicken.
Made up of three bedrooms and three-and-a-half baths, the home has undergone several renovations since it was last purchased by the current owner, Rory Veerers-Carter, in 2015.
According to the listing, Veerers-Carter’s own grandmother was an “avid watcher of Julia’s cooking shows.”
“Drawn to the enormity of the project after the building fell into disrepair, the owner worked tirelessly to preserve this landmark house,” the listing states.
Features of the home include exposed bricks and beams. Upon entry is an open floor plan on the first level, which houses an expansive living room, an office, a foyer, a fireplace a and powder room.
The kitchen boasts stainless steel Viking appliances, an eight-burner cooktop stove, double-stacked ovens, a wooden hearth and a temperature-controlled wine fridge. The listing revealed that the owner “retained some of the original kitchen wall from the Julia years,” which includes the window featured in Child’s cooking shows.
“Encased in glass, this window to history that sparked an American food revolution is a classic conversation starter for guests,” the listing said.
The kitchen also opens out to the patio and there is a secondary entrance to the patio via a green stone staircase.
The upper level features three bedrooms. The primary bedroom features a walk-in closet with custom, built-in shelving. An en-suite bathroom has a separate soaking tub and a stand-up shower in hued white marble.
Meryl Streep was nominated for an Academy Award for playing Child in the film “Julia & Julia” in 2009.
A new documentary titled “Julia,” which chronicles her life, was released in November. Child passed away in 2004 in Montecito, Calif., from kidney failure — two days shy of her 92nd birthday.
Jonathan Taylor of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty holds the listing.
