This Tiffany chandelier hangs in the dining room at the Twin Oaks estate and was part of the completed building's original furnishings in 1888
Upstairs, the second floor houses several bedroom suites including a large room on the southwestern corner, which was once used by Mrs. Hubbard. It later came to be used as the ambassadors’ study and houses built-in bookcases containing a complete collection of
Chinese classics. Of particular note in this room are the two telephones sitting in glass cases. One is a slender brass model, reportedly an early prototype left behind by Alexander Graham Bell. The other is an antique phone set in a box with a gold, blue, and red dragon motif, said to have belonged to one of China’s early emissaries to the U.S. in the nineteenth century.
Descending back through the house to the front foyer, if visitors pause at end of the main staircase, they will see perhaps another example of yuan fen. The newel post of the main staircase, the original from the time the house was built, is capped with a wooden pineapple, long a Taiwanese symbol of good fortune and prosperity.
My father, David T. Lee, was just buried at Ft. Lincoln Part just outside DC.
He is buried in the shadow of the one remaining of the “twin oaks” there,
where Lincoln and his generals made many of their biggest decisions.
My father was the liaison officer between China and the US during the war.
As a child I was taken to many of the grand banquets of the fabulous Wellington Koo and am writing a short story called “Twin Oaks.”
My father also was a founder of Chinese Refugee Relief and created the Empress restaurants. Nixon and Kissinger has many secrete dinners at the Empress in the months leading up to their “opening up of China.”
Thanks for the article.
Kelly Lee
I don’t agree with all your thoughts, but you do have good point of view.