The former Georgetown home of famed chef Julia Child is now listed for sale at $1.1 million.
The 1,364-square-foot property, located at 2706 Olive St. NW, housed Child and her husband Paul in 1948 prior to their residence in France, where she studied French cuisine. In 1956, after years renting the property to tenants while abroad, the Child’s returned to the home, where the late chef conducted cooking lessons from its kitchen.
The house, built around 1870, boasts four bedrooms, three bathrooms and an aged yellow exterior, and is being sold as is. It’s unknown whether the kitchen has been modernized or still intact from Child’s cooking days nearly 60 years ago.
Though considered a fixer-upper, the house’s history is a major selling point. Before Child’s presence, the builder behind the three-story Colonial, Edgar Murphy, and his family occupied the home for over 40 years until his death in 1913. An African American carpenter, Murphy and his family rented out a separate unit within the space to black tenants to earn extra income, at a time when Georgetown was a neighborhood rooted in African American culture.
Between the history of Murphy’s ties to the house and Child’s culinary reputation which grew there, the dwelling has molded into a local symbol of prosperity, a charm that potential buyers can’t put a price on.
