Royston Town House
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images

Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The Tennessee-born Royston established his Washington law practice in 1830, and his office was originally at the foot of the hill. The house was also “L”-shaped: the left-back room was a porch, but in the 1840s Royston had the space enclosed and turned into a home office/guest room with an exterior entrance. As hallways served as social spaces then, the main center hallway is wide enough for large gatherings, with doorways at either end which could be opened to allow a breeze through. As was the practice in the early 1800s, the bedrooms were located at the front of the building. A bed and army chest belonging to Royston himself sit in the master bedroom. The dining room is in the right back, closest to the separate kitchen, which sat in the corner of the present-day fencing. The no-longer existent Alexander Street ran closer to the back of the house, which meant visitors could make it easier to Royston’s home office. In this office is one of Royston’s desks, which is also full of books belonging to his practice.