(Photo by StreetsofWashington)

The Dumbarton House Museum and parts of the attached gardens in Georgetown will be closed until April for repairs to the HVAC system, thanks to a $55,000 grant from the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities.

The museum building, the North and South gardens, and the car park are all closed, while the East Garden at the corner of 27th and Q will remain open during work, Dumbarton House spokesperson Eithne McGilvray tells DCist. The museum closed at the end of October, and the renovation work will begin on Nov. 28.

The home (which isn’t affiliated with Dumbarton Oaks) dates back to 1800 and includes furnishings, documents, and other artifacts from the period. Hard-hat tours and other public events will provide more information and context about the work during the museum’s closure, McGilvray said.

The current system was installed in 1992 and hasn’t been repaired since. The end result will be regulated temperature and humidity for staff, museum artifacts and visitors, according to McGilvray. Staff will move into temporary offices at the Heurich House in Dupont Circle, and the museum’s contents will be placed in storage.

Progress on the project will be documented on social media and the museum’s website. No changes to the gardens are planned.

Public programs, free admission days, special tours, research and maintaining the archives will all be easier once the project is complete, Dumbarton House executive director Karen Daly said in a release.

“This investment in the infrastructure of our historic site supports a much-needed improvement which will help ensure the long-term safety of our collections and our historic building, our highest priority,” Daly said

In addition to providing a window into America’s past, Dumbarton House has served as the national headquarters for the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, an organization promoting stories of the country’s colonial origins, since 1928.