On Julia Child's 100th Birthday, a Tour of Her Many Homes ...

Today is the would-be 100th birthday of the late, great TV chef Julia Child and we're marking the occasion by rounding up five of her homes, some of them legendary. Long before she was typing for the OSS, before she attended culinary school in Paris, before she nearly single-handedly introduced French cooking to the American public, and way, way before she was autotuned, culinary wonder woman Child, then Julia McWilliams, spent her childhood in this glorious villa of a house at 625 Magnolia Avenue in Pasadena, Calif. She spent 18 years growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles before heading off to the East Coast to attend Smith College.

Photo: CoS

? Child joined the Office of Strategic Services, a precursor to the CIA, during World War II and was posted to Sri Lanka, where she met her future husband, Paul Child. The couple moved together to Washington, D.C., where they took up residence in this now rather run-down Georgetown home. Built by an African-American carpenter for his family sometime before 1870, 2706 Olive Avenue was only inhabited by the Childs for a brief period before they moved away Before long, they were reassigned to Paris, where Julia took up French cooking in earnest.

Photo: Ann Mah

? In Paris, Julia and Paul settled down in a duplex on the top two floors of 81 rue de l'Universit?. It was from this home base that she attended the famous Le Cordon Bleu cooking school and trained with some of Paris' best known chefs. Affectionately referred to by the duo as "Rue de Loo," the apartment is in easy walking distance to the famous Musee d'Orsay, which was just a crumbling train station in the Childs' day.

Photo: Meyers Away

? To escape the city, the Childs built themselves a small stone getaway in Provence, dubbed "La Pitchoune." The modest structure was constructed on land owned by fellow author Simone Beck and her husband Jean Fischbacher, and the couple would come back to this summer home long after they had returned to the United States. In 1992, with Paul's health deteriorating and Beck having just passed away, the Child's relinquished their claim to the cottage.

Photo: Centers and Squares

? The Childs returned from France in 1956 and took up residence in the same D.C. home, where Julia conducted cooking classes in the kitchen. Ever the wanderers, Julia and Paul were soon laying down roots in Cambridge, Mass., where they would make their final home together at 103 Irving Street. Julia regularly filmed for her television show here, making the kitchen world famous. She would later donate the kitchen to the Smithsonian and, in her will, the $2.35M proceeds from the sale of the house to Smith College, who used the bequest to build the school's first campus center.

? Watch an Auto-Tuned Julia Child Remix, Because Why Not [Eater National]
? An African-American Carpenter Built Julia Child's House [CoS]
? The History of Julia and Paul Child's House In Georgetown [Curbed DC]
? Julia Child Lived Here [Centers and Squares]
? Julia Child's Kitchen [Smithsonian]
? Julia Child Gift to Smith College [Smith College]

Source: http://curbed.com/archives/2012/08/15/on-julia-childs-100th-birthday-a-tour-of-her-many-homes.php

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