The Washington Post - 07.03.2020

THE WASHINGTON POST

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SATURDAy, MARCH 7, 2020

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The five-bedroom, six-bath-

room, 8,141-square-foot house,

which has been on Georgetown

house and garden tours, is listed

at $15.5 million.

[email protected]

The current owner put her own

touches on the gardens, adding

limestone from Europe and

plants that bloom from spring

until fall. She hosted nearly 1,100

people in the garden for a Hillary

Clinton fundraiser in November

2016. Guests included Vogue edi-
      tor Anna Wintour and fashion
      designer Diane von Furstenberg.

was added in the late 1990s. The

master suite has his-and-her

bathrooms, two walk-in closets —

one of which is 14 b y 29 feet — a nd

a salon for hair and makeup. Her

bathroom has a double-sink mar-

ble vanity, a round soaking tub,

separate shower and a heated

shagreen floor made from sting-

ray skins.

sold to antiques dealer Guy K.S.

Bush. Marc E. Leland, a former

assistant secretary of the treasury

for international affairs and a

former general counsel of the

Peace Corps, owned the house

from 1998 to 2010.

The house has been renovated

several times. The third floor,

which is now the master suite,

BY KATHY ORTON

Some houses just seem to at-

tract an eclectic mix of people.

Like the yellow house in George-

town that was home to a member

of the U.S. Croquet Hall of Fame; a

scion of two old-money families;

the son and brother of U.S. sena-

tors; an explorer; and a U.S. Su-

preme Court justice.

The 1941 house was designed

by architect Ward Burns and built

by R.W. Bolling for Carolyn Gray

To wnsend, presumably as an in-

vestment property. Walter S.

Gubelmann was the first known

resident of the house. Gubelmann

was a businessman, philanthro-

pist, yachtsman and member of

the Croquet Hall of Fame.

In 1944, Gray Townsend sold

the house to Cornelius Vanderbilt

Whitney and his then-wife, Elea-

nor. Cornelius, a descendant of

the Vanderbilt and Whitney fami-

lies, served as assistant secretary

of the Air Force from 1947 to 1949

and undersecretary of commerce

from 1949 to 1950. He was also

known as the owner of two Bel-

mont Stakes winners, a financial

backer of such classic films as

“Gone With the Wind,” and a

patron of the arts. And he was a

founder of Pan American Air-

ways.

Two years after he bought the

house, Whitney sold it to Chan-

dler Hale, a former assistant sec-

retary of state. Hale was also the

son of Eugene Hale and brother of

Frederick Hale, both senators

from Maine.

In 1960, W. Douglas Burden

bought the house from Hale’s

widow. Burden was an explorer,

naturalist and author. He was

best known for trapping three

Komodo dragons in 1926. The

Burdens were friends of Jacque-

line Kennedy’s, and they rented

her their Somerset Hills, N.J.,

farm in 1965.

Just before he joined the U.S.

Supreme Court, Abe Fortas and

his wife, Carolyn Agger, a promi-

nent tax lawyer, bought the house

in 1965. Fortas, an amateur violin-

ist, hosted string quartet recitals

on Sunday evenings in the music

room.

Agger was fond of gardening

and turned the backyard into a

paradise of perennial flowers and

shrubs. Her garden was featured

in “The Secret Gardens of George-

town,” a 1994 book by Washing-

ton Post g arden columnist Adrian

Higgins. Agger also swam laps

daily in the swimming pool, con-

sidered one of the largest in

Georgetown.

Fortas remained in the home

until his death in 1982. When

Agger died in 1996, the house was

House of the Week

Home to a mix of D.C. movers and shakers

peter pApoulAKos

ABOVE: The foyer in the grand house at 3210 R St. NW in Georgetown, which was built in 1941 and has been renovated several times.

BELOW: A view of the back of the house. Abe Fortas, a Supreme Court justice in the 196 0s, was one of a number of prominent residents.

3210 R st. nW, WasHington

$15.5 million

Features: the 1941 house was the

longtime home of Abe Fortas, a

supreme Court justice from 1965

to 1969. It has an elevator and four

fireplaces. one of the master suite

bathrooms has a double-sink

marble vanity, a round soaking tub,

a separate shower and a heated

shagreen floor made from stingray

skins. Besides the two bathrooms,

the master suite has a salon for

hair and makeup. the landscaped

gardens have a heated swimming

pool.

Bedrooms/bathrooms: 5/6

approximate square-footage:

8,100

Lot size: 0.29 acre

Listing agents: ellen Morrell, Ben

roth and Jamie peva, Washington

Fine properties

 Fo r more photos of this house

and other houses for sale in the area,

go to washingtonpost.com/realestate.