THE WASHINGTON POST.
SATURDAy, MARCH 21, 2020KeZ14
ed the rest o f the h ouse. He t urned
a screen porch into a sunroom,
rearranged the first floor by wid-
ening doorways and moving walls,
added a flagstone patio and a free-
standing garage, and expanded
the kitchen. He hired master
woodworker Bob Lardieri of Lar-
dieri’s Custom Woodworking in
New Jersey to do custom cabine-
try in the den and kitchen. The
work was featured in Woodshop
News in 2017.
The five-bedroom, five-bath-
room, 3,750-square-foot house is
listed a t $2 million.
kat [email protected]nomination nine times. His best
showing came in 1948 when he
narrowly lost to Thomas Dewey.
After Stassen helped Dwight D.
Eisenhower secure the Republi-
can nomination in 1952 by releas-
ing his delegates to him, he was
rewarded with positions in the
administration. He served as di-
rector of the Mutual Security
Agency, director of the Foreign
Operations Administration and
assistant to t he president on disar-
mament.
Although he’s left the bomb
shelter almost untouched,
Schreiber has extensively renovat-penetrable.... There’s even ru-
mors, probably not true, that
there’s a knock-out panel in the
bomb shelter that will take you to
a secret tunnel to East-West High-
way. I don’t b elieve t hat.”
Schreiber said he is asked a ll the
time by people if he will let them
stay t here during a nuclear w ar.
“I say, ‘Be my guest. Come over.
It’s all yours,’ ” he said. “I think it
would make a perfect wine cellar.
The temperature and humidity
are nearly ideal.”
Tidwell bought the house from
Harold Stassen. Stassen is best
remembered as a perennial presi-
dential candidate, but he also dis-
tinguished himself as governor of
Minnesota and president of the
University o f Pennsylvania. He r an
for the Republican presidential1960s. H e also oversaw t he U -2 s py
plane program. He wrote two
books on the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln.
Tidwell bought the house in
1958 and, according to his son,
Alan, built the shelter before the
Cuban Missile Crisis. Alan T idwell
remembers it as being a great
place t o play as a child.
In the 1950s and 1960s, fears
that the Soviet Union would un-
leash nuclear war caused many
Americans to construct places at
home where they could shelter in
the event of such an attack. The
one Tidwell built had a decontam-
ination chamber, four water
tanks, bunk beds, a shower and a
toilet.
“It’s fully nuclear-compliant,”
Schreiber said. “The walls are im-BY KATHY ORTONRichard Schreiber didn’t buy
the house because it came with a
fallout shelter. He bought it for
more typical reasons. The bomb
shelter was a bonus.
“I l oved t he l ot,” h e said. “I loved
the bones of t he h ouse.”
Before buying the 1948 brick
house, Schreiber lived in the
neighborhood. He o ften walked by
the house, and h e took h is children
trick-or-treating there.
“One day, I knocked on t he door
and asked [the owner] if he want-
ed to sell it, and he said no,”
Schreiber said. “I told him if you
don’t mind, I’m going to write you
an o ffer. I wrote him a letter a nd an
offer.”
After a bit of negotiation and
without the house ever going on
the market, Schreiber bought it
around 2 001. That’s when he
learned about the fallout shelter.
“I l ove showing it to people, a nd
people love to see it because it
brings you right back to the Cold
War,” h e said.
W.A. Tidwell built the fallout
shelter. Tidwell was a brigadier
general who served in World War
II a nd Vietnam. He later b ecame a
senior o fficial in the CIA, w here he
was involved in aerial reconnais-
sance over the S oviet Union. While
at t he CIA, h e helped identify Sovi-
et missles in Cuba in the earlyHouse of the Week
Renovated
1948 house
remembers
the Cold War
pHotos by MArlon crutcHfIeld pHotogrApHy
The house in Chevy Chase, Md., comes with a bomb shelter built by W.A. Tidwell, who helped identify Soviet missles in Cuba. The current
owner l eft the shelter intact but renovated the rest of the house. Perennial presidential candidate Harold Stassen was also an owner.37 01 BlaCKtHorn Ct.,
CHeVY CHase, Md.
$2 million
Features: t he 1948 brick house
was once home to Harold stassen,
who ran unsuccessfully for
president nine times. the fallout
shelter under the house was built
by W.A. tidwell, a senior official in
the cIA. the renovated kitchen has
13 windows that overlook the yard.
fr ench doors in the dining room
open to a flagstone patio. the den
has built-in mahogany shelving.
the detached garage has parking
for two cars.
Bedrooms/bathrooms: 5/5
approximate square-footage:
3,750
lot size: 0.32 acre
listing agent: thomas Wilson,
long & foster
for more photos of this house
and other houses for sale in the area,
go to washingtonpost.com/realestate. ABOVE: The rec room on the lower level. AT RIGHT: Water tanks
in the shelter, which the owner says is “fully nuclear-compliant.”