Robert McNamara’s former house sells for $6.1 million, Susan Vest sells family home on Belmont Road.

By Stacey Grazier Pfarr

A stone manor house at 9808 Bentcross Drive in Potomac recently changed hands for $5.3 million.

THE DISTRICT

Susan Vest sold 2446 BELMONT ROAD NW IN KALORAMA for $4,350,000. The grand Tudor mansion, which was her family home for over 40 years, overlooks Rock Creek Park and sits on a 15,000-square-foot private lot. The eight-bedroom, eight-bath house built in 1928 includes a library and six-car garage. TTR Sotheby’s International Realty’s Jonathan Taylor and Michael Rankin represented the seller, while Alex Venditti and Paul Pike, also of TTR Sotheby’s, represented the buyers.

Read the full story

Singapore’s ‘minister mentor’ feted; EU Commission’s ambassador departs for ‘greener’ pastures.

By Gail Scott

Statesman Lee Kuan Yew greets Esther Coopersmith as Ambassador of Singapore Chan Heng-Chee and Sen. Jim Webb look on. (Photo courtesy US-ASEAN Business Council)

VISIONARY LEADER

The US-ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Business Council presented its first Lifetime Achievement Award to Singapore’s legendary first prime minister and now its “minister mentor,” Lee Kuan Yew, at a high- powered black-tie celebration of its 25th anniversary at the Mandarin Oriental on Oct. 25. Luminaries gathered from the foreign policy, government, academic, and business establishments included ASEAN ambassadors, former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George P. Shultz; United Technologies Chairman George David; Sen. Jim Webb (chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs), and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt M. Campbell. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush added their congratulations via video.

Read the full story

During a Hay Adams Rooftop Luncheon Honoring John Grisham, the best-selling author talks to WL about his D.C. roots and how Kindle is changing the book industry

By Michael Clements

A view of the White House from the Hay Adams rooftop terrace.

The Hay Adams has a long history of book salons. Throughout the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, notable authors, including Mark Twain and Edith Wharton, congregated at the home of John Hay and Henry Adams (now the site of The Hay-Adams) to discuss politics, art and literature. The Hay-Adams Select Author Series was launched to recapture that tradition. The latest author to participate is lawyer/best-selling scribe John Grisham. Grisham was in Washington recently to receive the Library of Congress’s first National Book Festival Award for Creative Achievement, presented at the National Book Festival on September 27, 2009. He latest book The Associate – a legal thriller – is now out and garnishing rave reviews.

On the new book, Janet Maslin of the The New York Times says, “GRISHAM HAS A FIELD DAY…The Associate grabs the reader quickly and becomes impossible to put down.”

Patrick Anderson of The Washington Post, states “Grisham makes it easy for us to keep flipping the pages…A DEVASTATING PORTRAIT OF THE BIG-TIME, BIG-BUCKS LEGAL WORLD.”

Read the full story

Middleburg has proved to be a quiet retreat for John and Jacqueline Kennedy and many other prominent political figures over the years.

By Vicky Moon

President John F. Kennedy relaxes with his children, John Jr. and Caroline, on the patio of Wexford, his Middleburg retreat on November 10, 1963. Nancy and Ronald Reagan (who also loved to take long rides in the horse country around Middleburg) later rented the same house from subsequent owners in 1980, prior to his taking office. (Photo by Cecil Soughton, The White House/Kennedy Library).

Once President Barack Obama and his family settle into their hectic and very transparent life in the White House, might they also consider a get-away weekend in Middleburg? After all, many other politicians and diplomats have visited or lived in this somewhat sleepy village. The awe-inspiring countryside has captivated the Kennedys, the Harrimans, Senator John Warner and Elizabeth Taylor, and Col. Oliver North, to name just a few.

When grande dame Millicent West was married to Donald MacKenzie from 1978 to 1986, they entertained a number of distinguished Washingtonians, including Senators Paul Laxhalt and Chuck Robb at their “Journey’s End” estate. One weekend, Mrs. West invited President Lyndon B. Johnson for the Middleburg steeplechase races. She called ahead to alert officials in case they needed to make security plans.

Read the full story

WL tips its hat to the areas biggest philanthropists and donors.

While charity famously depends on left hands not knowing what their right-side partners do, we’ve nonetheless chosen to pay tribute to some of the more generously-handed givers in Washington. There are different reasons for inclusion on this (by no means comprehensive) rundown of big-time donors: some, like the Rockefellers and Mellons, are notable for amounts given over a long period of time; others leave lasting legacies in the form of museums, concert halls, and other university buildings. The men and women on this list are notable for their commitment to causes, involvement on multiple levels of local charity, and largeness of spirit.

Read the full story

Power, above all, is influence. New York Fashion week bloggers tell Americans with authority that this is the year of the [insert arbitrary skirt length], and America purchases accordingly. The Washington socialite-hostess gathers the ripe fruit of political, economic, and cultural orchards and serves it up as one fabulous cherry bombe at a charity fundraiser or a private soiree with Cabinet secretaries and other major political players. Two men shake hands in the U.S. Senate and a bill passes – or doesn’t. The influence to effect change, be it in the minds or actions of one’s fellow man, is simultaneously the most ephemeral quantity (how does one qualify or rate it?) and the biggest driving force on our planet.

Read the full story

WL’s list of head-turners.

Top from left to right: Steven and Jean Case, Vernon and Ann Jordan, James Kimsey, Jacqueline Mars. Bottom from left to right: Paul and Nancy Pelosi, Roger and Victoria Sant, and Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn.

It’s hard to elicit a physical response from a Washington crowd; that is, to “turn” a head. Although we’ve produced this list for several years, 2008’s A-list has seemingly evolved into a roster of national names rather than one merely dedicated to the stars in our local firmament; after all, 2008’s elections have brought some bonafide rock stars to town. All eyes have been on Ben Bernanke to solve our financial woes, and we’ve all been waiting with baited breath to find out whether Christopher Hitchens will finally quit smoking (maybe it would help if he had God on his side). We said goodbye to longtime favorites Joe Gibbs, as well as beloved British Ambassador Sir Manning and his wife, Lady Catherine. While farewells are always sad, they make way for new faces such as financial heavyweight David Rubenstein and Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson. Over the years, we’ve found that A-list status is less about the job and rank than one might think; it’s about having a personality that electrifies the room. We’re happy they’re here.

Read the full story

Who has it… and who gives it away.

By Beth Farnstrom

Robert and Marion Rosenthal

“I go to Washington – if only to be near my money,” comedian Bob Hope once quipped. But forget about taxes pouring into federal coffers: With cash to flash, members of Washington’s growing mega-millionaire’s club (50 Million Plus) like to show their green in perhaps, sometimes ritzy, but mainly philanthropic ways.

Buy a baseball team? No problem. Accessorize with megawatt Hollywood stars Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes? Ditto. Underwrite productions at the Kennedy Center? Done.

Washington’s wealth – sparked by the dotcom boom of the ’90s and fueled by the ever-rising real estate and stock markets – has “put a lot of money in people’s pockets and created a new level of wealth in Washington,” says developer Ed Asher of the Chevy Chase Land Company. While ten Washingtonians made the latest Forbes 400 list with fortunes in the billions, wealth is spread far and wide these days. Fortunes have been built on the backs of new technology, media, sports, real estate, government contracts and, of course, Washington’s original industry: politics. In just three years, the number of Washington area families with liquid assets (that is, not counting residential property and 401Ks) grew a whopping 60 percent, from 88,000 in 2003 to 140,000 in 2006. Similarly, in a slightly higher stratosphere, those with $5 million plus in liquid assets grew 53 percent, from 15,000 to 23,000 families, according to Phoenix Marketing International.

Where the money goes, the charity flows and, yes, luxury follows, and how!

Read the full story

In Adams-Morgan, lawyer Julian Epstein makes the case for loft-style living.

By Deborah K. Dietsch
Photography Gary Landsman

Julian Epstein relaxes on a modern chaise longue in the open living space of his PN Hoffman-built loft.

Sprawled on a white chaise in his Adams-Morgan loft, lawyer Julian Epstein makes his case for the simple life. “I’m not a collector. I don’t want a lot of stuff,” he says. “I can’t stand clutter.”

Almost monastic in its minimalism, his bachelor pad is furnished with clean-lined sofas, cubic ottomans and glass and chrome coffee table, all arranged in straight lines on bare bamboo floors. Overhead, the concrete ceiling is left exposed and the floor-to-ceiling windows are unshielded by curtains.
Read the full story

Heads turn when they enter the room.

By Ann Geracimos

Photograph by Fred J. Maroon. M. Maroon's son, Marc, has recently launched an initiative to offer digital prints from his father's Washington, D.C. Collection, entitled "Poetic Washington" to local charity events. For more informatino, go to fredmaroon.com.

Power is as power does. It’s a flexible force in this town. No wonder we denizens often take refuge in lists, a comfort zone of sorts in a world where the reality is constantly shifting.

Lists turn up everywhere. The form suits a place that thrives on hierarchy – on knowing just who owns a predetermined political status. The government’s plum list of political jobs is the apotheosis of this. Keeping everyone happy: giving them a title, an objective count of who’s in and who’s out. And why not? That is small comfort in the face of the conditions of daily life that threaten to overwhelm one’s sense of identity.

There is comfort in knowing about rank because it makes it easier to navigate the terrain. After all, who is responsible for the saying that rules (rank and reputation) are made to be broken? It gives a lift to the spirit to know the Calvinist ideal of predestination is not entirely dominant.

Read the full story