Adrienne Arsht buys in Spring Valley, Sargent and Eunice Shriver’s mansion sells in Potomac.

By Mary K. Mewborn

The District
Rob Quartel and Michela English were represented by Kerry Fortune and Nelson Marban of Georgetown Long & Foster in the sale of their 7,803-square-foot house at 3220 Nebraska Avenue NW in Spring Valley. Quartel is a former U.S. Federal Maritime commissioner and CEO and chairman of NTELX, a data fusion and health risk/fraud analysis company. English is a former senior executive at Discovery Communications and is currently CEO and president of Fight For Children, a local non-profit group engaged in education and health issues. The couple recently finished construction of a home on the Chesapeake Bay and is building another in the D.C.-Northern Virginia area. Adrienne Arsht, a Miami banker, philanthropist, National Symphony Orchestra board member, and former Washington resident throughout her marriage to the late Myer Feldman, a prominent lawyer and advisor to President John F. Kennedy, paid $6,625,000 for the couple’s Spring Valley property.
Hazel Cheilek has sold her 2,986-square-foot, six-bedroom home at 3039 44th Street NW where she had lived since moving from Buffalo, N.Y., in 1970. She and her husband both taught music out of the residence and Mrs. Cheilek also worked as a music teacher at Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology. She now resides in California. The house was built in 1920 and is situated on a corner lot in the heart of Wesley Heights. It was listed by Michael Rankin, Greg Gaddy and Carroll Dey of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty and sold through Gaddy and Dey for $1.3 million. The new owners are Mr. and Mrs. Nigel Parkinson. Mr. Parkinson, is president of Parkinson Construction Company and a past president of the National Association of Minority Contractors. The Parkinsons plan to renovate the house while maintaining its original integrity.
Washington Fine Properties’ William “Ted” Gossett has sold the house he owned at 4400 Dexter Street NW to Lynne S. and Richard M. Milano for $2.15 million. The nicely renovated five-bedroom Colonial has a new slate roof and sits on a corner fenced-in lot with a private driveway and two-car garage. It had been listed for $2,495,000.
Catherine M. Tinsley and Tom C. Tinsley sold their four-bedroom residence at 4934 Indian Lane NW for $4.6 million to Lucretia Adymy Risoleo and Robert Risoleo. The Tinsleys sold their previous house at 1400 34th Street NW for $4.2 million to entrepreneur Jonathan J. Ledecky in 2007. Part of its allure is the connection to President Kennedy (who lived there as a young congressman) as well as his sister Eunice, who called it home until her marriage to Sargent Shriver.

Maryland
The big real estate news, also on the Shriver front, is the sale of R. Sargent and Eunice Shriver’s estate in Potomac. Their house had been on the market for just under a year and the sale coincided with the August passing of both Eunice and her brother, Sen. Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy. Designed by Smith Blackburn Architects, the 15,500-square-foot, classically styled Georgian mansion is set on nearly seven acres in the Bradley Farms area at 9109 Harrington Drive. Built for the couple and their five children in 1986, the property has been the scene of many social and political gatherings, including Peace Corps gatherings (Sargent Shriver was the agency’s founding director), events for Special Olympics (Eunice’s brainchild), and glamorous charitable benefits that included annual balls in support of youngest son Anthony Shriver’s Best Buddies International.
The house boasts 10 bedrooms, 11 full baths, and large entertaining areas that include a 32-foot living room and an equally expansive dining room. The 400-square-foot kitchen has two large pantries and an adjacent octagonal breakfast room. There are staff quarters, an exercise room, a library, tennis court and gazebo, a pool and pool house,  four-car garage, and numerous balconies and verandahs. William F. X. Moody and Robert Hryniewicki of Washington Fine Properties listed the property at $11.8 million. John P. Duffy of Summit Commercial Real Estate represented the buyer, the MA Center, which he described as an international humanitarian organization. The Center’s founder, Mata Amritanandamyi, is known as a “living Hindu saint” called the “Amma,” and is said to have curative powers. It is unclear at this time whether the estate will be used as a private residence, an ashram retreat, or both. The MA Center paid $7,810,000 with plans to move there in January.

Virginia
Thanks to Long and Foster agent Sharon Hayman, 1331 North Irving Street in heart of the Lyon Village area of Arlington now belongs to Randy and Maria Jones. Mrs. Jones is a partner in the Washington law firm Miller & Chevalier and her husband works for Freddie Mac. They paid just under $1.9 million. The house was built by Brian Normile, principal owner of BCN builders and part owner of the Liberty Tavern in Clarendon. The newly constructed house has three finished levls and four bedrooms. Architectural highlights include custom moldings and wainscoting throughout. Other features include a wet bar, upscale kitchen with a Wolf range, an entertainment center, a study, a rear deck and a detached garage.

Ted Kennedy, 1932-2009

By John Flannery 

Senator Kennedy with his wife Victoria at the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors. (Photo by Tony Powell)

He was a man with the frailties of any man.  He lived the Irish curse, as Yeats aptly described it, “to dream things the world has never seen.” Because he dreamed these things, and didn’t know better, he fought to make them real, and, in the bargain, made a difference for the better.  

He was the younger brother in a trinity of vigor, passion and fight for what these brothers thought was the public’s right and the nation’s need.  

But even before this youngest brother became the family elder, he soldiered with anyone who could advance his dream of what this nation could be.  

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy did more for this nation on the issue of options for health care because of their shared concern that we are all measured by how we treat our own.  

It is ironic that the fight that consumed him most, health care, and that earned him so many legislative victories and salved the pain of so many Americans should be the focus of the nation at his passing.  

The best of us cannot be replaced or duplicated. Ted is a special example of this truth. It is the beauty of our God-given humanity that we have a soulful identity.  

The sin in this life is to shelter and conceal who we are, to lose by indifference what we have to give, to fail to say or do what we can for our families and our community. Christ said he would spew forth from his mouth the tepid. Of course, Ted was anything but.  

It is our destiny to participate in the life and struggle of our time. If one fails this calling, one fails life. By this standard, Ted lived his life to the fullest.  

I was honored to know Ted. When he spoke at the Democratic Convention in Denver last summer, it must have been obvious to those around me that I was in a reverie watching him, because those behind me placed their comforting hands on my shoulders at one point.  

Of course, we were as a group joined as one, transfixed on Ted even having the strength to stand there. I found it exhilarating and terribly sad at the same time. He gave such a full throated speech and his doctors told him he should not be speaking at all.  

In the shadows, just out of the spotlight to his left, his wife Victoria Reggie mouthed the words of his text like she could lift the burden from him. It was affectionate and distressing at the same time. Of course, it was sweet too.  

In his 1980 campaign for president, I spent the most time with him in the New York primary (which we won) and he was just great as a candidate and a person.  

When I ran for congress in 1984, he promised to help, and he did. His niece Kathleen had her mom open up Hickory Hill for a reception during my primary fight; they said they’d never done so for a non-family member before. I asked him what should I say if the press made something of it, in conservative Virginia. He would say: “John  and I don’t agree on anything, but I think he should be your next congressman.”  

Whenever you saw him, he’d take time to talk and joke. When I went to the House to work on several Hill investigations in 1996, I worked with his son Patrick, and Ted would often be around. It’s really true, some people are so special, there will never be another.  

Ted was an original and a warrior for causes he shouted in a contrasting field of timid whisperers.  

Unbowed by pain and suffering in the end, he struggled to make his contribution to the nation even from his sick bed, and now he is gone.  

But his cause endures because of his example, the hope he inspired, and an irish dream that we could have things that the world has never seen.

May he rest in peace.

John Flannery, a longtime friend of Ted Kennedy’s, is an author, attorney and Virginia state party  activist. A regular guest on CNN’s Inside Politics, he lives in Leesburg, VA. 

Washington Life remembers the life of the Honorable Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009)

United States Senator (1963-2009), Patriarch, Peacemaker, Humanitarian, ?Author, Sportsman, and Friend

An Afternoon with Ted Kennedy

By Roland Flamini

In late 1999 Architectural Digest assigned me to visit and write about Senator Ted and Victoria Kennedy’s new house in Kalorama. Washington designer Josepha B. Faley had just finished re-furbishing the interior, very much to the Kennedys’ specifications and the result was elegant but comfortable and unstuffy. Victoria “Vicki” Kennedy had been the main contact with the designer, but it was the senator who, with evident satisfaction, spent a whole afternoon acting as my guide around the house and garden.

I had previously met him in my day job as a foreign policy reporter, but this was Ted Kennedy in a context few outsiders had ever seen. We discussed the different merits of antique English furniture (his) and French and Continental furniture (his wife’s), and how they co-existed in the house. He showed me a host of Kennedy family memorabilia, all grouped together along one wall so as not to overwhelm the house. One framed page from a yellow legal pad is a true page from history. It contains President John F. Kennedy’s notes from a 1963 National Security Council meeting. In one corner the president had scribbled a reminder: “Teddy’s house on Sunday.” There is also a poem written for him by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis upon his marriage to Victoria in 1992. 

Displayed around the house were maritime oil paintings of sailing boats and seascapes signed “Ted K.” “Painting is relaxing and I enjoy it,” the senator said of his quasi-secret hobby. It was also an extension of his other passion – sailing. “I only do boats, seascapes, sand dunes, and lobster pots.”  

Inevitably, our talk turned to politics: he was then planning to run for a seventh Senate term in 2000. Sitting in an upholstered wingchair which had an embroidered cushion inscribed, “The only difference between this place and the Titanic is that the Titanic has a band,” he said he was running again because, “In the things I’m interested in, we’ve been able to get a lot done, but there’s a lot more to do. We’ve made progress in knocking down the walls of discrimination; we’ve been able to have some impact in creating a more just society, with enhancing conditions for the aging.”

Engaging young people, he mused, was “a central challenge.” People got a lot of information, but had a shorter attention span. It was a win some-lose some situation, but then it always had been – “that’s a fact of the political system.” To the last day of his life, he was still working on the things he was interested in.  

Senator Kennedy. Photos by Gary Landsman.

Read the full story

The 13th annual record of notably social personalities from the worlds of politics, diplomacy, business, philanthropy, and the arts.

By Kevin Chaffee

John Pyles and Barbara Harrison

This roster is neither the first, nor will it (inevitably) be the last to single out certain individuals, who, by virtue of birth, rank, wealth or accomplishment, take part in the social life of the nation’s capital. Estimable precursors – drumroll here – include The Green Book,” so-called for its faux green suede cover, which has appeared continuously since 1930; and the Blue Book of Washington, D.C., which ceased publication around 1990 after a century in print. The Social Register, sometimes called the “Black Book,” also contains the names of numerous prominent local figures, many hailing from so-called “blue blood” families, although it merged its thin Washington volume into a much larger 12-city national version back in the 1980s.

A major difference separating Washington Life’s list from the others – apart from having no discernible color – is that we do not publish a “phone book” containing addresses and contact information, much less schools attended, club memberships and yacht listings. Ours is merely an alphabetical nomenclature of people who make a difference by adding immeasurably to their city, and by extension, their country and the world. Another point of contrast is size. Compared to the many thousands of entries contained in other directories past and present, WL’s Social List, currently about 700 names and counting, is relatively small. We do not see the need to include every member of the Congress, Cabinet or Court (i.e., Supreme), much less all those with top jobs listed in the “Plum Book” of political appointments.

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

Middleburgers pen fox-filled folios, Gorby’s cousin shows primary colors.

By Vicky Moon

Charley Matheson’s new book is called Hunting Sketches on the Run.

ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS

Artist Yuri Gorbachev was in Middleburg for a showing of his paintings at The Byrne Gallery. His lively, primitive work incorporates strong Russian motifs, bright primary colors and robust red accents. Animals (of course) are a popular subject: “Blue Cat on a Red Table,” “Sill Life with Parrot and Flower” and even “Jester on Horse.”

“His technique is evocative of Russian enamels – he uses at least a dozen layers of finishing glaze, which gives it a luster,” says gallery owner Susan Byrne.

Yuri began his artistic career in ceramics. In the early 1990s, upon immigrating to the United States, he switched to oil on canvas. A cousin of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Yuri now lives and works in New York. His work can be seen at the Louvre, the China Club in Hong Kong, the Hyatt Regency in Perth, Australia, the collections of Brooke Shields, Mick Jagger, Senator Edward Kennedy and now … in several Middleburg residences.

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