Philanthropist Paul Mellon’s Embassy Row house (top) and grande dame Oatsie Charles’ Georgetown mansion have both been sold to new owners for the second time in recent years. The five-bedrrom Colonial at 1112 Ingleside Avenue in McLean changed hands recently for 2.38 million.
By Mary K. Newborn
THE DISTRICT
The Dougal House, the former Georgetown home of grande dame Marion ‘Oatsie’ Leiter Charles located at 3259 R STREET NW, has sold for the second time in little more than a year. Last October, Mrs. Charles sold it for $7 million, but buyer Christian Hunt soon put it back on the market at $7.4 million with listing agent Jeff Mauer with Coldwell Banker. The second buyer, who paid $6.5 million and wishes to remain anonymous, was represented by Ellen Morrell and Matt McCormick of Washington Fine Properties. With the witty Mrs. Charles as its consummate châtelaine and hostess, the magnificent 1857 Italianate-style residence welcomed such illustrious guests as Ian Fleming, Noël Coward, and Princess Michael of Kent to its embassy-size rooms. The meticulously maintained private grounds feature ponds, a guesthouse, meditation garden, and a large garage.
Just as Mrs. Charles’ famous Georgetown landmark was about to change hands, her grandson, Associated Press reporter Desmond Oates Butler, and Miriam Mahlow, bought a three-bedroom, circa 1900 Georgetown house at 2707 DUMBARTON STREET NW from Benjamin B. and Georgia K. King for $1.23 million. Butler’s father, George Butler, was co-director of the all-time classic bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron, the movie that made Arnold Schwarzenegger famous. His mother, Victoria Leiter Mele, is the grandniece of Victoria Mary Leiter, the Chicago department store heiress who married Lord Curzon, a 19th-century British viceroy of India. Both Desmond Butler’s mother and grandmother now live in Newport, R.I., on the former estate of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edith Wharton, amid gardens originally designed by Beatrix Ferrand, the landscape architect who designed the gardens at Dumbarton Oaks.
David and Kirsten Pollin are the new owners of Beechwoods. Readers may recall that the house located at 3006 ALBEMARLE STREET NW in Forest Hills had been home to Franklin and Wendy Raines and was listed by Washington Fine Properties’ agents Matthew McCormick, Ellen Morrell, Patrick Chauvin, and Bonnie Wimsatt for $7,595,000. Dave Pollin is the nephew of Washington Wizard’s owner Abe Pollin, and, like his uncle, made money in real estate. His acquisition, development and management company, Buccini/Pollin Group, has offices in Washington, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, and Beijing. The couple’s 98-year-old stucco Colonial boasts seven bedrooms, a library, office, movie theater, recreation and exercise rooms, a terrace, swimming pool and cabana, tennis court and four-car garage. Washington Fine Properties’ agent Jim Bell represented the Pollins.
The former Washington residence of the late billionaire philanthropist, art collector, and horse breeder Paul Mellon and his widow, Listerine heiress Rachel (“Bunny”) Mellon, has been sold to the Republic of Poland. Located at 3041 WHITEHAVEN STREET NW, the red brick Georgian had most recently belonged to former Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas F. Brady and his wife Kitty. The Polish government paid $9,550,000 for the four-story brick manse where Ambassador Robert Kupiecki will now reside. One of two adjacent dwellings the Mellons once owned (3055 Whitehaven Street NW, used as an art repository, was purchased by Wayne and Lea Berman for $5 million a few years back), the house is a few doors away from Bill and Hillary Clinton’s Washington residence. It boasts elegant public rooms and a formal garden designed by Mrs. Mellon, now 98, who also helped design the White House Rose Garden for her close friend, Jacqueline Kennedy. Ellen M. Morrell of Washington Fine Properties represented the Republic of Poland. Virginia Chew of Arnold, Bradley, Sargent, Davy and Chew listed the property for the sellers for $10,000,000.
Michelle Haney Maddux is now the proud owner of 5200 PARTRIDGE LANE NW, a $3,310,000 Colonial in Kent. Highlights of the home include a gourmet kitchen, library, playroom, game room, an exercise room, and a wine cellar with a 1,400-bottle capacity. There is also a two-car garage plus room to park six additional vehicles in the stone driveway. Maddux has a Law degree from George Washington University and works for FLH Company, a real estate and property development firm founded by her father, Franklin Haney, in 1967. Both she and her sister Mae Haney have appeared on Washington Life’s “Most Invited” list. Previously, 5200 PARTRIDGE LANE was the residence of David Johnson, and Michelle Maddux lived at 5143 MACOMB STREET, NW with her husband, Victor Maddux, co-owner of MadLax, the metropolitan area’s first and largest Lacrosse Specialty Store.
MARYLAND
Attorney Adam J. Eisner and his wife Amy have a newly constructed residence built by Rasevic Construction Corp. The classic 7,000 square-foot Colonial is located on a quiet cul-de-sac at 6715 LORING COURT in Bethesda’s Loring Park. It cost the couple $1,820,000 and has five bedrooms and five-and-a-half baths including a guest suite and master bedroom suite with a double vanity, multiple showerheads and a Jacuzzi. Outdoor living space takes the form of an expansive front porch, heated mahogany rear deck, and a stone patio.
VIRGINIA
Exxon Mobil executive Gary Pruessing and his wife Lisa have sold their home at 1112 INGLESIDE AVENUE in McLean to Daniel and Linda Kao. Weichert realtors Sue Huckaby and Karen Briscoe listed the five-bedroom Colonial built in 2001. The home has a professionally landscaped fenced yard with a patio, fountains, and a swimming pool with a bathhouse and outdoor shower. The Pruessings received $2.38 million for their Reids Grove residence. They paid slightly more – $2.5 million – when they bought it in July, 2005.
Please send real estate news items to columns@washingtonlife.com
