Second Most Expensive Residence In D.C. Area

Wrightgeek · Post by **Wrightgeek** » Mon May 14, 2012 2:24 pm

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/l ... 7859.story

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Mon May 14, 2012 3:09 pm

From the article:

Based on the size and location of other luxury homes in the D.C. area, the White House would be worth double the current leader: A $45.5-million Frank Lloyd Wright-designed mansion in McLean, Va., owned by AOL co-founder Jim Kimsey.

That 21,000-square-foot spread has an underground garage for 40 cars. The CEO of the USA has 132 rooms, a tennis court, a bowling alley, a movie theater, a basketball court, a swimming pool and a jogging track in his 55,000-square-foot pad.

...and room for a pony. Another bit of journalistic inaccuracy....the reporter pins Kimsey's ersatz French Provincial main house to FLLW, not recognizing that the FLLW Marden house predated Kimsey's separate construction, and was acquired by him later.

Wrightgeek · Post by **Wrightgeek** » Mon May 14, 2012 3:25 pm

Having not been to the Marden Residence, I was struggling with the figures being thrown out in the article. Thanks for clearing that up, Dan.

Paul Ringstrom · Post by **Paul Ringstrom** » Mon May 14, 2012 6:46 pm

All the Fact-Checkers seem to have gotten laid-off.

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Tue May 15, 2012 2:39 pm

Not only did the White House burn twice, Harry S Truman gutted the entire building shortly after taking office in 1945, replacing the termite-ridden wood frame with steel. Also, the swimming pool, added by LBJ, is now drained, covered over and used for storage and graffiti. That should bring the rental rate down a bit.

RA · Post by RA » Wed May 16, 2012 12:49 am

Wasn't there a swimming pool during JFKs term where he was reportedly said to have conducted extracurricular activities with female staff members?

Rood · Post by **Rood** » Wed May 16, 2012 6:08 pm

Roderick Grant wrote:Not only did the White House burn twice, Harry S Truman gutted the entire building shortly after taking office in 1945, replacing the termite-ridden wood frame with steel. Also, the swimming pool, added by LBJ, is now drained, covered over and used for storage and graffiti. That should bring the rental rate down a bit.

Few today realize that the White House isn't actually 200 years old, but only 60. Harry and Bess Truman moved out of the White House and into Blair House in time for Thanksgiving - 1948. They moved back into the reconstructed White House on 27 March 1952. During the intervening three years the entire inside of the Mansion was demolished. Reconstruction included the addition of two basement levels plus a third floor, so that today the Mansion has six complete floors.

The only remaining part of the original building is its outer shell.

http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/special ... n-1948.htm

egads · Post by **egads** » Wed May 16, 2012 9:52 pm

Probably worth it just for air conditioning in DC.....

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Thu May 17, 2012 2:02 pm

Rood, as the article notes, the third floor was added in 1927 during the Coolidge Administration, not by Harry. The third floor is actually the most interesting part of the house, the most residential, while the original part seems rather stolid to me. It's inappropriate for anyone to inhabit the main levels without wearing a periwig and bustle.