Before John F. Kennedy became president of the United States — and before he met Jackie O — he lived in a Federal-style home on Georgetown’s 34th Street, NW while working in the House of Representatives for Massachusetts’ 11th district.
That home, which President Kennedy once occupied with his younger sister Eunice from 1949 to 1951, is now on the market for $4.675 million.
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Originally constructed around 1800, the 4,659-square-foot home recently underwent extensive renovations by architect Richard Foster and custom builder Tom Glass.
Christie-Anne Weiss | LinkedIn
“The house was completely gutted,” Christie-Anne Weiss, listing agent and vice president and associate broker with TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, told Inman.
Because of strict historic district guidelines in the neighborhood, the Old Georgetown Board, an advisory board of three architects appointed by the Commission of Fine Arts, reviews all construction projects to ensure they’re conducted with historical accuracy. Therefore, the manner in which the renovation team completed an overhaul of the home while adhering to historical guidelines is fairly impressive.
“It’s really inspirational,” Weiss said.
“In Georgetown, which is a historic district and is very well-cared for, the historic board looks at anyone’s proposal for renovation very carefully,” Weiss continued. “When you want to replace your windows in Georgetown, they have to be true to the period. In this case, they not only replaced them with double-hung windows, but they made them with brass chain pulleys [instead of old-fashioned rope pulleys] … and then overlaid on top of that, every layer of glass appears to be the antique kind that’s wavy, but they’re shatter-proof, sound-proof and break-proof.”
The three-bedroom home has two full bathrooms and two half bathrooms, along with hardwood floors, a security system and an intercom system, as well as a butler’s pantry. A few other notable features include the attached garage (a rarity in Georgetown), three different terraces, wood-paneled library, heated floors in the master bath and, of course, the street’s historic cobblestones.
The home is located a mere two blocks away from Washington, D.C.’s historic Holy Trinity Catholic Church, the oldest Roman Catholic church in the District, founded in 1787 and has served as a place of worship for prominent D.C. figures over the years, like late “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert and Kennedy himself. It’s also three blocks away from the entrance to Georgetown University.
Other notable former owners of the home include Sidney Harman, co-founder of car and home audio equipment manufacturing company Harman Kardon, and U.S. under secretary of commerce from 1977 to 1978, and Jonathan Ledecky, majority owner of the New York Islanders NHL team and uncle to multiple Olympic gold medalist swimmer Katie Ledecky.
“The thing that’s so marvelous about this listing is that not only was it [Kennedy’s] home,” Weiss said. “But the house has attracted illustrious people over the years [and] it’s also incredibly beautifully renovated.”