DC’s priciest home is officially off the market after two long years. Formerly the home of the Textile Museum, the estate was bought for $19 million, $3 million less than its original asking price. Sold by the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum along with Coldwell Banker, the property is one of the most historic and exquisite in the city and comes with an amazing story.
The 34,000-square-foot estate is actually two buildings in one. The first manor was commissioned by the museum’s founder, George Hewitt Myers, heir to the Bristol Myers fortune, in 1912. He hired John Russell Pope, a popular architect who had also designed the Jefferson Memorial, the Scottish Rite Temple and the West Building of the National Gallery of Art, to design a home for him and his family. Construction was complete in 1915 and the property served as the Myers’ residence for a number of years. In 1925, Myers purchased the adjacent property, a Waddy Butler Wood designed house, to serve as a home for his well-curated textile collection. After his death in 1957, the original home was turned into offices, storage and the adjacent home into the Textile Museum where it remained until 2014 when it was relocated.
The two buildings are connected through a second story bridge and together boast 26,000 square feet of living space with 10 bedrooms and eight bathrooms. The interior of the Pope-designed home is paneled in Italian walnut, American oak and cedar from Myers’ personal timber mills and the floor is checkerboard marble. The property also includes an expansive garden, originally envisioned by Pope, but not completed until the ‘60s. The yard now includes latticed arches and brick arcades.
