The historic red-brick Federal-style mansion in Washington, D.C., where then-First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy retreated and grieved with her two young children for a year after the 1963 assassination of her husband, President
John F. Kennedy,
is going to the auction block on Tuesday.
It’s part of a three-residence compound on one-third of an acre in the capital city’s cobblestoned Georgetown neighborhood, a National Historic Landmark District. The property hit the market in March for $26.5 million and was most recently asking $19.5 million with broker Jonathan Taylor of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.
The seller is the estate of businessman David Hudgens, who assembled the three properties, adding the manor house in 2017 for $5.25 million, according to property records.
Bidding for the no-reserve sale, by Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions, runs through Oct. 24
“The auction not only provides bidders the chance to own a piece of iconic Georgetown history, but to also name their own price for such a rare, one-of-a-kind estate,” said Thomas Campbell, director of business development for Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions. “We are expecting bidding to start between $5 million to $11 million, and the highest bidder will become the new owner.”
It’s the history that most distinguishes the property, Taylor said. “I was showing it, and one of the descendants of the man who built the manor house came to view it during a family outing.”
He added that the manor house has been the site of historical events, including meetings about World War I and World War II.
The three houses, which are connected and feature a tunnel between two that leads to a three-car garage, a rarity in Georgetown, have been restored and updated.
The Newton D. Baker House, which also is known as the Jacqueline Kennedy House, dates to the late 18th century and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It has a grand reception hall and retains many of its original details, including moldings and fireplace surrounds.
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Other features of the 1794 residence include a second-floor primary suite with parquet flooring, a private balcony that overlooks the rear gardens, a spa-like bath and a third-floor lofted observation deck.
The second house, a 1950 modernist brick and concrete residence, has three bedrooms, three full baths, three half baths and a grand Italianate entertaining room.
The third house, a five-bedroom residence that was built in 1880, has three full baths, one half bath, oak herringbone flooring, moldings and a chef’s kitchen.
The main house has a long and fascinating history that’s unusual even by Georgetown’s star-studded standards, a fact attested to by an 88-page document commissioned by Hudgens that will be handed down to the new purchaser.
“It’s in an absolute prime location in Georgetown,” Taylor said, adding that the “wonderful, flat landscaped backyard” and the siting of the house, which is perched like a monarch 10 feet above the sidewalk, give the property a “tremendous feeling of privacy.”
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Kennedy wasn’t the only famous owner of the manor. Thomas Beall, who, in 1791 became Georgetown’s second mayor, built the main house in 1794 as an investment.
Newton D. Baker, who was President
Woodrow Wilson’s
secretary of war, lived in it from 1916 to 1920, during the time he marshaled forces and materiel for the troops in World War I.
In 1965, Kennedy sold the property to Michael Whitney Straight, whose second wife just happened to be her stepsister, according to the history compiled by Hudgens.
Yolande Margaret Betbeze Fox, who was crowned Miss America of 1951, was another notable owner. She bought the house from the Straights in 1976, the same year it was awarded landmark status, and lived there until her death in 2016.
Hudgens, the founder and owner of the concrete contracting company Accu-Crete, bought it the next year and created the compound. He purchased the 1950 house in 1997, the 18th-century home in 2006 and the manor house in 2017. It was his death, in 2022, that led to the listing of the unusual estate.
This article first appeared on Mansion Global
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