While much has been written about the O Street home of Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (or should DCist say Teresa Heinz Kerry?), the West End Guide has the skinny on the home of Kerry’s vice presidential nominee, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.
His home, built around 1830, is just a block away on P Street. It is currently assessed at $3.7 million. The Edwards bought the Georgetown home after selling a seven-bedroom 30th Street mansion in Massachusetts Avenue Heights to the Hungarian government. Elizabeth Edwards told The Charlotte Observer that the old house didn’t have a yard and the children couldn’t play. We wonder then why they moved to Georgetown for even less space.
Because of our love of obscure Roman emperors, DCist thinks it is awesome that the original owner of the Edwards home was named Otho. (Think of Marcus Salvius Otho as a Roman version of James Garfield of William Henry Harrison.)
Other random history facts associated with the Edwards house from the WEG:
A descendant of Francis Scott Key, John J. Key of Kentucky, lived there in the years immediately following the Civil War. In the early 20th century, Balthasar H. Meyer, a federal trade commissioner, owned the house.
After Meyers death, Frank Wisner, one of the founders of the Central Intelligence Agency, bought the house but committed suicide shortly after. Wisner, who conceived Radio Free Europe in 1949, was also the author of “Operation Mockingbird,” which tried to recruit journalists to become CIA operatives. Wisner killed himself with a shotgun in 1965but not in the house.
His widow, Polly, already a well- known Georgetown hostess, married Clayton Fritchey, the renowned journalist, in 1975. Polly Fritchey raised money for many Washington cultural institutions and threw many celebrated parties at the house.
