Photo via Estately
The house where Marion Barry lived during his first three terms as mayor is on the market, and for $469,000, you can own the place where D.C.’s so-called mayor-for-life experienced some of the most pivotal moments of his long career in local politics. The house, a 3,000-square-foot brick traditional, features four bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a whole lot of history.
Barry and his wife, Effi, purchased the house at 3607 Suitland Road SE in 1979, not long after Barry was sworn in as mayor. It was soon revealed, The Washington Post’s Mike DeBonis recalls, that the Barrys received a discounted mortgage from the bank on whose board Effi Barry was a member.
A listing on the real estate website Estately describes the house as such:
This Hill Crest stunner has it all! Boasting over 3000 finished sq feet. 4 bedrooms, 2 full/2 half baths, updated kitchen with granite & stainless steel appliances, updated bathrooms, 2 fireplaces, finished basement with rec space, gym and tons of storage. A large fenced in yard with basketball court and off street parking. Minutes to Capitol Hill and Metro. Don’t miss out!!!
Barry did not return to the house, though, following his release from a six-month prison sentence on cocaine charges in 1992, instead moving to an apartment in Ward 8. Effi Barry, along with the Barrys’ son, Christopher, moved out of the house in 1990. The house was then sold in 1993, the same year the Barrys finalized their divorce.
The Barrys bought the house for $125,000 in 1979, the Post writes. Marion Barry told DeBonis that he’s not thrilled with how expensive housing in the District has become:
But the home’s listing price prompted a soliloquy on affordable housing in the city: “From a personal point of view, I think increasingly African Americans, particularly, are being frozen out; they’re pricing a lot of black folks out of the moment,” he said. “It’s all over Capitol Hill. It happened all over the Shaw, U Street area. … That’s the larger problem.”
The average listing price for in Hillcrest was about $401,000 for the week ending February 13, according to Trulia, a website that tracks real estate listings.
