A Washington estate which was once owned by first lady Jackie Kennedy has gone on the market for $26.5 million (£21.9 million).
Kennedy purchased the 18th century home in the capital’s Georgetown neighbourhood in December 1963, following the assassination of her husband, president John F. Kennedy, in November that year.
She moved in with her two children, Caroline and John, in January 1964, intending to seek refuge from the press and general public after her husband’s death. But the house quickly became a tourist attraction, with crowds gathering outside every weekend, and out-of-state tour buses causing traffic jams on the street.
To escape the intrusions into her private life, Kennedy moved out in September, just nine months later. She sold the house in 1965 to Michael Straight, the American novelist and KGB spy.
The home, built in 1794, is now part of a complex of three neighbouring buildings, which were “seamlessly combined” in 2017 to create a 15,364 sq ft mega-mansion.
The sprawling 13-bedroom, 18-bathroom home is currently the most expensive property listed for sale in Washington D.C. If it sells for its asking price, it could set a record for the state.
In addition to Kennedy, the house has been owned by Georgetown mayor Thomas Beall, Newton D. Baker, the secretary of war for President Woodrow Wilson, and former Miss America, Yolande Fox. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, America’s official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation.
Although the central property was built in 1794, one of the two neighbouring buildings with which it was merged was a modernist brick and concrete home, built in 1950. The other was a five-bedroom house dating from 1880.
They were purchased for $1.2 million in 1997 and $1.625 million in 2006 respectively by the late construction entrepreneur David W. Hudgens, who combined the three buildings. He bought Kennedy’s former house for $5.25 million (£4.4m) in 2017, and commissioned architect Dale Overmeyer to remodel and merge the homes — which included the construction of an underground passage between the properties to access the parking.
According to listing agents Sotheby’s International Realty, the three contrasting houses have been “meticulously reinvented with obsessive attention to detail and the finest materials, while still retaining their character-defining features and sense of place and history”.
Alongside the original fireplace surrounds, the property’s period details include its formal entertaining rooms, oak herringbone flooring and decorative moulded ceilings.
There are five kitchens, a gym, garden, roof terrace and accessible lift, as well as a three-car garage.
The main bedroom suite on the second floor has a private balcony, spa-quality bath and walk-in wardrobe.
Hudgens, the property’s last owner, died in November 2022, and the house is being listed for sale by a trust.
In 2019, Kennedy’s former Martha’s Vineyard estate in Massachusetts was listed for $65 million, while her teenage home, also in Washington D.C., was listed for $49.5 million in 2017. In 2021, the former London townhouse of Kennedy’s sister, Lee Radziwill, went up for sale for £8.75 million.
