Last weekend, the Friendly Estate at 31st and Avon opened its doors for a rare peak inside this slow motion train-wreck of a construction site. (For those unfamiliar with the back story: read this).
Since the new owners of the estate have taken control of the property from Marc Teren, they have tried to spruce up the house with things like a front door. But get beyond the door and you can see that whoever does finally end up with this house has a lot of work ahead of them.
The inside of the house is still completely gutted. While the new owners have done their best to clean up the house, it still feels like the workers are just on their lunch break or something.
Unfortunately, in his effort to completely gut the house, Teren removed pretty much any historic detail. About all that’s left is a few scraps of old wallpaper (above)…
…a beautiful old staircase…
…and a couple of fireplaces.
GM had heard a rumor that Teren installed an indoor pool. And GM started to doubt the rumor until he got to the basement:
It’s just a concrete shell right now, but once someone with enough cash buys this place, this will be quite a luxurious feature. (It looks like someone, possibly Teren, raised the whole first floor since that dark half circle at the top right is a fireplace.)
While not the size of Everymay or the Beall-Washington House, the Friendly Estate still is large enough to deserve the name:
Teren ripped up the old tennis court in his pursuit to subdivide the property, but a pair of lonely old court brushes still remain:
This property is on the market for $6.975 million. So, if you’re looking for a fixer upper, and you’re incredibly wealthy: here’s your chance!
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
I had the good fortune to visit the house when the Friendly family still ownwed it. It was a glorious old house and the demolition of the inside is a real crime. My favorite was the old stove (had to be from the 40s) that was still in use. What a shame. It just goes to show, you can get rich, but you can’t buy class or judgement.
It should have been left alone with minor updating.
How sad to see a lovely old house abused to this extent! I, too, hope that someone with the means will be able to renovate and restore it.
What happened to Marc Teren? What a jerk to do this to this home. He should be held accountable.
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Wow quite a few interesting opinions here. If a person has the means to buy a home they should be able to design it as they see fit (as long as they arent breaking any zoning laws). It seems like some of the commenters are “jerks” and are lacking “class and judgement” from the nature of these comments. Remember beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Held accountable for what?
I would have to agree with Keith. While one buyer could restore the house back to its inception without electricity and common current utilities to maintain the authentic antique feel, another buyer could update the residence to a one bedroom loft with 40ft ceilings(exaggeration intended). The main important fact to consider is what the outside of the residence looks like and how it affects the community. Clearly, constant yet inconsistent construction has created the current ‘eye-sore’ that it is, yet if the interior construction were to be completed to his likings, and he maintained the exterior appearance of the house, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the house.
I say that because I was once on the market and considered this residence and completion of the interior, but the steep price and the community backlash to the interior changes turned me completely off. It is a shame that this beautiful, historic house will be on the market for a very long time due to the hatred one man has created. No one will pay almost $7 million and be told how the inside of a gutted house is ‘supposed’ to look like.