Massive Historic Property Sold for First Time in Decades

Even for Georgetown, the Scott-Grant house is historic. Sitting at 3238 R St., the 1858-built home was erected by A.V. Scott but served as the residence of Ulysses S. Grant after the Civil War. Further, it served as a retreat for Grant during his presidency. (All hence the Scott-Grant name).

It is an elegant house, and is a wonderful example of the mid-19th century Italianate style. Moreover, it sits at the north end of an unusually large property that stretches all the way down to Reservoir Rd.

And to most observers over the last 40 years or so, it might as well be a haunted house. No one has lived there. The property was purchased in the 1980s by Robert Bass, a member of the famously rich Bass brothers. And it has basically sat empty ever since.

That is until this summer when a local family purchased the property for $17.5 million (which honestly feels like a steal to me, given the prices others have paid for similarly spectacular Georgetown homes). The new owners have put forward a plan to renovate the existing historic structures on the property, tear down a non-historic property, and construct two new houses.

This biggest change proposed is a new two story house built on the southern end of the property along Reservoir:

According to the architect’s presentation to the neighbors, this will house the new owner’s parents. It will be connected with landscaping up the hill to the main house. This part of the property is actually its own lot. So this building will not be considered an (especially large) accessory dwelling. In fact, this lot used to contain rowhouses.

Up north, the small building just to the east of the main house will be torn down. It is a non-historic structure that is in pretty bad shape. Like the southern building, this is also its own lot. The owner wants to replace it with this:

According to the architects, this will be occupied by one of the adult children of the owners. It will basically be a multigenerational family compound as proposed.

This project is in my district, so I will be the main ANC contact on it. If you are a neighbor and didn’t attend the presentation or otherwise want to learn more, please attend our ANC meeting next week. This will be on the agenda.

The plans are still very early. It will likely go through several rounds of review.

Regardless how the final plans turn out, personally I’m just glad to see such a beautiful property stop being as equally empty.