A Storied Washington Home Has Sat Empty for 22 Years

A “grand Beaux-Arts” house has sat at 2920 R Street in Georgetown for centuries. Mark Ein has been in possession of it for the last 22 years—and never lived there. The New York Times has the saga of the storied home, which was built by Georgetown’s second mayor in 1784, was home to the founder of the CIA’s precursor 150 years later, and hosted the elite of Washington, DC, over the years under Katharine Graham’s ownership. She became a famed editor of the Washington Post following her husband’s 1963 suicide. Upon her 2001 death, her estate sold it to Ein for $8 million. It would be more than a decade before he tried—and failed—to move in.

Ein wed Sally Stiebel at the house in 2013, and they planned to move in and raise a family there following some renovations—the home had last been updated in 1960. As Elizabeth Williamson details at length, they were stymied by some neighbors and the Old Georgetown Board, which must approve changes to the neighborhood’s historic homes and rejected four versions of plans the Eins presented in 2014. Their original plan involved adding living space and garages in the front. One neighbor said it would ruin the “dappled afternoon light” they experience and damage some trees. The Eins’ tweaks put the garages underground and reduced the size of the addition; an arborist confirmed the trees would be fine. The board still said no. They tried again, fruitlessly, in 2021. (Read the fascinating full story, which ends with quite the kicker, here.)