Real Estate

Riverfront Estate, Once Part of George Washington's Property, Sells for $18.6 Million

Home, guest house, carriage house and 16 acres were owned by Tyson's Corner developer.

Someone just bought a piece of history.

River View Estate, a large property that was once part of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate, originally for sale for $25 million, has sold for $18.6 million. The property is next door to the American Horticultural Society.

Washington Business Journal notes the price is the highest paid for a home in the area in nearly three years. The name of the buyer was not disclosed.

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It is the highest sale in the history of TTR Sotheby's International Realty, Sotheby's International's local affiliate, the newspaper said. Heather Corey and Theresa Sullivan Twiford of the Alexandria office handled the sale, the newspaper noted.

The last residential sale to exceed that price was in July 2011, when 1623 28th St. NW in Georgetown sold to Ryuji Ueno and Sachiko Kuno, who founded Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc, according to Washington Business Journal.

The land was owned by the Washington family until 1859, according to The Wall Street Journal. In 1914, the owners built a home and more on the 16-acre property that borders the Potomac River. 

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The home — all 6,000-square-feet of it — features six bedrooms and four bathrooms (plus two half baths).

The house is an American-Georgian-style, built out of concrete because the first owner was wheelchair-bound and worried about the possibility of a fire, The Wall Street Journal reports.

It is now owned by Gerald "Jerry" Halpin, 90, who made millions as a developer of Tyson's Corner. Halpin and his wife are relocating to Jackson Hole, Wyo., the Wall Street Journal reports.

Also on the property:

  • a carriage house (which today fits four cars)
  • a 2,000-square-foot guesthouse. (Architecture buffs: the guest house is apparently one of the first Sears, Roebuck & Co. kit houses, the story notes).

According to the real estate listing, "Unlike most parcels along the Potomac, River View Estate is not constrained by a conservation easement; there may be potential for future development or subdivision."


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