Keys to Halcyon House Passed to S&R Foundation

S&R Foundation attorney Alice Haase has confirmed that Halcyon House, one of Washington’s most historic homes at 3400-3410 Prospect Street, N.W., has gone to settlement. Under contract since November 2011 to the S&R Foundation, a National Cherry Blossom Festival participant, the property was sold by the Dreyfuss estate for $11 million. 

Purchased by Edmund Dreyfuss and Blake Construction in 1966 from Georgetown University, Halcyon House has been held by the Dreyfuss family and its business concerns for almost 46 years, the longest tenure of any of the property’s deed holders, including its builder and original 1787 occupant, Benjamin Stoddert, the first Secretary of the Navy and friend of George Washington.

Sculptor John Dreyfuss, who led the renovation and reconstruction work during the 1980s and 1990s at the house and its gardens, as well as building a lower studio and hall, received an award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for his efforts. At one time, Dreyfuss also headed up the Francis Scott Key Foundation, a non-profit which completed Francis Scott Key Park and the Star-Spangled Banner Monument on M Street, now part of the National Park System, next to Key Bridge.

S&R Foundation, which last year purchased another historic Georgetown home, Evermay, is a non-profit founded in Washington, D.C., by Dr. Sachiko Kuno and Dr. Ryuji Ueno in 2000 “to encourage and stimulate scientific research and artistic endeavors among young individuals.” The foundation plans to operate its day-to-day business from Evermay on 28th Street in Georgetown. The married couple, Ueno and Kuno, founded Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company based in Bethesda. Sucampo is one of the sponsors of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

In addition, with its Japanese-American mission, S&R Foundation is hosting its first “Annual Overtures Artist Concert Series,” which will feature seven award-winning, world-class performing artists at the Kennedy Center as part of the festival’s centennial celebration, honoring 100 years of the gift of trees from Tokyo to Washington — Wednesday, April 4 – Sunday, April 8, Tuesday, April 10, Thursday, April 12; all performances will begin at 7:30 p.m.