Georgetown to Keep Cool With Coolidge
By • June 6, 2018 0 825
It looks like the Coolidge Foundation will be setting up a Washington, D.C., outpost in Georgetown.
Representatives from the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation returned to the Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission June 4 to seek approval for a zoning variance, with which the ANC agreed. The foundation has the historic Georgian mansion at 3425 Prospect St. NW under contract with TTR Sotheby’s International Realty and the owners, the Taylor family.
The property, offered at $6.9 million last year, has been on the market for three years with listing agent Russell Firestone.
“We have been through the Quality Hill property on Prospect Street and think it would be a fantastic option for us if we are successful in gaining a zoning adjustment that would allow for our nonprofit use,” the foundation’s Executive Director Matthew Denhart told The Georgetowner after presenting at an October ANC meeting. “Our presentation to the ANC was a preliminary one to simply share our idea and seek input from the community. We don’t have a formal written proposal or concept to share at this time.”
At the June 4 meeting, the foundation assured commissioners that the staff at the 10,000-square-foot house, built in 1798 and recently owned by Rhode Island Sen. Claiborne Pell and his wife Nuala, would be small — about four persons. There would be one scholarly seminar scheduled per month.
Dedicated to the 30th president and headquartered in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, the foundation offers scholarships, among other programs, and touts Coolidge as a sensible man whose down-to-earth advice is needed more than ever today.
