Who Lives Here
• October 26, 2015

As Halloween arrives in Georgetown, thoughts turn to the Exorcist Steps, made famous by the 1973 film in which a priest self-defenestrates. Less well known is that Georgetown alumnus William Peter Blatty, author of “The Exorcist,” once owned a house practically in view of the steps at 3618 Prospect St. NW.

Philanthropist and businessman Jack Davies, a founder of AOL and a part owner of the Washington Capitals, Wizards and Mystics, now owns the house, which boasts a grand vista of the Potomac. He has rented it out since 2014.

Having bought the Bowie-Sevier House at 3122 Q St. NW for $24.6 million in 2007, when he was 37 years old, Robert Allbritton, owner of the Politico newspaper and website (and former owner of Channel 7 and NewsChannel 8) has the honor of spending the most ever on a home in the District. He and his wife Elena Allbritton bought the house from Patricia and Herb Miller, who developed Washington Harbour, Georgetown Park and Gallery Place at Metro Center. Public-spiritedly, the Allbrittons have decked the place out for Halloween.

Art collector Isabel de la Cruz Ernst and her husband, Georgetown University professor Ricardo Ernst, bought the Hillandale Mansion at 3905 Mansion Court NW in 1998. At the time, it had sat empty for 20 years and had no electricity or running water. After restoring the home to its Tuscan villa appearance, the couple moved into it with their art collection. Isabel is the daughter of a family with an art collection so vast that her parents built a Miami museum to house it. Her brother, Alberto de la Cruz, recently donated funds for a new, 2500-square-foot Georgetown University art gallery, set to open in 2017.