Posted on 02/08/2005 1:53:27 AM PST by ninonitti
WASHINGTON - Rich in history, but not quite as valuable on the real estate market, the selling price has been slashed on Hickory Hill, the Kennedy family's famous Virginia mansion.
The original $25 million asking price was reduced by $5 million on Ethel Kennedy's 13-bedroom antebellum mansion in prestigious McLean, Va., which has been for sale since October 2003.
The widow of the late Robert F. Kennedy declined comment, as did Washington Fine Properties, a division of Sotheby's International Realty, which is handling the sale.
But local brokers suggested privately the home - which features two pools, cabana, horse stables, movie theater, 12 fireplaces, 8 bathrooms, lighted tennis courts, a 38-foot ``grand salon'' living room and a sauna - had been overpriced, despite the Kennedy aura.
``Twenty five million is a lot of money, even for that home in that neighborhood,'' said one real estate agent. ``No one is really surprised it hasn't sold yet.''
RFK bought the house in 1957 from his brother, John, who had purchased it as a newlywed senator four years earlier. RFK raised his 11 children, including former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy II (D- Brighton), in the 10,524-square-foot-home set on nearly six acres of rolling hills and lawn.
During the Kennedy Administration in the 1960s, the 134-year-old home was the scene of parties featuring celebrities, politicians, athletes and world leaders. Civil War Union Gen. George B. McClellan used it as his headquarters.
They could hire Michael Jackson to run it and call it NeverAgain Land.
How about if they rename it "NeverCroakLand" ?
13-bedrooms...only eight bathrooms.
I'm surprised she can't get the price for the land alone. Beutiful place and 6 acres just across the river from DC is going to be an expensive proposition anyway you look at it.
I always laughed at the Hickory Hill name....more like Hickory Speed Bump.
Security in the area is pretty good...the CIA is practically in the front yard.
If you are interested in Camelot, JFK, RFK and John Kennedy Jr. then you should not miss this: Quatrain X.72, deception and fulfillment
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1334226/posts
A Kennedy decides to sell off Camelot heirlooms
Caroline Kennedy is the sole surviving member of the Kennedy family that occupied the White House for 1000 heady days in the 1960s - a time that came to be known as Camelot.
Her father, President John Kennedy, was assassinated in November 1963, at the age of 46. Her mother, Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy, died of cancer in 1994.
Five years later her brother, John Kennedy jnr, died in a plane crash.
Another brother, Patrick, died not long after he was born in 1963.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger - who is married to a Kennedy cousin, Maria Shriver - paid more than $750,000 for the president's golf clubs, more than 800 times the estimated value.
The first sale of belongings from the Kennedy family's homes fetched a staggering $34 million, or seven times the estimate.
Nothing like a good news story to bring the price up.
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