Valley View, the largest privately-held residential property in Washington, is up for sale again. The17-acre Foxhall Road estate, bordering Glover-Archibold Park on two sides, was sold in 1996 for $11.5million through Hugh Oates of Pardoe/ERA. The purchaser was Hamjass FoxhallHoldings, a holdings company headed by Sheik Hamad bin Jassam, a dignitary from oil-rich Qatar.The story around town is that the Prince of Quatar was the buyer and had planned to build a larger homeon it.

The Georgian-style manor house, also known as the "Brady Estate" contains more than 25 rooms in thecenter of one of the capital`s most exclusive neighborhoods. It was built in 1935 by the late ElinorMorse Ryan Brady, a granddaughter of Wall Street tycoon Thomas Fortune Ryan, on property sheinherited from another grandmother, Mrs. Alexander Morse. At age 23, Elinor landscaped theproperty and commissioned New York architect William Lawrence Bottomly to design the12,500-square-foot Georgian-style mansion. It is said to feature a secret chamber off the dining roomthat might prove of interest to an intrigue-minded potential buyer.

Elinor Morse Ryan Brady's husband was a naval officer, Rear Admiral Parke Howell Brady. Whilethey traveled around the world, they rented their home to a number of prominent people, includingfinancier Richard King Mellon, and Dwight Davis, a former Secretary of War. The home wasalso rented by cereal-heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post Davies and her third husband, Ambassador Joseph Davies upon their return from his diplomatic posting inRussia. It housed Marjorie's extensive art collection, including her renowned Faberge collection.

Mrs. Brady died in June of 1993, and was survived by three children: Peter Brady, Elena BradyAdams, and Clarkie Brady Mayo. In 1994, Valley View was the National Symphony OrchestraDecorators' Show House, and in 1996, it was sold to the aforementioned "undisclosed buyer." It is now onthe market again for $17 million, listed by Diane Noble of Pardoe/ERA.

Real estate sales in Washington have hardly slowed down this summer! Another major estate has alreadybeen sold twice in 2000! In the largest sale so far this year, 3542 Newark Street, N.W. inCleveland Park, was sold for $5.6 million. The original stone residence on this property was used as asummer White House by President Glover Cleveland and his young bride, Francis Folsom, inthe mid-1880s. That structure was razed in 1927 to makeway for the present dwelling, which features grand public rooms, four master bedroom suites, Cathedralviews, a swimming pool, exercise room, three-car heated garage with separate apartment, two additionalstorage buildings, a heated driveway, and magnificent landscaping. The property is over 60,000 squarefeet. In the first transaction, the seller was the estate of Sophie Basil and the purchaser wasKeystone Properties. Chadley Torregas of Pardoe/ERA represented the seller, and TerriRobinson of AGS Realty represented the purchaser

Remarkably, Keystone Properties then sold the existing house to Mr. and Mrs. Dan Mudd, sonof Roger Mudd and CEO of Fannie Mae for $5,150,000. A parcel of land on the property, borderingNewark, was also sold to former Colorado Senator and former Secretary of the Interior TimothyWirth. Terri Robinson of AGS Realty represented Keystone Properties and Senator and Mrs.Wirth, and Margot Wilson and Pam Lottman of Arnold, Bradley, Sargeant, Davy and Chewrepresented the Mudds.

Another major summer transaction was the $4.2 million purchase, by an unnamed trust, of the home of J.Willard Marriot Sr., at 4500 Garfield Street in Wesley Heights. The late hotel magnate raisedhis family there, and it was not until the death of his widow, Alice Sheets Marriot, at 92 lastApril, that the house was put on the market. Set on a hilloverlooking a magnificent lot, the exterior facade is spectacular. But according to the owner's son, J. Willard Marriott Jr., the interior is in need of major renovation. Window units provide theonly air conditioning, and the telephone wiring is only for rotary dial. With cell phones andfiber-optic wiring, the new owners could skip a generation of updates and go right into the 21st century. Cathie Gill of Cathie Gill Inc. was the listing agent.

A magnificent six-bedroom clapboard at 5037 Loughboro Road in Spring Valley was recently sold by Wayne and Theresa Rusch to Glenn and Phyllis Gerstell for $995,000. Mr.Gerstall is a partner at Milbank, Tweed Hadley & McCloy. Margot Wilson of Arnold, Bradley,Sargeant, Davy and Chew represented the sellers and Judy Lewis of Pardoe/ERA represented thepurchasers.

Its owner's affection recently saved 2927 University Terrace, N.W. in Kent-the only house thatrenowned modern architect Hugh Newell Jacobson designed and built from the ground up- from adeveloper's bulldozer. Although the unusual two-bedroom contemporary was originally listed for nearly $1million, two offers came in when the price was lowered to $699,000. The first was an all-cash,quick-settlement offer from a builder who wanted to raze the house and build two homes on the large lot.The second was from an architect who wanted to buy the home and live there. This offer had variouscontingencies, but owner Jane Barton took a chance and accepted it. The architect, PeterHapstak, a principal of CORE, a commercial architecture firm, got his dream house and will preserveMr. Jacobson's creation. Nancy Taylor Bubes of Pardoe/ERA listed and sold the property.

2905 Q Street, N.W., a totally redone four-bedroom Victorian in Georgetown listed for $925,000,also had multiple contracts. Its first day on the market brought the owners two offers, one from goodfriends. A beautiful bowl given by these very friends sat on the dining room table! Of course, theowners wanted to sell the home to them. But then when a better offercame in for nearly $1 million, they just had to accept it. The sellers, Kathy Kay and TomCarver, were represented by Nancy Taylor Bubes of Pardoe/ ERA. The purchasers wererepresented by Cecelia Leake of Washington Fine Properties.

The purchaser of publisher/real-estate magnate Mort Zuckerman's house was JonathanSchiller, a litigation attorney, whose clients include Don Imus and Garry Shandling.The home at 2806 Chesterfield Place, N.W. in Forest Hills sold for $3,250,000.

Sharon Sivertsen, director of policy development at the FDIC, recently purchased a five-bedroom,five-bath home at 4841 Foxhall Crescent Drive, N.W. for $1,250,000. The newly-constructed Georgiancolonial has over 5,000 square feet of living space. Bobbe Ward of Pardoe/ERA represented thebuilder, David Decker. Lucinda Treat of Randall Hagner represented the purchaser.

Also at Foxhall Crescents, Nester and Aurora Santiago purchased 4608 Foxhall CrescentDrive, N.W. from the Parkhouse Corporation for $750,000. Mr. Santiago, the former head of theinvestment office of the International Monetary Fund, is responsible for a $3.8 billion portfolio. He wasrecently named Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, andwill now be responsible for $12.9 billion.

Developer Bob Monohan and his wife Laurie recently purchased 4720 Dexter Street, N.W. in Wesley Heights for $1,375,000. The property, situated on a large lot of just under one acre, waslisted by Hugh Oates and Allison LaLand of Pardoe/ERA, and sold by Jean Smith ofRemax Capital Properties.

David Swetzoff, an antiques dealer, purchased 3315 P Street in Georgetown. The house waslisted at $769,000, but there were multiple offers, and it sold for $825,000. Nancy Itteilag ofPardoe/ERA represented the purchaser.

In June of 1998, investment banker Garry Crowder and his wife Jill bought 3301 N Street,N.W. in Georgetown for $2,350,000. This past summer, Mr. Crowder relocated to New York and sold thehouse which had once been the residence of banker Luther Hodges and his wife, Cheray ZaudererDuchin Hodges, for $3.8 million to a trust represented by settlement attorney David Jenks. Jamie Peva and Michael Sullivan of Pardoe/ERA handled the sale.

Dick and Harriet Melman sold their 1803 Burleith farmhouse at 1835 35th Street, N.W. in two days. Norma Jean Noble and her daughter Ann Noble, a litigation attorney from Texaspurchased the house for $745,000. Jean Smith of Remax Capital Properties listed and sold theproperty.

The new, luxury, full-service building at Parcsomerset in Chevy Chase, completed just a year ago, hasalready had seven resales, all between 10 and 15% over their original selling prices. Dr. HarryHandelsman, a physician with the U.S. Public Health Service, and his wife Tamara, an interiordesigner, sold their unit for $1,775,000. The purchasers, Roger and Sandy Stern, sold their Manhattan apartment to relocate here. Mr. Stern is an attorneyspecializing in commercial real estate. His wife Sandy was formerly a casting director in New York City. Linda Rosenkrantz of Long and Foster represented the sellers, and Nancy Itteilag ofPardoe/ERA represented the purchasers.

Also in Parcsomerset, Sheldon Arpad sold his year-old unit to Mr. and Mrs.Larazadeh, an international businessman and his wife, for $1.5 million. Mr. Arpad purchased 8401River Rock Terrace in Bethesda from David and Charlene Rothkopf for $975,000. Mr.Rothkopf heads Newmarket Co., an international-affairs research and consulting firm. NancyItteilag of Pardoe/ ERA represented the purchasers.

In the original Somerset building, Harold Finger, a consultant with the National Academy of PublicAdministration, and his wife Arlene purchased a duplex penthouse for $1.7 million from Paul and Elizabeth Elicker. Nancy Itteilag and Karen Hoffman of Pardoe/ERA representedthe sellers.