Richard R.and his ex-wife, Gahl Hodges Burt, have purchasedyet another high-end property in Northwest D.C. Readers mayrecall that the couple sold their marital home at 2800 McGill Terrace N.W.(which had previously been owned by Jack Kent Cooke) for $4 millionseveral years ago. After they separated, Richard Burt purchased 1432 31stStreet N.W. in Georgetown for $1.2 million and was listed as the co-ownerof a second home that recently sold for $1,280,000 at 5028 Warren Street N.W.in Spring Valley along with his ex-wife, a White House social secretary duringthe Reagan administration. Their latest purchase is located at 3049 West LaneKeys in Georgetown. The Colonial-style attached row house was constructed in1958 and features a remodeled kitchen, a garage, and a charming garden witha flagstone patio. Gahl and Richard, who is now international director ofthe lobbying firm Griffith and Rogers, paid $1,350,000 for the property thatwas listed for $1.6 million. The sellers Elizabeth and Joseph Wright were representedby Gigi Winston of Winston and Winston Real Estate.

1307 New Hampshire Ave., NW

Among the home’s more interesting features are dual gas and elecrtric lightingsystems (because Christian wasn’t sure electricity would catch on). Otherconveniences include: an electric bell communication system, an early precursor tothe intercom system; a dumbwaiter; a central vacuum system; anelevator; and a 1939 GE stove, the first of its kind. In addition to several publicrooms richly designed by German craftsman, August Grass, there are ninebedrooms, eight bathrooms, and a basement Bierstube, or beer tavern. Rumorhas it that Christian Heurich’s ghost lingers in the tavern where he oftendrank and played cards until his death at age 102. The Heurich family nameis still prominent in Washington and in 1986 Gary F. Heurich reestablishedThe Olde Heurich Brewing Company in a centuries-old brewery in upstateNew York. His grandfather’s brewery, which had last been located on the sitewhere the Kennedy Center stands today, closed its doors in 1956 as well, the sameyear the family donated their house to the Historical Society.Under the care ofthe new owners, the Heurich mansion is expected to house a German restaurantwhile remaining open to the public as a tourist attraction.

Jonah Blank is the whiz kid who in 1998 earned a Harvard Ph.D. in anthropology,became a senior editor for US News & World Report, and then soldhis book, "Mullahs on the Mainframe" Now he's parlayed his knowledge ofUrdu, Gujarati, Hindi, Sanskrit and Lisan al-Darat into a permanent position as apolicy advisor to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and canadd Embassy Row homeowner to his list of accomplishments. Blank, who alsoonce starred as a British officer in love with an Indian maiden in a Bollywoodmovie, has purchased the home of the late diplomat Charles Reed Tanguy,Sr. and his late wife, Irene. Mr. Tanguy, a thirty-three year state departmentveteran, died last May. Between 1947 and 1980 Tanguy was stationed in theforeign service in Malaysia, Greece, Turkey, France, Switzerland and theNetherlands. After his retirement, he ran the Netherlands-American Amity Trust.He and Mrs. Tanguy (who died the year before her husband), hosted many partiesand receptions in their home, which was filled with exquisite antiques and18th-century oil portraits of family members (including the Sackville-Westsof English fame). The Tanguy’s former residence was placed on the market by theirchildren, Charles Tanguy, Jr., Peter Tanguy and Sarah Tanguy,an independent arts curator and critic who is married to the WashingtonPost’s Pulitzer prize-winning photographer Lucian Perkins. The Tanguys’three-story townhouse located at 2235 Q Street, NW, just around the cornerfrom the Romanian Embassy, includes a charming walled garden. It was soldfor just under $1 million.

The home of yet another prominent diplomat has been sold. Former ItalianAmbassador Rinaldo Petrignani and his wife, Anne-Merete, sold their houseat 4248 50th Street, NW for $1.25 million. Petrignani was Italy's ambassadorto the US from 1981-91 and remained in D.C. as a consultant for a decade thereafter,catering to such clients as AT&T and Bechtel Mills. A Washington social"A-lister" he nonetheless found himself embroiled in the 1990's "Iraqgate" scandalinvolving Italy's Banca Nationale del Lavoro and what journalists such asAlan Friedman described as the secret and illegal arming of Saddam Husseinby the Reagan and first Bush administrations. With those difficulties nowapparently behind him, Petrignani has been named Boeing’s VP in Rome.The new owners of the Petrignanis’ home are attorney Robert N. Weinerand his wife, Cheryl, both active supporters of the Whitman Walker clinic.Mr. Weiner, who is with the law firm Arnold & Porter, is also a former recipient ofthe GAYLAW’s Ally for Justice Award. Every year, GAYLAW honorsthose who provide outstanding support for the rights of people living withHIV/AIDS by presenting them with the Joel A. Toubin Memorial Award. Joel A.Toubin, who died of AIDS, was Mrs. Weiner’s brother.

In D.C.’s Kent neighborhood, a 1950s house apparently will be razed by its newowners, Steven and Mary Lou Deyer, who recently returned to the area fromFlorida. Those in-the-know claim the Deyers purchased 3050 UniversityTerrace NW not for the four-bedroom home with three-and-a-half baths, butrather for the deep lot the house occupies. The seller was Daniel CarrollCross, president of Cross & Company, LLC, a property management and developmentcompany located in Frederick, Maryland. Coldwell Banker/Pardoe’sNancy Taylor Bubes helped orchestrate the $765,000 sale.

35513 Millville Road

Maryland

In Bethesda, 5820 Grosvenor Lane sold for precisely $1,119,661.35. Thebrand new four-bedroom house sits on a 21,230 square foot lot. It has a livingroom with hardwood floors, a large dining room with exposed wooden beams,a spacious family room with a stone fireplace, a finished basement, and a gourmetkitchen complete with a breakfast room, granite countertops and stainlesssteel appliances. The seller is S. R. Stinson, Inc. a builder of highend homesthroughout much of the Washington Metropolitan area. The purchaser was James Sober.

Virginia

Fox hunt field master and steeplechase aficionado Vaughn Clatterbuckand his wife, Wendy, have parted with Crosswind Farm, their estate inMiddleburg. The hunt country property comprises seventeen acres at 35513Millville Road and boasts a seven-stall stable built by an Olympic equestrian,a separate two-stall brood mare barn, beautiful fenced pastures, and a longprivate drive lined with oak trees and tulip poplars. The grounds also includea swimming pool and guest or groom’s cottage set amid boxwoods, rhododendrons andazaleas. The main house is a four-bedroom Colonial-style homebuilt in 1910 with hardwood floors, plantation shutters, a second story sideporch, three fireplaces, a sunny country kitchen adorned with an Englishfoxhound motif, and a spacious front verandah offering gorgeous views of thesunset. Weichert’s Sue Huckaby listed the property for $995,000 but DeborahHowell, the lucky new owner, paid just $850,000.

Fairfax County’s largest privately-held parcel of riverfront property is reportedly beingsold by the Burkes of Burke & Herbert Bank fame. Established in1852, Burke & Herbert is renowned as the first and oldest bank in Virginia.In November, two steamer trunks containing travel journals and family photographsbelonging to General Robert E. Lee’s daughter Mary Custis Lee were found in the bank’s Old TownAlexandria vault. The asking price for the Burkes’ twelve acres of undevelopedland along the Potomac on Alexandria’s East Boulevard, is $12.5 million. Partingwith the property may well be the most significant decision the family has madesince 1978 when it finally began to assign account numbers to its customers. It wouldbe some several years more before the bank would choose to replacethe fountain pens in its lobbies with ballpoint pens. The seller of the riverfrontproperty reportedly is listed as Henrietta M. G. Burke, III, wife of C. S. TaylorBurke III, the Bank’s senior executive vice president.

Chip Lippman, a principal with Carlyle Realty Partners III, and hiswife Catherine are moving into 1227 Raymond Avenue in McLean. Chip’sparent company is the Carlyle Group, which claims to be the largest privateequity firm in the world and is now also one of the nation’s largest defense contractors.Weichert Realtor Penny Yerks listed the property for the sellers, Davidand Jill Paul, who are asking $789,000 for the updated 50 year-old, three-storyCape Cod with four bedrooms, four baths, a study, playroom and deck.

6507 Monique Court

Neale D’Rozario and his wife, Prisca, have parted with their five-bedroom brick Colonial at 6507 Monique Court in McLean. Neale isthe chief information officer for Cogent Communications which is said to havebeen the only Internet service provider in lower Manhattan that didn’t experience aninterruption in service on 9/11. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered inWashington, DC. Last April, it acquired the US operations ofPSINet. The Priscas received $1,150,000 for their three-level Langley Oaks homethat sold almost as soon as Weichert’s Penny Yerks listed it. The new ownersare Dianne and Bryan Diner who had been living in Brussels where Bryan, apatent attorney, was the managing partner for Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow,Barrett,& Dunner’s European office.

In Great Falls, the brick Colonial at 851 Forestville Meadows Road is undercontract and by press time should belong to Deborah Georgetti and Ernest Piro.Georgetti and Piro are moving here from Chicago where Deborah was VP of business developmentfor General Growth Properties. Weichert Realtors' Penny Yerks and John Stacey listed the six-bedroom former model home for just under a million dollars. Built in 1995,the house features a great room with a brick fireplace, a media room with surroundsound,a master bedroom suite with tray ceilings, and a large backyard with mature trees.The sellers are attorneys Thad Russell and Margaret Beredey Russell, who are headed toNorth Carolina.

Correction: $950,000 was not the highest price ever paid for a residential propertyin Logan Circle (as stated in last month’s Real Estate News column).