Your Next Place

By Franklin Schneider

If you're like me, and you often wake up in the middle of the night thinking "my life needs more pagodas!”, then this is the house for you (us). A grand home with a prestigious pedigree (it was built by architect by Donald Drayer), this one has it all – sixteen-foot ceilings, an incredible library, not one but two balconies and, yes, a pagoda.

Houses built by architects are always a breed apart. It's like how fashion designers are always waaaay better dressed than regular people or musicians always have great records that you've never heard of. Generally, these houses have more space, more light, and are built with finer materials than our sad little shoeboxes, and this one is no exception.

There are windows everywhere, and everything is big, from the spacious all-white master bath to the cavernous great room to the stately library with floor-to-ceiling shelves and a fireplace (wouldn't it come in handy to have a fireplace in your library, for books that didn't make the cut?). And the flagstone patio out back – truly one of the finest outdoor spaces I've seen in D.C. Closely bordered with lush vegetation – even the pagoda is festooned with wisteria – it's large, private, and beautiful. I hate weddings, but you could have a great wedding back there. There weren't even any mosquitoes around as I sat in the pagoda surveying the patio, which struck me as just too perfect. If I was looking to buy, I'd have signed on the spot. Come to think of it, if I was a real estate agent showing a house with a fine outdoor space, I'd sprinkle blood in the neighbor's yards right before the open house, to draw off the mosquitoes. I guess this is a good example of why I'm not a real estate agent.

2741 Unicorn Lane NW
5 Bedrooms, 5 Baths
$1,129,999