Available for the first time in nearly forty years, Georgetown’s celebrated “Blue House” is one of the East Village’s most distinctive free-standing historic residences. Parts of the house date back to the late 1700s and historically it is known as the Alfred and Hannah Cole Pope Residence. The house has been thoughtfully evolved and refined over generations into an extraordinary compound-like home assembled from multiple early structures. Owned by Alfred Pope, a formerly enslaved man who became a prominent African American businessman and property owner in Georgetown, the house represents an important chapter in the neighborhood’s history and gives the residence special historical significance within Washington. Later residents include Martin Anderson, presidential advisor to Ronald Regan. What today feels like one seamless residence was originally three separate buildings. The present kitchen began life as a stable, while the red library and guest suite originated as an early 19th-century structure dating to approximately 1810. Portions of that structure were later lost to fire, with the current waterfall garden tracing part of the original footprint. Beyond the extraordinary light usually only found in a detached Georgetown house, 2900 O Street offers the increasingly rare convenience of a living room, library, dining room, and full gourmet kitchen all on the same principal level, with direct garden access from both the library and dining room. The south garden is not simply landscaped but architecturally composed as a true outdoor entertaining space. Enclosed by historic brick walls and mature plantings, the space combines remarkable privacy with an unusual sense of openness created by the detached nature of the residence. A substantial covered dining pavilion anchors the garden and extends the living spaces of the house outward in a way rarely found in Georgetown. The restrained planting palette, stone paving, sculptural masonry, and carefully integrated waterfall create an atmosphere that feels at once tranquil, elegant, and quietly sophisticated. Particularly striking is the way the perpetual waterfall softens ambient sound, enhancing the remarkable calm of this already quiet East Village location. The property is beautifully enclosed, remarkably private, and discreetly secure, with steel garden doors, high masonry walls, custom iron detailing, and comprehensively irrigated landscaping extending all the way to the streetscape tree boxes. The wide marble entry hall is generous and welcoming, featuring dedicated coat and boot closets and opening to a dramatic living room with multiple exposures, original windows, plantation shutters, wide-plank random-width flooring, and a wood-burning fireplace with gas starter and black marble surround. Adjacent is one of the home’s most memorable spaces: a richly detailed library where every element has been thoughtfully considered; from the proportions of the built-ins to concealed television cabinetry hidden behind a 19th-century Chinese box. Original wood floors, recessed lighting, built-in bookshelves, floor-to-ceiling draperies, and four banks of insulated mullioned windows frame beautiful views of the garden and waterfall while filling the room with southern light. Farrow & Ball paint colors were used extensively throughout the residence, enhancing its historic nature. Dramatic stairs lead to an exceptionally large dining room with soaring ceilings, heated polished fossil-stone flooring, recessed lighting, recessed speakers, and visual and physical access to the garden. Large enough to accommodate not only substantial entertaining space but also a work area or study, the room reflects the scale and flexibility rarely found in Georgetown houses. A custom gas fireplace and concealed television hidden behind an early 20th-century Chinese box further reinforce the room’s elegant and highly functional design. Completing the level is a pristine gourmet kitchen centered
