There’s a new billionaire in Washington — part time, at least.
In early March, a home in the affluent Woodland Normanstone neighborhood in northwestern Washington sold to a mystery buyer for $23 million, the city’s third-most expensive real estate purchase ever. Now, Politico has reported that the buyer is none other than Meta (META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
“Mark and Priscilla have purchased a home in D.C., which will allow Mark to spend more time there as Meta continues the work on policy issues related to American technology leadership,” a spokesperson told Politico.
Zuckerberg paid cash for the 15,400-square-foot, five-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bathroom home on a one-acre lot near Massachusetts Avenue Heights and Woodley Park. According to Washingtonian, the home includes a basketball court, a pool complex, a vegetable garden, a fire pit, and a lawn big enough for a tent to be erected. The house was previously purchased in 2013 for $5.5 million before being torn down and rebuilt by local firm Robert Gurney Architect.
“It is a house that was cozy and comfortable when it was used just by the family but also could be converted and used for large-scale entertaining,” one of the firm’s architects told Washingtonian.
The firm made the home’s chimneys, pane windows, and gabled slate roofs part of the design’s focus — in concert with other homes in the area — but added a twist to the classic style: The residence is three separate spaces connected by glass passageways. The property is fortified with significant walls and fencing — it “has a beautiful aesthetic, but it is locked down,” according to Kevin Campion, founder of Campion Hruby Landscape Architects, which handled the design of the home’s outdoor spaces.
After Zuckerberg’s purchase, images of the house were blurred on Google (GOOGL) Maps.
Zuckerberg isn’t the only billionaire with a multimillion-dollar home in Washington. Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos bought a home in Kalorama for $23 million in 2016. Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel bought a home near Zuckerberg’s new one for $13 million in 2021. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt paid $15 million last year for a Georgetown home where Jackie Kennedy once lived. And David Sacks, a PayPal (PYPL) co-founder who serves as an AI and crypto czar in the Trump administration, spent $10.3 million on a penthouse in the northwest part of the nation’s capital.
Longtime Washington real estate veteran Tom Daley told Politico he thinks these purchases are a way for CEOs to tell the president that they’ll show up for him.
“I think it’s proximity and being here,” Daley said. “It’s the ultimate bow to the man in the White House. To me, it’s a little reminiscent of when the Trump Hotel was the Trump Hotel. He notices who’s there. It’s an easy way to say, ‘Hey, we’re with ya. Here we are.’ I’m sure he takes it as the ultimate compliment.”
Click through to see inside Zuckerberg’s new part-time residence.
