February 28, 2020
The personally-designed mansion of Washington, DC, architect Moham-mad Ghafoorian is now up for sale with a list price of $12 million.
That makes it the fourth highest list price of any residence on the market currently in the District of Columbia, according to The Washington Post.
Ghafoorian had a successful career in Iran before moving his wife and two children to California in 1989. The Ghafoorians relocated to the District in 1995.
After a long search, Gha-foorian found a lot with a run-down pink house that had been the Senegalese Embassy. He razed the house and then spent the next several months designing his dream dwelling.
“When he came here, he went and saw a lot of houses here so that the design of the house matches the palette of DC, of these neighborhoods — at least that’s what he was trying to capture,” his son, Reza Ghafoorian, told the Post.
According to Reza, his father visited the site often, through multiple seasons, looking at the light throughout the day. He completed his first draft in 1997, but wasn’t satisfied. He continued to tinker with how the house was oriented, switching rooms around in his second and final draft.
Reza said, “He would make sure in the design when you look out the windows you would see mostly better views than just the street or the house next door. For breakfast, he wanted to have the morning light, so he put the breakfast area on the east side. The dining room is on the west side, so you get more light on that side in the afternoon…. He put most of the windows on the southeast and northwest sides to try to capture the best light throughout the house.”
Most of all he wanted to keep his family close, and he created two apartments on the top floor where he hoped his two children and their families would live.
“He was thinking about all of us all moving together” into the house, Reza said. “He wanted everyone to come here and live here.”
Ghafoorian was killed in 2012 after a tree near his house toppled during a severe storm. The tree took down a power line, which fell on his car, causing it to burst into flames. As Ghafoorian raced from his house with a fire extinguisher, he stepped on the live wire.
The 2001 house has a grand foyer with a 25-foot ceiling and 10-foot-tall glass doors that lead to a spacious terrace. Cherry wood was used for the doors, floors, paneling and kitchen cabinetry. There are 11 gas fireplaces. The lower level has a 4,000-bottle temperature-controlled wine cellar. Underground parking accommodates five cars.
The eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom, 11,000-square-foot stone house is listed at $12 million.