Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is buying the biggest house in Washington, D.C. for $23 million, according to a report in the Washington Post. The former Textile museum in Kalorama is made up of two mansions filling 27,000 square feet and was listed at $22 million when it was purchased near the end of October by Bezos. He kept the deal quiet, with the house buyer listed as the Cherry Revocable Trust. The public filing states that the new owner will turn the building into into a one family home, suitable for a place to stay or to host parties for Bezos and his new neighbors, which will soon include the Obama family and Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, real estate developer and Trump adviser Jared Kushner.
The Textile Museum moved in 2013 to the campus of George Washington University after almost a century in Kalorama. They were sold almost two years ago for $19 million before going back on the market last year. Bezos has said before that he doesn't intend to move to the District, either by himself or with his wife and four children, so it's much more likely to be a part-time place to stay when he's in town, and maybe host awkward neighborhood barbecues with the Trumps and Obamas. The buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, and before Bezos hosts a housewarming, he'll need his renovation plans approved by the Advisory Neighborhood Commission.
The neighbors won't have worry about how Bezos will afford the streamers for his housewarming, though. Despite the record-breaking sale in absolute dollar amount, the $23 million costs relatively less for him than a night out in Georgetown would cost someone worth just half a million dollars according to New York Times reporter Neil Irwin.
Bezos apparently bought a $23m house in DC. As a share of his net worth, that's the equivalent of somebody worth $500k spending $167.
— Neil Irwin (@Neil_Irwin) January 12, 2017
