Evening star., 1951-03-12
By George Kennedy

niSheS both ballroom and orches-
ira without charge.
It is a name that became
nationally known when the estate
was owned by John r. Mclean,
publisher of the Cincinnati
Enquirer and The Washington
Post, and still better known when
it became the scene of the fan
tastic extravagances of his son
and daughter-in-law. Edward
Beale and Evalyn Walsh Mclean.
1t is strange that the name
was not continued by the Defense
Homes Corp, a Government unit,
when it built the apartment
development. The land did not
come to Uncle Sam as a gift. The
Mclean estate received 81 mil
lion for it. And the name Friend
ship is a very old one in the
history of this countryside.
Friendship was an original land
grant of 5000 acres, covering
most of the northern Wisconsin
avenue section. which was pat
ented by a Col. John Addison in
1895.
Highest Part of District.
The area is served by the
Friendship branch postoffice at
Wisconsin and Tilden streets. 1t
includes the relics of the old
community Of Civil War days at
River road and Wisconsin avenue
that was spelled in several diff
ferent ways but pronounced
Tenleytown. That is the highest
part of the city, an elevation of
420 feet above sea level and from
it rise a television tower and a.
romantic looking stone tower
built for the Fort Reno Reservoir.
Friendship Heights, a name
familiar as the destination sigu
Of many of the street cars run
ming down Pennsylvania avenue
and out Wisconsin avenue, is
small subdivision in Maryland
just beyond the District line
which was started in this century.
Party Tradition Continues.
The stone wall along Wisconsin
avenue and cast iron mermaids
rising from the grass in a little
circle in the center of the apart
ment development are the only
Freminders of the estate that got so
much publicity in the days of the
Teapot Dome scandal.
The apartment development.
which is as colonial as resurrected
Williamsburg. is unique in this:
1t has quarters for 1000 single
women and 500 bachelors. That is
why the management continues
the old Mclean tradition of throw
ing parties. Dan Summerford, the
rental manager, doubles as a host
in keeping flowers off the wall at
the dances. Although he Is BRIDE
groom still in his honeymoon year
his wife surrenders him on dance
nights. The management is
determined to keep the tenants
happy.
Mclean Gardens will be eight
years old this summer. There have
been many romances. Mr.. Sum
|merford has attended as many as
four weddings a week in June
with a tenant a principal in each.
Some Of the bachelors have won
themselves wives from the women's
dormitories. Some of these couples
have continued to live in the
development and their children
are now playing in the co-opera-
tive nursery where mothers take
turns in taking care of a whole
shoal Of small fry.
Waiting List Is Large.
Those lucky enough to have
rooms there get the equivalent
Of hotel room with maid service
for $40 month, single; and $35
"a month with a roommate. There
is big waiting list. Cabinet Of
ficers and Senators have gone to
bat to get such quarters for their
employees.
The development until recently
had a Cabinet officer and his wife
living in the housekeeping apart
ments. He was Charles F. Bran
nan, Secretary of Agriculture.
They recently moved to a larger
apartment in the Westchester.
The elder Mclean bought the
property, about rs acres, in 1898.
There was an old house on it,
probably built by a DR.. French
about 1900. After several owners
early in the last century, it was
purchased by Georgetown Uni
versity and used as country
retreat for it's Jesuit priests.
Mr.. Mclean made a show place
Of it. The old brick house be-
came a rear appendage to a
French villa. An italian formal
garden with a long rejecting pool
was fashioned. The slopes were
massed with tulips in the spring
and a fountain and trough out
side of the main gate was a STOP
ping place for every horse that
had pulled cart or carriage up
the hill.
A Place in Society.
The McLeans held quite a place
| in Washington society. Friend
ship was their country house.
The town house was in street
facing Mcpherson Park where
the RFC building now stands.
Mrs. Mclean was a daughter of
Brig. Gen. Edward Fitzgerald
Beale who made a great fortune
in California and became Minis
ter at Vienna. Her brother, Trux-
tun Beale, who owned the Deca-
tur House in Jackson Place, also
had diplomatic career. A sister
was married to Ambassador
George Bakhmeteff, the Cars
last representative in Washing