on an extended visit to Paris, he tore down their Spanish colonial mansion and hired his favorite architect, Mihran Mesrobian, to build a masterpiece of Georgian Revival architecture. The beautiful X-shaped building was huge, but its detail work, such as brick corner quoins, dormered windows and rounded balconies, fooled the eye to make the structure both elegant and accessible. It’s been said that the only other building in Washington that accommodated more presidents was the White House. The complex was home to future presidents Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson; Vice Presidents Charles Curtis, Henry Wallace and Spiro Agnew; and presidential contenders Barry Goldwater, Adlai Stevenson and Bob Dole. Other VIPs included John Foster Dulles, John B. Connelly, Henry Cabot Lodge, Dean Rusk, Clare Boothe Luce, Robert A. Taft, Earl Warren and Casper Weinberger. “Hostess with the Mostest” Perle Mesta lived there as did Gore Vidal and Marlene Dietrich.The TV news program “Meet the Press” was broadcast from there for decades starting in 1947. Like many other business moguls in the Great Depression, Wardman went bankrupt and lost his $30 million fortune. He had wisely transferred parcels of land to his wife’s name, however, so he was soon back building again. He was on his way to making a second fortune when he died of cancer in 1938. During his incredibly prolific career, Wardman built some 80,000 housing units in the District, but the tower building was said to be his favorite. Certainly, no hotel or apartment house before or since has enjoyed the star power and celebrity status of the Wardman Park Hotel and tower annex. The original hotel changed hands many times and was eventually torn down and replaced, but the annex, subsequently re-named the Wardman Tower, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and the hotel complex remains the largest in Washington. Donna Evers, devers@eversco.com, is the owner and broker of Evers & Co. Real Estate, the largest woman-owned and run real estate firm in the Metro area; the proprietor of Twin Oaks Tavern Winery in Bluemont, Va.; and a devoted student of Washington history.