Broyhill mansion demolition kicks off; owners fend off vigilante neighborhood preservationists

[mahatmakanejeeves]

It wasn't nice enough.

NEWS

Broyhill mansion demolition kicks off with owners fending off vigilante neighborhood preservationists

Jo DeVoe Today at 3:45pm



3/15



11/15

Demolition began this weekend on the 70-year-old Broyhill mansion in the Donaldson Run neighborhood. ... The lengths to which some have gone to oppose it, including allegedly impersonating a photographer and stealing tile today (Monday), has left a bitter taste in the mouths of the owners.

The 10-bedroom home at 2561 N. Vermont, near the Washington Golf and Country Club, went on the market last November for $3.6 million after the previous owner died and the beneficiary, the Catholic Prelature of Opus Dei, decided to sell it to a residential buyer, the Falls Church News-Press reported.

As of Janury, the only interested buyers were husband-and-wife duo Mustaq Hamza and Amanda Maldonado. They purchased the home — described on Redfin as a “jewel [that] unfolds like a diamond necklace” — f0r more than $1 million under asking price, with the intention of knocking it down and building something more suitable for family life. ... “The house was built for entertaining, not for raising a family,” Maldonado told ARLnow this morning.

Some however, are upset to see it go. On Saturday, Hamza said people shouted profanities and walked onto the property and demanded materials be set aside.

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Northern Virginia home builder Marvin T. Broyhill Sr. built the mansion in 1950 after making his fortune building the classic 3-bedroom brick homes that could be bought for $20,000 during the post-World War II housing boom, according to the neighborhood conservation plan for Donaldson Run.

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