This Week's Find: Internationally-Inspired Mid-Century Modern in Massachusetts Avenue Heights

• May 18th 2020

by Nena Perry-Brown

This Week's Find is a Massachusetts Avenue Heights home that the owner customized with international inspirations.

Sylvia Gottwald has lived at 2550 28th Street NW for 35 years and she started designing and customizing the home while Director of Design and Development at the Ronald Reagan Trade Center. 

The prominent elements of the exterior are the decorative brickwork, water features, and gardens. Gottwald shared with UrbanTurf that the blue brick accents were inspired by the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, and that those bricks are the same custom-made for the Marriott Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. 

The brickwork drew inspiration from palaces in Nepal, and particular details, like perforated brick partitions, were inspired by the Palace of the Winds in Jaipur, while the garden and its water features are inspired by similar spaces in Kashmir. 

The bright interior retains a mid-century modern charm, with mirror-backed glass display shelves in the living room facing windows that look out on the front gardens. The eat-in kitchen has large glass block windows, a butler's pantry area, and tiled floors that match the backsplashes. A library has built-ins flanking an angled corner marble fireplace beneath a large mirror. 

Upstairs, a sunroom-like entertainment room has cabinets beneath a series of windows. The owner's bedroom has a wall of custom built-in bureaus surrounding windows. A guest suite has a private entrance, separate kitchen, skylit bathroom, and a bedroom with greenhouse-style slanted windows beside a mirrored pillar.

The house also has on-site parking for two cars. More details are below.

• Full Listing: 2550 28th Street NW (map)
• Price: $2.95 million
• Bedrooms: Four
• Bathrooms: 3.5
• Square Feet: 4,005
• Year Built: 1948
• Listing Agents: Kimberly Casey, Daryl Judy, Washington Fine Properties

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/this-weeks-find-internationally-inspired-mid-century-modern-in-massachusett/16850.