The Many Mansions of John and Teresa Kerry
Monday, March 22, 2004
WASHINGTON – From a sailing mecca to a ski resort, presumptive Democrat nominee John Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, enjoy the trappings of their wealth in at least five homes and vacation getaways across the country valued at nearly $33 million.
Some are private escapes for the family, and others serve as prime spots to host fund-raisers and exclusive gatherings for wealthy donors. All reflect the couple's status - he is a four-term U.S. senator; she is heiress to the $500 million family ketchup fortune - with breathtaking vistas, elegant furnishings and enclosures that protect the property from prying eyes.
Each home has a place in the family's life, with its own history and mission, from the preppy island of Nantucket and Boston's Beacon Hill to Pennsylvania's countryside, from the mountains of Idaho to the nation's capital.
Hm, Heinz Died in a Plane Crash
Kerry is on a weeklong break from the campaign at the home in the wooded mountains of Ketchum, Idaho. Located near the banks of the Big Wood River, the nearly $5 million house is a reassembled barn, originally built in England in 1485, and brought to Idaho by Heinz Kerry's late husband, H. John Heinz III. Heinz, a Republican U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, died in a plane crash in 1991.
The classic yet comfortably furnished farmhouse, profiled in Architectural Digest magazine in 1993, was inspired by Heinz Kerry's memories of an inn in Swaziland where she vacationed with her parents. Its central point is an enormous, 57-by-24-foot great room with a 25-foot ceiling framed with original oak beams.
The Heinz family has had the house since 1966, and traditionally spends time there in August and during the Christmas holidays, often throwing a New Year's Eve party capped with fireworks.
This is also where Heinz Kerry, while on one of her frequent hikes, wrestled with the prospect of Kerry's presidential bid, a political move she had opposed for her first husband and Kerry.
"While taking a long walk in Ketchum, she finally realized she couldn't hold him back, that he had too much to offer the country," said Heinz Kerry's spokeswoman Christine Anderson. "She said they're not getting any younger and this was a contribution she knew he could make."
Whereas Ketchum provides a respite from politics, the tony Beacon Hill brownstone in Boston has been a more frequent campaign way-station for Kerry and his wife. It is the only residence that is theirs as a couple. Assessed at nearly $7 million, it is the residence that Kerry mortgaged last year to finance more than $6 million in loans to his campaign.
John Lives on GOP Estates
Their other homes, ranging in value from more than $3 million to nearly $9.2 million, belong to Heinz Kerry, and predate her 1995 marriage to the U.S. senator from Massachusetts. Several are still listed under the name of her late husband.
Formerly part of a convent, the five-story, 12-room Boston townhouse, with six fireplaces, a rooftop deck and an elevator, is Kerry's main residence. It is where he is registered to vote, where his cars and motorcycle are registered and is located blocks from the Statehouse where he began his political career as lieutenant governor.
Visitors say the townhouse, with its modern two-story kitchen built for entertaining, is filled with books, decorated with family photos and Dutch still-life paintings and boasts a striking portrait of "Moby Dick" author Herman Melville that hangs in the small library just inside the entrance.
Though that is their newest home, Heinz Kerry has had a presence in Massachusetts for years.
Just beyond the historic Brant Point Lighthouse in Nantucket's harbor is her $9.1 million waterfront estate. Rimmed by tall hedges, with a wide deck and a lawn that reaches to the beach, the three-story, five-bedroom manse was the site of the couple's wedding on Memorial Day weekend, 1995.
Since then, the house has been used for campaign retreats and Democrat receptions for the party's big-money donors.
Visitors say that while the homes are adorned with pricey art and antiques, they are generally friendly and comfortable and not ostentatious. "Their homes have always been places for friends and family to come together," Anderson said. "And their homes reflect that."
Though Kerry calls Boston home, Heinz Kerry's base is Pittsburgh, her longtime residence and the headquarters of Heinz Family Philanthropies, which she chairs.
Located on a $3.7 million, 90-acre family farm in Fox Chapel, the home is a nine-room white colonial fronted with six columns, and at the end of a steep drive, hidden from the road by a curtain of woods. The property includes a deep-red, nine-room carriage house.
This is where Heinz Kerry raised her three sons, where she is registered to vote, and where, on one day in the early 1980s, the late "Mister [Fred] Rogers" filmed an episode of his "Old Friends, New Friends" show. Rogers was the godfather to Heinz Kerry's youngest son, Christopher.
Their fifth home, in Georgetown, is perhaps the most utilitarian, and is necessary to accommodate the time they spend in Washington when the Senate is in session. Also belonging to Heinz Kerry, the 23-room, $4.7 million townhouse, with its wide stairway and landscaped courtyard, is filled with antiques, fine art, including paintings by Dutch masters, and family photos.
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The couple divide their time between five homes located around the country:
Boston: A five-story, 12-room Beacon Hill townhouse that serves as Kerry's main residence. Assessed value: $6.9 million.
Nantucket, Mass.: A three-story, five-bedroom waterfront retreat on Brant Point. Assessed value: $9.18 million.
Washington, D.C.: A 23-room townhouse in Georgetown. Proposed 2005 assessment: $4.7 million.
Ketchum, Idaho: A ski getaway converted from a reassembled barn near Sun Valley. Assessed value: $4.916 million. Heinz Kerry owns two adjoining lots valued at $1.5 million and $1.8 million.
Fox Chapel, Pa.: A nine-room colonial on nearly 90 acres in suburban Pittsburgh. The property also includes a nine-room, carriage house. Assessed value: $3.7 million.
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