This year, on its twentieth anniversary, the ball will be held at the Shriver home for the last time. On Oct. 18, 2008 the scene repeats: receiving line, glamour guests, auction, entertainment, diplomats and Democrats, Republicans and the also-rans, and those still running will become "buddies," if for a night. But within the flare and glare of this 800-person fundraiser, there will be a poignancy permeating the gaiety. Sargent Shriver was the Founding director of the Peace Corps.
Best Buddies ball will be held at the Shriver home for the last time
The Shriver Home
A blend of family and philanthropy
By Carole Dell, The Almanac
Monday, October 06, 2008
Caption: The imposing central hall is the formal entry to the house as well as a space for large gatherings. Art works, family photographs and personal mementos line both walls in gallery-like profusion. Photo: Carole Bell
A line of tux and gown-clad guests chatted in the evening air as they made their way through the columned entry and into the Potomac home of Eunice and Sargent Shriver.
Inside, their son Anthony, and any other Shrivers who happened to be on site at the moment, greeted guests in the loosely formed receiving line at the 2007 Best Buddies Ball.
Anthony Shriver founded Best Buddies, which pairs high school and college students with people with disabilities, while a student at Georgetown University. The organization has grown from one effort into an organization helping more than 400,000 people worldwide.
This year, on its twentieth anniversary, the ball will be held at the Shriver home for the last time. On Oct. 18, 2008 the scene repeats: receiving line, glamour guests, auction, entertainment, diplomats and Democrats, Republicans and the also-rans, and those still running will become "buddies," if for a night. But within the flare and glare of this 800-person fundraiser, there will be a poignancy permeating the gaiety.
The home, built by Eunice and Sargent Shriver in 1986, is on the market for $11.8 million.
The Best Buddies Ball could be the last grand occasion for a house whose imposing scale and classic lines were background to so many events. But, what was important to his mother, according to her son, Mark Shriver, was that it was a family house first and she designed it with that in mind.
Over the years, the house has served both purposes well. With rooms towering 12-feet and walls a pristine white, the interior has served as an endless canvas for vivid displays of art and the black and white of memorable photographs. Each corner, wall and surface of the house, all 16,000 square feet of it, holds its own silver-framed memory.
Paintings, family photographs and a bronze bust of Joseph P. Kennedy preside over the large entrance hall that divides the living rooms on the right from the kitchen and formal dining room on the left. The hall serves many purposes in its centrality and is its own public space, which is often used for cocktail parties. Here, guests, lit by two crystal chandeliers, lofty above, spill out through the wide French doors onto the terrace in fine weather.
A sunroom and bar area designed at a later date by Sargent Shriver connects the living room and library spaces and gives guests a continuous access to all four rooms during large gatherings.
Across the hall, the formal dining room with its fireplace and French doors leading to the terrace is used each evening for dinner. There could be just two Shrivers present, ten, or twenty guests. The table is extended to its full length and stays that way.
In a house this large, four floors and an elevator, 10 bedrooms, 11 baths, and a twenty-six foot recreation room, the impression is that much of the space is unused. But large families make any home small and large gatherings of guests keep the numerous rooms busy during events and holidays.
Eunice Shriver built it as a place where the family could all gather to celebrate life and share their efforts, said Anthony Shriver.
If the legacy is brightened by the laughter of the Shriver children it is heightened by other children’s smiles, those who participate in programs the Shrivers have hosted throughout the years in the house and on the vast six-acre-plus lawn. A pool, pergola, tennis court and play area are there to be used and they are. Summer days are not quiet; they echo with the sounds of Camp Shriver, Eunice Shriver’s sports day camp for people with intellectual disabilities held there and at various sites around the country, as well as other outdoor events.
Anthony Shriver said he always recall the house being alive and welcoming to all — just like his parents’ outlook on life with a warm and welcoming spirit.
