Stately homes designed in 18th-century French architectural style—the kinds of places where the Earl of Grantham or Mrs. Astor might be comfortable—are not unusual in the Langley Farms section of McLean. But when a palatial 22,000-square-foot house on Georgetown Pike, built on nearly four acres in 2023, lingered on the market, the Building Group brought in Will Thomas for consultation.
“They have a great track record of building and selling really large homes in McLean, and they built this one, which they called Chateau du Soleil, with a specific buyer profile in mind,” says Thomas, an agent with TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.
That potential buyer, it seems, would love to entertain. “This house had a beautiful, enormous ballroom with a mirrored ceiling, three big chandeliers, and silver-painted embellishments on the walls,” Thomas says. “The front gate and front door had been embellished with gold, and the name of the property had been carved into the entrance columns.”
Photograph by TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.
The location and amount of land, Thomas realized, were great, but the house was too opulent and formal. It needed to be tweaked to appeal to a broader buyer pool—although with ten bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, and an $18.5 million price, that pool would never be Olympic-size.
Thomas spent about $100,000 to stage the home with art and furniture that made the space look expensive but livable. He took away the mirrored ceilings and silver paint in the ballroom and staged it to become a living room with three seating areas. He removed the Chateau du Soleil logo from the columns. He covered up the gold paint on a 30-foot-high dome above the foyer to reveal the classic French architecture. On the lower level, he removed several full-wall mosaics, including one of pink swans and another of butterflies.
“They were beautiful but very taste-specific,” Thomas says. “We brought in pieces to showcase the space for family reunions and philanthropic events and staged the dining room to show how it could work for seated dinners for heads of state or top business leaders.”
Early in the staging process, one buyer made a low bid, which was turned down. In August 2025, six months after Thomas took on the project, it was purchased for $18.5 million. Once the first bidders saw the final staging, they were frustrated by “the one that got away” and offered $22 million for the house in October 2025.
“As far as I know,” Thomas says, “that’s the biggest flip in history in this area.”
Stately homes designed in 18th-century French architectural style—the kinds of places where the Earl of Grantham or Mrs. Astor might be comfortable—are not unusual in the Langley Farms section of McLean. But when a palatial 22,000-square-foot house on Georgetown Pike, built on nearly four acres in 2023, lingered on the market, the Building Group brought in Will Thomas for consultation.
“They have a great track record of building and selling really large homes in McLean, and they built this one, which they called Chateau du Soleil, with a specific buyer profile in mind,” says Thomas, an agent with TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.
That potential buyer, it seems, would love to entertain. “This house had a beautiful, enormous ballroom with a mirrored ceiling, three big chandeliers, and silver-painted embellishments on the walls,” Thomas says. “The front gate and front door had been embellished with gold, and the name of the property had been carved into the entrance columns.”
Photograph by TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.
The location and amount of land, Thomas realized, were great, but the house was too opulent and formal. It needed to be tweaked to appeal to a broader buyer pool—although with ten bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, and an $18.5 million price, that pool would never be Olympic-size.
Thomas spent about $100,000 to stage the home with art and furniture that made the space look expensive but livable. He took away the mirrored ceilings and silver paint in the ballroom and staged it to become a living room with three seating areas. He removed the Chateau du Soleil logo from the columns. He covered up the gold paint on a 30-foot-high dome above the foyer to reveal the classic French architecture. On the lower level, he removed several full-wall mosaics, including one of pink swans and another of butterflies.
“They were beautiful but very taste-specific,” Thomas says. “We brought in pieces to showcase the space for family reunions and philanthropic events and staged the dining room to show how it could work for seated dinners for heads of state or top business leaders.”
Early in the staging process, one buyer made a low bid, which was turned down. In August 2025, six months after Thomas took on the project, it was purchased for $18.5 million. Once the first bidders saw the final staging, they were frustrated by “the one that got away” and offered $22 million for the house in October 2025.
“As far as I know,” Thomas says, “that’s the biggest flip in history in this area.”
This article appears in the April 2026 issue of Washingtonian.
