Alsop's friends included Brooke Astor, the Pierponts and other notables. "With Susan Mary we would attend parties, teas and dinners which gave us the opportunity to visit these Gilded Age summer homes," Todd says. "We wanted to bring a bit of this Northeast Harbor Maine flavor to Mount Vernon, Virginia.
"This was also the time we were redesigning the interiors at the British Embassy Residence in Washington DC, and we were very much inspired by the work of Sir Edwyn Lutyen."