WASHINGTON — If you have sweeping rooftop views of the nation’s capital, you need a good set of binoculars to fully enjoy them — like binoculars that can see great detail 15 miles away.
Residents of The Hepburn, an uber-luxury apartment building wrapping up construction in Kalorama next to the Washington Hilton, will be able to scan the horizon from their roof deck with a unique amenity: Restored, $32,000, 6-foot U.S. Naval vessel binoculars.
The Hepburn’s lookout deck on the top of its 12-story structure provides views from RFK Stadium, to the Capitol, White House, monuments, Georgetown, Rosslyn, the Pentagon, Old Town, Reagan National Airport and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
The Hepburn’s marketers, who have the challenge of finding well-heeled renters for this amenity-rich building where rents top out at $13,500 a month, are putting a dramatic spin on those binoculars.
“The addition of the binoculars adds a nod to a more vintage, mysterious era of Soviets and spies that rings true to D.C. and the embassy-heavy Kalorama neighborhood in which it is located,” said a recent announcement of the arrival of the binoculars.
“And now that the Obamas are rumored to move to Kalorama, one could get a glimpse from the Hepburn.”
The binoculars on the Hepburn’s roof — stainless steel “20 x 120 Big Eyes — Mark 3, Model 4” — are a fully-restored, post World War II-era Navy ship bridge staple. The design is still used on Naval ships today, with integrated electronic systems.
The Hepburn’s version, manufactured in the USA in 1980 by Kollmorgen, weighs 120 pounds.
When the Hepburn’s residents aren’t taking turns squinting through their roof top binoculars, they can take advantage of their own on-sight car-sharing service, their free annual membership to the Phillips Collection art gallery, their 24-hour concierge, their building dog-walker or the room service from the Hilton next door.
It’s worth repeating that the rent tops out at $13,500 a month at the Hepburn (which gets you 2,000 square feet and a 110-foot long balcony), though the Washington Business Journal reports you can get a 450-square-foot studio for just $2,400 a month, binocular access included.
