The property was created by famed silent-film-star-turned-designer Haines and modernist architect Jones as a winter retreat for the Annenbergs, but it became much more. From the time it was completed until it closed it’s doors in 2009, nearly every occupant of the White House—from the Nixons to the Clintons— came to call. Given Walter’s station as British ambassador, the house was a stop for high-ranking world leaders and a palace’s worth of royalty, including Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles. The annual New Year’s Eve parties were legendary and the guest books, filled with the scribbled names of Princess Grace of Monaco, Truman Capote and Margaret Thatcher, are a collector’s dream.