Norman foster buys president obama's vineyard getaway

Today in mindblowing news of worlds colliding, famed British architect Norman Foster (recently of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a troubled Vegas tower) has bought Blue Heron Farm, President Obama's de facto "summer White House" on Martha's Vineyard. The Obamas have been renting the 28.5-acre estate for the past three summers from its timber mogul owner William Van Devender, who listed the property for $24.5M in September. According to the Vineyard Gazette, Blue Heron boasts two houses, a boathouse, a 150-year-old barn, tennis and basketball courts, an apple orchard, and a farmhouse inspired by the movie Field of Dreams. It's all very bucolic and not quite the kind of setting one would imagine for Foster, who's known mostly for his glassy creations, including the modernist, teched-out summer house he designed for his family in France. That said, a little New England R&R never hurt anyone. Foster paid $21.9M, making it one of the highest-priced single family houses in Vineyard history.

Source: Curbed.com