What Kinds of Real Estate Do Public Figures Buy?

ASH CARTER
U.S. Politician, Physicist, & Academic

Ashton Carter was Barack’s Obama’s defence secretary. He died at home from a heart attack in October 2022. 
 
Somewhat unusually, Ash Carter and his wife Stephanie were renting. I say unusually, because I assume that senior public officials have enough money to own their own homes after public life ends. Renting is common however for public officials still serving in Washington DC because their real homes are back in their home states and constituencies.

Ash Carter was a Harvard academic, theoretical physicist, and US secretary of defence (2015-2017) whose understanding of nuclear warfare helped him hold all four of the Pentagon’s top leadership positions.
 
His political career began as an undersecretary under Bill Clinton. This 2022 New York Times obituary provides a nice summary of his full life.
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/25/us/ashton-b-carter-dead.html

When Ash Carter died, his wife Stephanie knew she couldn’t stay in their three-bedroom Boston rental where he passed. Within days, she'd made plans to escape the physical location where she had lost her partner and downsize.
 
This post is about where Stephanie Carter moved to: a one bedroom, 822 square foot apartment. Same Boston building, but radically smaller.

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Ms. Carter downsized to deal with her grief. She didn’t want to stay in the three bedroom unit where her husband had died. So, she gave herself only four weeks to clean out the past and create a new future in a much smaller home.
 
Ms. Carter kept items that had meaning – hand written notes, books, photos, a favourite neck tie, a tennis racket, personal items - and donated the rest to friends and neighbours.
 
One framed note from Mr. Carter reads, “Kwispies for NYC plz” Asha Carter’s request for some homemade brown butter Rice Krispie treats to take on a trip.
 
​Ms. Carter gave away most of her furniture. She wanted new pieces, that were more modern with a few vintage items thrown in. 
 
She only used furniture and accessories that could be bought immediately. No long waits for ordered items. That’s how you get a marble and brass coffee table from Anthropologie, a vintage Turkish rug, and an ottoman from Target in the same room.

Alongside all the personal mementoes that have embedded meaning, Ms. Carter also added some new elements: two ceramic figurines of a lion and squirrel.

“I called Ash ‘Lion’ and he called me ‘Squirrelly. All these things make me feel like he’s with me in a great way, not in a preserved-in-amber way.”
 
We know these things because Stephanie Carter is writing a book about dealing with grief and finding concrete, step-by-step ways to move forward.

The designer who helped Ms. Carter downsize and create a new home said her main goals were goals were to make the space healing, conformable, cozy, and inviting.

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