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House hunting: Radio star's house great for entertaining

By Michele Lerner SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES | Friday, October 10, 2008

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Visitors to the home of radio personality "Don Geronimo" from the "Don and Mike Show" expect to find a party house, and they will.

While the house has a heated swimming pool; an outdoor kitchen with a fireplace and enormous gas grill; two wet bars and even a "cave" with high tech equipment and a cigar humidor, the parties held here were as likely to involve packs of tumbling children singing "Barney" songs as to include bikini-clad babes sipping champagne.

Don Geronimo and his wife, Freda, bought their Great Falls home in 1991, filling it with family and friends for more than a decade until her death from a car accident in 2005. The couple raised their son in the home and created a haven from the world of the "Don and Mike Show," which ran on WJFK 106.7 FM. Don Geronimo retired from the show in April and is ready to move on to his new life in Ocean City, Md.

Don Geronimo's home at 10612 Allenwood Lane in Great Falls is on the market for $1,600,000. It provides a private setting of nearly 3 acres at the end of a cul-de-sac.

The property includes natural woods and a creek, and it backs to park land that will not be developed. The owners created multiple areas for entertaining and relaxing outdoors, including a fenced lawn for children and dogs to enjoy, and a flagstone patio with a fireplace and grill and seating areas. A deck wraps around two sides of the house, and the heated pool has additional seating areas, a diving board and an attached hot tub.

Appreciation for nature extends inside the home, where most rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows that frame views of the landscaped grounds and woods. The pale gray wood-shingled exterior of the home and the shingled roof blend in with the trees surrounding the home.

The two-car garage, reached from an asphalt driveway with room for extra cars, is supplemented by plenty of parking along the cul-de-sac during parties.

Guests can be welcomed in the two-story foyer, which has marble flooring, a deep coat closet and a wet bar that works well during a reception. Directly in front of the foyer, across a sweep of marble flooring, is the dining room, which has floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides facing the swimming pool and the landscaped backyard.

The formal living room nearby has hardwood floors, a soaring two-story ceiling with skylights, a gas fireplace, and three sets of sliding glass doors leading to the deck. This room has transoms above the glass doors and a built-in cabinet and bookcase in one corner.

Adjacent to the living room is Don Geronimo's cave, an office full of high-tech wiring, a private phone line, built-in bookcases and cabinets and a cigar humidor. This room has a glass door to the deck and tall windows facing the woods.