http://blog.luxuryrealestate.com/articles/2009/05/20/the-rye-house.rss en-us 40 Personal thoughts from within the Luxury Real Estate network There is some misunderstanding, however, especially about the apparently huge and elaborate places that ambassadors appear to occupy. What you need to understand is that these residences are primarily meant for - and are used constantly for - representational purposes: receptions, meetings, congresses, etc that engage and involve American political, social, cultural and business interests with local authorities, businesspeople, rulers, despots, charitable organizations, NGOs, artists, cultural icons, etc. It is not unusual for there to be two or three such events every single day. As you can imagine, it is considered very prestigious to have attended an event at the US Ambassador's house, and this prestige is used for good effect to support American interests. Thu, 21 May 2009 09:19:57 -0400 urn:uuid:9b38fe99-5dd1-404e-af2a-439d3727f9a0 http://blog.luxuryrealestate.com/articles/2009/05/20/the-rye-house#comment-16553