 According to "The Washington Post", Whitehaven is situated in an area that is "the kind of place where 'No Trespassing' signs outnumber welcome mats and where maids answer the doorbells in the afternoon" while "The New York Times", quoting a local real estate broker, described it as a "quiet neighborhood" with "no real sense of community per se".As of 2000, the year of its purchase by the Clintons, the home had seven bedrooms and five bathrooms.From 2004 to 2007 the property was redecorated and expanded by Washington-area designer Rosemarie Howe.