In the summer of 1972, the townhouse at 313 West 102nd Street, where Eleanor Roosevelt’s father once lived, had lingered on the market for a year despite its historical lineage, when the developer Roland W. Betts agreed to pay the $150,000 asking price. At the time, the four-story structure, built in 1892, was divided into six apartments, and Mr. Betts and his wife, Lois, both former teachers, lived in one of them. They eventually converted the building back to a single-family residence after a yearlong gut renovation, and raised their two daughters there. Through the years, the house, situated in a historic district between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue, not only became a cherished home but a showcase for entertaining dignitaries. They included Mr. Betts’s Yale classmate and best friend, President George W. Bush, with whom he once shared ownership of the Texas Rangers baseball team through an investor group.

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Persons: Eleanor Roosevelt’s, Roland W, Betts, Lois, Betts’s, George W, Bush Organizations: West 102nd Street, Betts’s Yale, Texas Rangers baseball Locations: Riverside