Whitehaven, named for its location on Whitehaven Street, is a brick Georgian-style mansion with white trim that sits on 0.33 acres (0.13 ha) of property in the Massachusetts Avenue Heights neighborhood and is adjacent to the embassies of New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom, and within walking distance of Number One Observatory Circle, the official residence of the Vice-President of the United States.

[4][5][2][6][7] 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".

[2] After the children of Henderson and his wife left home to attend Harvard University, the couple decided to sell the property and take up primary residence at their other estates in Berryville, Virginia, and Fisher's Island, New York, instead.

[2][3] The purchase of the house by Bill and Hillary Clinton marked the first time a former United States president had owned a property in Washington since Woodrow Wilson.

[14] Clinton used the house as a "fortress of solitude" while working on her book Hard Choices and has hosted important gatherings at the property with advisors.