One evening back in the mid-1970’s, Leezee was invited to a lovely dinner party where she met a new couple who had come to the Australian Embassy for their second tour in DC. They were Commodore and Mrs. Loosli, and they were extremely charming. After dinner Mrs. Loosli told Leezee they were having to rent furniture again for their tour in Washington, and she asked her, "Leezee, you are a Designer, can you tell me why there cannot be decent furniture for lease in Washington?"

 She was very unhappy with what she was offered.  Leezee was intrigued by the question and decided to look into it. She started looking up furniture leasing companies across the country and found out why Mrs. Loosli was disappointed. What was available was pretty basic and low quality. Leezee started checking out some of the companies in their locations and the more she learned the more she began to think that she would like to be the one to offer a completely new focus on furniture for lease. The concept of Antique and Contemporary Leasing, Inc. had been born. 

Now Leezee had to figure out how to do it. The process was a great adventure in learning and it also helped her strengthen her feminist tendencies as she became the only woman owner of a furniture Leasing business in the nation.   Boy, does she have a lot of stories about that!

ACL, Inc. started at 3401 K St. in rented space below where Leezee was still running the Porter Group. As ACL grew, eventually she closed the design business in favor of the leasing company and she moved to her own building on Capitol Hill at 709 12th St. S.E. where they had 20,000 square feet of warehouse and showroom space. It was hard work and a lot of fun building the business, growing the inventory, and finding their customers. They had a showroom full of antiques, "furniture with age", some contemporary furniture, oriental, Khilim and Dhurrie rugs, oil paintings, prints, plus comfortable furniture and high-quality bedding, tables, and chairs. According to Leezee, “the combination created a very unique and eclectic look, and it was fun to see the happy looks on our customers faces when they saw what was available.” 

ACL has provided furniture for Diana, Princess of Wales; Cher; William Hurt; Jack Nicholson; Peter Jennings; Ted Koppel; and the White House, among others.

The warehouse was located on 12th Street, SE in Washington, DC.  Today, the space is leased to the Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy.

As ACL, Inc. grew they attracted more and more attention, and one day Leezee got a call from Sam Pardoe, who built highly sought-after houses in the Washington area. His wonderful designer had tragically died and Sam had a big project called Potomac Cliffs up above the river that was about ready for furniture, and he was morose about losing his friend and worried about the project.  He asked Leezee if she could help him. “Of course, I said yes, and that began many years of shared projects and a wonderful friendship! When other builders saw that Sam had come to me to furnish his model homes others followed and by the late 80's we were working 7 days a week on furnishings model homes for sale and resale. We worked hard and had a lot of fun!” 

In 2004, Leezee sold Antique and Contemporary Leasing to Jack Lindsay and he ran it until 2015 when he decided to retire. It had a long a successful 40-year run! “I still miss it!” Leezee is fond of saying.

Article from Washington: City On A Hill by Bob Levey and Steve Wursta.

Organizers of NATO's 50th-anniversary summit needed to transform the Mellon Auditorium into an elegant reception area where world leaders could mingle and schmooze.  They turned to Leezee Porter's Antique & Contemporary Leasing, Inc., to furnish the space.

Leezee's company, Antique & Contemporary Leasing, Inc., furnished actress Dixie Carter's apartment at the Lansburgh in Washington, DC, her home away from home while she starred in "A Woman of No Importance" at the Shakespeare Theatre.

Write-up from the Washington Post, September, 24, 1998.

During the filming of the Literary Awards at the White House in 1990, Leezee's Antique and Contemporary Leasing, Inc., delivered a shipment of fine antiques to the White House for the East Room.

When boxing promoter Rock Newman was selling his mansion on Dexter Terrace in NW, DC, the house was so large that potential buyers had trouble visualizing the space. Antique and Contemporary Leasing, Inc., was brought in to stage the home.   The idea was to arrange rooms like a theater set with carefully designed clusters of furniture and accessories.

Washington Star article on Leezee's fine furniture leasing business from April 28, 1979.

The Washington Star covered Leezee's rental business on June 14, 1981.

Furnishing the main hall of Union Station for a reception for the Carlyle Group (September 1999).

Featured article in Washington Dossier magazine (November 1984).

Town & Country featured Leezee's business in their April 1993 magazine, stating, "Porter, a professional interior designer, has rented to Betsy Bloomingdale, Edward Bennett Williams, Senators John Warner and Bob Packwood, former Chief of Protocol Joseph Reed and associated embassies."

When Betsy Bloomingdale, a friend of the Reagans, came to Washington, she and her husband, Alfred, lived part-time at the Watergate.  Leezee was chosen to furnish their quarters with rental furniture, sparing them the hassle and expense of shipping furniture from their California home.

Washington Home article, June 24, 1982.

When Leezee started her company in 1974 many people said she would have a tough time as a woman business owner.  And they added, who ever heard of a store that leased fine furniture and furnishings for the home?

But Porter had the last laugh. Her Capitol Hill business saw annual revenues of $1 million and she employed four full-time employees.

Washington Business Journal. October 27-November 2, 1995.

"We basically deal with highly successful people who are on temporary assignment in Washington," Leezee was quoted as saying in a September 25, 1986, Washington Times article.  "They aren't willing to take bare-bones apartments.  They want to live the way they've grown accustomed to."

Leezee fell in love with the old Miller Furniture Company warehouse on 12th St, SE that would ultimately become her home.  But moving her company from Georgetown to the Capitol Hill location turned out to be a much bigger adventure than Porter had anticipated. 

Construction began in September of 1986. Then on October 22, 1986, while Leezee was in North Carolina, the building caught fire.  The three-alarm fire destroyed half the roof and did extensive damage to the building.

With remarkable effort by all of the work crews, the building was finished at the end of December, only two months after the fire.

Washington's Hill Rag.  April 17-May 1, 1987.

Real Estate Guide ROLL CALL.  November 17, 1994.

Leezee built up her business by shopping around the country and around the world, including sprees in England and Japan.

Leezee has leased to producers from Hawk, a television series being filmed in Washington. Furniture from Leezee's business was also used in the movies Suspect and Broadcast News.

Cher and William Hurt are the only celebrities to have sat on or touched furniture leased by Leezee's firm.  On election night, the Republican National Committee leased several pieces of furniture for a hotel hospitality suite honoring Vice President-elect Dan Quayle.  

The Washington Times.  November 29, 1988.