ANALYSIS OF 9110 DARNESTOWN ROAD
UNDER THE CITY OF ROCKVILLE
HISTORIC DISTRICT DESIGNATION CRITERIA
Prepared for:
Somerford Corporation
November 10, 2000
I. INTRODUCTION
This report was prepared on behalf of Somerford Corporation ("Somerford"), contract purchasers of 9104 and 9110 Darnestown Road, who have proposed the development of a low-intensity, residential Alzheimer's facility on the two sites. The property is currently located in Montgomery County, but as part of Somerford Corporation's development proposal, annexation into the City of Rockville is currently being pursued. The purpose of this report is to assess whether the structure on 9110 Darnestown Road site (the "Property") meets any of the criteria set forth in the City of Rockville Historic District Designation Criteria (Exhibit "A") for historic designation. The boundaries of the Property are outlined on the tax map attached as Exhibit "B". The analysis and conclusions herein are based on review of existing documentation related to the Property; conversations with Sue Margelos, the current owner of the Property , and inspection of the building itself.
For the reasons detailed below, it is concluded that the Property does not possess historical, cultural, architectural, or design significance as contemplated by the City of Rockville Historic District Designation Criteria. Therefore, the Property is ineligible for designation as an historic district by the Rockville Historic District Commission ("HDC") under Sec. 25-71, et seq.
II. GOVERNMENT REVIEW AND ACTION TO DATE
Since approximately 1978
the Property has been eligible for review under applicable Montgomery County
Historic and Area Master Plans. The 1976 Locational Atlas and Index of Historic
Sites in Montgomery County Maryland ("Locational Atlas") has not
been amended as of this date to include the Property among the designated historic
sites in the County. From 1983 to 1985, the Maryland-National Capital Park and
Planning Commission ("M-NCPPC") undertook a review of the general
area surrounding the Property, culminating in the Gaithersburg Vicinity Master
Plan. As part of the Master Plan process, the Montgomery County Historic Preservation
Staff reviewed all sites eligible for historic designation. Those sites that
were determined to meet the County's criteria, attached as Exhibit "C",
were recommended for designation and listed as historic resources in the Master
Plan. As evidenced by its absence from the 1985 Master Plan's recommendations
for designation as a historic resource, attached as Exhibit "D",
the Property was not included as a potential historic resource. The Property
was subsequently reviewed again in 1990 by M-NCPPC in connection with its Gaithersburg
Vicinity Master Plan Amendment Stage III, Shady Grove Study Area Plan. It was
evaluated as a potential historic resource; however, it was not included in
the Plan's list of historic sites, as indicated by the Master Plan's 1990 Historic
Sites Plan, attached as Exhibit "E".
Significantly, in 1999, M-NCPPC undertook extensive review of the structure
at 9150 Darnestown Road, directly west of the Property, and ultimately removed
it from the Locational Atlas. As part of that review, the Montgomery County
Historic Preservation Staff again reviewed the Property and did not make any
recommendations regarding historic designation.
As part of Somerford Corporation's annexation petition and development proposal, the Rockville HDC is required to review the significance of the existing structure. On March 16, 1999, as an aside to a Preliminary Evaluation of 9150 Darnestown Road, Rockville HDC Staff observed the subject site and noted that it may warrant further investigation. (HPC Minutes, March 16, 1999, page 4 of 6). The proposed redevelopment of the Property in conjunction with the 9104 Darnestown Road site is the first time the Property has been placed directly before the HDC.
III. BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
A. Background
According to Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation records, attached as Exhibit "F", the house was built in 1928. A succession of owners (the particular owners are discussed below) occupied the Property before the current owner's parents purchased it in 1962. In the 1960s, significant modifications and additions to the interior and exterior of the house were made, altering the original design of the house. These modifications included expanding closets throughout the house, doubling the size of the master bedroom, adding a back porch, enclosing the front porch with screens, constructing a free-standing concrete block garage and installing an above-ground swimming pool. For the last several years, the current owner has not occupied the Property and instead leases it to a tenant.
B. Surrounding Area
By 1960, Darnestown Road
had evolved into a four-lane divided road classified as a major highway, as
indicated on the attached 1961 Master Plan, Exhibit "G". Darnestown
Road is currently classified as an arterial roadway by Montgomery County. In
this area, it operates as a major thoroughfare for traffic between the City
of Rockville and Interstate 270 (See Exhibit "K" for recent
photographs of Darnestown Road).
Other important activities occurred in the 1960s that dramatically altered the
area surrounding the Property. The City of Rockville approved a number of new
subdivisions including: Glenora Hills in 1964, creating 74 R-90 lots to the
southwest of the Property; Ivy Woods in 1965 and 1966, creating 4 R-S lots (subdivided
by the current owner's father) and 15 other lots directly south of the Property;
Carter Hills in 1969 in the PRU Zone, establishing 55 townhouse units and 35
single family lots south of Ivy Woods; and, a final section of Glenora Hills
in 1971. Highwood and Flat Top Acres, directly east of the Property, were developed
in the 1950s and grandfathered into the existing zoning scheme in Rockville.
In addition, over the course of the next twenty years, between 1975 and 1995,
the areas to the east and west were subdivided as well. The townhouse community
of Cambridge Heights to the east was approved in 1989 and the Viers property
and Rockshire to the west were approved in the 1990s. These subdivisions are
mapped on Exhibits "H" and "I". The property directly
to the west of the Property, at 9150 Darnestown Road, which, as was discussed
earlier, was determined by the Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission
not to have historic merit, is being offered for sale with "redevelopment
potential." Finally, the property directly to the north, the Thomas Farm,
was approved for a major mixed use development in 1999.
C. Historic and Cultural
Significance
1. Has character,
interest or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics
of the City
The house has been located
within Montgomery County for over 70 years and has never been recommended for
inclusion in the County's Locational Atlas. It is undistinguished, as will be
discussed below, and contributes no value to the development, heritage or cultural
characteristics of the City. Its location, abutting several modern subdivisions,
renders it an out of context edge property that does not emphasize any element
of the development of the City.
2. Has character,
interest or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics
of the County
In its two prior reviews
of the area, Montgomery County has not listed the Property as an historic resource.
It is evident from this omission that the County has determined that the Property
does not contribute to the development, heritage or cultural characteristics
of Montgomery County.
3. Has character, interest or value as part of the development, heritage
or cultural characteristics of the State or of the Nation
As stated above and as will
be discussed below, the house is undistinguished and does not contribute to
the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of the State of Maryland
or the Nation.
4. Is the site of
a significant historical event
The Property is not identified or associated with any historical event. Research at the Montgomery County Historical Society, Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission, Montgomery County Archives, M-NCPPC, as well as review of other periodicals did not reveal any significant event associated with the Property.
5. Is identified with a person or a group of persons who influenced society
In addition to the research of the Property not revealing any historical event, the research also did not identify any connection between the Property and any significant person or group of persons who influenced society. As the attached chain of ownership search indicates (Exhibit "J"), no historically relevant persons are connected with this site. Names associated with the site include Tolson, Cromwell, Seguin, Belson, Pease, Keys and Margelos/Boyd. The Keys family who owned this property is not affiliated with a prominent Montgomery County family according to the current owner, the daughter of Thomas and Mildred Keys.
6. Exemplifies the cultural, economic, social, political or historic heritage
of the County and its communities
As detailed below, the subject is a modest example of a housing type that is very common to Rockville, Montgomery County and surrounding areas.
D. Architectural and Design Significance
The house is a common example of the vernacular bungalow-style single family residence, abundantly popular throughout the nation from the beginning of the twentieth century into the 1930's. It does not possess the design significance required for designation. And while its overall original form remains largely recognizable, both the house and surrounding area have been heavily altered such that the subject does not satisfy the criteria for designation.
1. Embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method
of construction
The house, built circa
1928, is a mundane and modified example of the bungalow house type, popularly
derived from the Craftsman style of construction originating in Southern California
at the turn of the twentieth century. Numerous more authentic examples of this
type of vernacular residential construction can be found throughout the City
of Rockville and Montgomery County, including in Silver Spring, Cabin John and
Garrett Park. The bungalow was extremely popular as a suburban house style during
that period, spread throughout the nation by pattern books and popular culture
magazines (including the Craftsman).
The house itself is two stories and of the cross gable variety, with a front-gabled
sun porch creating the dominant effect of the building. (Exhibit K) This
porch has been enclosed with screening. The house's original ground level siding
has either been replaced or covered with synthetic siding. The gabled portions
on the second level and the dormer window are covered with wood shingling. As
mentioned above, the house has also been expanded both to the south and to the
west, in the form of single-level, flat-roofed, box-like attachments that do
not harmonize with the rest of the construction and therefore compromise its
integrity. There appears to be a mix of replacement and original windows throughout
the house.
As a result, it cannot be said that the house embodies the distinctive architectural
and design characteristics required for historic designation.
2. Represents the work of a master
As stated above, the subject is a vernacular example of house construction. Overwhelmingly, the bungalows built in Rockville, Montgomery County and the surrounding area, (and almost everywhere else in the nation they sprang up in the early twentieth century), were either assembled from a kit ordered through the mail or built by any number of local builders.
3. Possesses high
artistic value
The subject is a simplified and economically modest variety of bungalow house, especially common to the rural counterparts of the more concentrated streetcar suburb examples. The house possesses almost none of the significant characteristics of the higher style bungalow, or Craftsman houses, including exposed rafters and decorative eaves. Likewise, the porch, formed by the prominent front gable, evidences none of the distinctive detail typical of Craftsmen houses, or even of more common bungalow houses. Nor is there evidence of any sort of exceptional decorative treatment or embellishment anywhere on the exterior.
4. Represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction
This provision is not applicable to the Property under consideration.
5. Represents an established or visual feature of the neighborhood, community or county due to its singular physical characteristic or landscape
As detailed above, the Darnestown Road area in which the subject is located has undergone a series of major transitions over the course of the past forty years; from its widening to arterial roadway (Exhibit "K"), to the development of numerous suburban residential subdivisions on all sides of the property, to the current redevelopment of the Thomas Farm tract immediately across Darnestown Road and the potential redevelopment of the farmhouse property at 9150 Darnestown Road. Significantly, both the Thomas Farm and the 9150 Darnestown Road properties were reviewed by the HDC under the Historic Designation Criteria and determined not to warrant historic designation. While the Property has existed for approximately the past 70 years along this portion of Darnestown Road, it cannot be said that it possesses any "singular physical characteristic or landscape" to merit historic designation. As a small vernacular structure with numerous design modifications upon a small tract of land with no exceptional landscaping qualities, the house does not possess sufficient design or landscape significance to merit designation by the Rockville HDC.
IV. CONCLUSION
The Property possesses none of the characteristics required for historic designation
by the City of Rockville. Both its structural and functional integrity have
been compromised by the building alterations and the surrounding development,
as discussed above. Therefore, it has no cultural or historic significance,
nor does it possess any architectural or design significance.
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ANALYSIS OF 9110 DARNESTOWN ROAD UNDER
THE CITY OF ROCKVILLE
HISTORIC DISTRICT DESIGNATION CRITERIA
LIST OF EXHIBITS
A. City of Rockville Historic District Designation Criteria
B. Tax Map Showing Property
C. Montgomery County Historic Preservation Criteria
D. 1985 Approved and Adopted Gaithersburg and Vicinity Master Plan, pp. 114-117
E. 1990 Approved and Adopted Gaithersburg and Vicinity Master Plan Amendment, Shady Grove Study Area, pp. 43-44
F. Tax Record of Property from State Department of Assessments and Taxation website
G. 1961 Master Plan for the Vicinity of Rockville
H. Tax Map Showing Subdivisions Surrounding Property
I. Digital Orthophoto of Property and Surrounding Areas
J. Chain of Ownership Search
K. Photographs of Adjacent Roadway and Existing House