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Description:
Oakland, currently known as the Crown Rose Estate, is situated just outside the historic village of Petersville. A large front yard with several trees of old age separates the main house from Jefferson Pike. The façade of the house, built in the mid-19th century, faces south towards the road. Surrounding the house to the north and west are several outbuildings, including a smokehouse, two springhouses, a cottage, and a barn. The main house is a modified double-pile plan of two stories, with two 1 ½-story wings extending from the east and west sides of the house and a two-story ell extending to the north from the back of the house. The moderately pitched gable roof is covered with asphalt shingles. A prominent portico of four Tuscan columns is centered on the principal (south) façade. The walls are of frame construction, covered with clapboards, set on a foundation of random stone. The façade is comprised of a five-bay central section with two-bay wings extending from either side. The windows are 6/9 on the first floor and 6/6 on the second floor, all of double-hung construction. The wings, constructed in about 1935, are identical from the exterior, with two 6/6 windows on the first floor and a double 6-light casement window set in a dormer on the second floor. The central section of the house is a double-pile center-hall plan with the exception of the east side of the first floor, which has one room extending from the front to the rear walls. On the west side of the center hall is a parlor to the south and the dining room to the north. The east room, known as the “China Room”, is a ballroom. On the second floor, there are four bedrooms, with two on either side of the hall. On the south (front) side, a bathroom is located between the two front bedrooms. The east wing, added after 1935, is a single room on both the first and second floors. The matching west wing has two rooms on both first and second floors. The first floor of the ell wing has three rooms, a buttery followed by two kitchens, the second possibly being an original detached summer kitchen. On the second floor, two bedrooms occupy the ell wing. Interior features include a staircase, curving at the rear before extending up to the second floor landing. The balustrade is made of walnut, with two turned balusters to each step, and a turned newel at the base. The hall features early-20th-century wallpaper and an early electric light fixture. The front parlor features a black marble fireplace surround and mantel, original crystal chandelier, and plaster “ogee” moldings. The wallpaper in the parlor is probably the oldest to survive in the house. The ballroom features Oriental-themed wallpaper and a mantel with two sets of fluted columns. To the north of the house stands a square frame smokehouse with a pyramidal roof. A small frame springhouse stands to the northwest of the house, covered by a pyramidal roof. To the west of this springhouse stands a larger gable-roofed stone springhouse with two additional rooms. A bank barn stands several hundred yards to the northwest of the stone springhouse. Though the barn structure is of mid-20th-century construction, the stone foundation beneath it is older. To the east of the house is a bomb shelter, built in the mid-20th century during the Cold War era. A cottage, of late 19th or early 20th century construction, stands to the northeast of the house, built of frame covered in clapboards, with a gable roof. A rose garden of circular design, delineated by brick terraced walls, occupies one section of the back yard of the house.
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Significance:
Oakland is architecturally significant as a representative example of the vernacular domestic architecture of the Central Maryland region in the mid-19th century. Constructed between 1865 and 1860 by Dr. Horatio Claggett, Oakland reflects a vernacular interpretation of mid-19th century architectural fashion in its symmetrical façade with low-pitched roof, its entrance with transom and sidelights, and in its interior decorative elements. In 1935 the property was acquired by investment banker Charles Delmar, who added the portico and flanking wings in the spirit of the American Country House movement. The property derives additional historical significance for its full complement of domestic and agricultural buildings, including two springhouses, a smokehouse, a bank barn, a cottage, and a Cold War-era bomb shelter, all of which reflect its fundamental association with the agricultural economy of the region and its evolution over a century of use. Oakland retains a high degree of integrity. Throughout much of the interior, moldings, architraves, mantels, and furnishings remain intact. The period of significance, 1856-1962, begins with the construction of the main house and extends through the construction of the bomb shelter, during which the property substantially achieved its current form and appearance.
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