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Henry Brandenburg House
Inventory No.:
F-4-155
Other Name(s):
Bidle Hill Farm
Date Listed:
12/11/2020
Location:
9057 Myersville Road, Myersville, Frederick County
Category:
Structure
Period/Date of Construction:
1818-1917
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Description:
The Henry Brandenburg House is a three-bay, two-story vernacular brick dwelling with a hall-and-parlor plan, constructed circa 1833-1848, and three contemporaneous buildings: a shed with a brick bake oven, a spring house, and a smoke house. Facing south, the dwelling was constructed on an L-shaped plan with a brick two-story wing extending north from the west end of the north façade. The roof of the main block is covered with standing-seam metal. Interior end chimneys stand in the east and west gable ends. The south façade exhibits Flemish Bond brick with the entrance occupying the center bay and featuring a six-panel door with a three-light transom. Windows are 6/6 double-hung with bull nose casing, jack arches, and wood sills. Non-historic shutters have been applied flanking the windows. A two-step corbel brick cornice finishes the wall. A c. 1875 full-width frame entry porch with a shed roof is supported by brick piers. The eastern bays of the basement level are exposed beneath this porch. A batten door provides access to the basement in this exposed eastern half of the façade. The east and west facades of the main block are laid in six-course common bond, with a pair of small 2/2 sash windows in the attic and two 6/6 sash windows on the first and second floors, with the same paneled shutters as on the front. The circa 1860 kitchen ell was constructed of common bond brick on its west and north walls. Its gable roof is clad in standing seam metal. The centrally located chimney suggests the ell was built in two phases. The color of the chimney brick in this section also differs significantly from that used on the wall. Windows in this section are double hung, also with bull nose casing, but feature wood lintels and sills. Some of the 6/6 windows have been replaced with modern 1/1 sash. A door with a wood lintel with a row lock course above is present near the middle of the ell’s north wall. The one-story frame addition extending from the east side of the ell is clad in vinyl siding and features sliding glass doors. Vinyl siding also covers the ell’s east wall as the second floor. On the interior, the hall features a winding corner stair to the second level and an underlying stair to the cellar as well as access to the ell. A fireplace stands in the center of the hall’s west wall. It features pilasters with recessed panels with a vertical center bead, a raised panel breastplate above which is elaborate molding and a mantel shelf. A cast-iron stove insert is installed within the coated brick firebox. Window and door casing as well as the chair rail in the hall are beaded and molded. There is wide ogee base molding. Dentiled cornice molding is a later addition to the room. A partition divides the parlor at the fireplace, excluding it from what is now a smaller front room. The fireplace is framed with a simple molding and topped with a flat panel and pilasters with a molded shelf. Windows and doors are trimmed with a double bead. On the second floor, both chambers feature centrally located fireplaces in their respective side walls with mantelpieces matching those in the parlor, as well as dentiled cornice molding. In the rear ell, the door opening from the hall is cased with raised panels. The six-panel door leads down two steps to the dining room, which features a fireplace centered in the north wall with a simple mantel with a stone shelf. Two doors in the room’s original east wall access a 20th century addition. Another door to the west exits to the outside. A batten door adjacent to the fireplace leads to the kitchen, in which the original deep fireplace remains, now fitted with a stove. The kitchen also accesses the 20th century addition. Access to the second level is provided by enclosed stairs running along the rear wall of the ell. This area is also accessible through a batten door in the north wall of the west chamber. The second-floor level in the ell is four steps lower than the second-floor level of the main block.
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Significance:
The Henry Brandenburg House is architecturally significant as a well-preserved representative example of a type of farmhouse and associated outbuildings characteristic of the second quarter of the 19th century in Frederick County. It embodies characteristics of the Maryland Piedmont farmhouse in its three-bay symmetrical façade, side-gable roof with interior end chimneys, integrated ell, and hall and parlor plan. Located in Frederick County’s Middletown Valley in the Jackson Election District, the house was built by Henry Brandenburg in c. 1833-1848 and originally comprised a 90-plus acre farm. Henry resided at the property until his death in 1869 after which it remained under ownership of the Brandenburg family until the early 20th century. Subdivision of the property for residential development began in the late 20th century. In addition to the house, the property retains a smoke house, spring and wash house, and bake oven/shed. The house and outbuildings retain a high degree of integrity. The period of significance spans 1833, the presumed construction date of the house, to 1860, by which date the property had achieved its full development and current appearance.
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