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Photo credit: Jennifer Falkinburg, 08/22/2003 		West Montgomery Avenue Historic District
Inventory No.: M: 26-10
Date Listed: 5/29/1975
Location: Rockville, Montgomery County
Category: District
Period/Date of Construction: 1880-1900
Resources: 79 (24 contributing, 0 non-contributing)
Description: The West Montgomery Avenue Historic District is primarily a residential area with single-family homes predominating; several churches and homes converted to offices reflect both the old residential character and the new uses to which historic buildings are being put. The majority of the properties within the district date from the 1880s, with a few older homes and somewhat more from later periods. The predominant character of the district is set by the rows of Victorian houses in a vernacular residential mode with Eastlake and Stick Style influences. The homes which provide the flavor of the district were generally built between 1880 and 1900. Construction is frame with clapboard, shiplapped, or tongue-and-groove siding, with wood shingles frequently used for contrast. Many of the homes feature towers, elaborate porch balustrades, cornice trim, and other typical features of the era. One identifying feature of the district is a form of bay window which has been identified with homes built by Edwin West, a local builder. This "Rockville Bay" has a semi-octagonal ground floor plan with a rectangular second-floor plan. The second floor of the bay, therefore, overhangs the ground floor on the corners, allowing the builder to use bracket and arch motifs to give the entire bay visual unity. While the majority of the structures in the district are residences, also included are attorneys' offices, churches and parsonages, a funeral home, a former hotel, the headquarters of the Montgomery County Historical Society, an 1890 structure built for use as a private academy and subsequently used as the public library and for church purposes, and a graveyard remaining from a church demolished c. 1900. The churches interspersed among the residences reflect different aspects of the Gothic Revival style. The one remaining hotel, later used as a sanitarium, recalls the summer resort character of the town in the time of the district's construction "boom." The West Montgomery Avenue Historic District shows in its style and setting the visual and aesthetic qualities of a Victorian county seat. The district achieves a sense of cohesiveness through the consistency of style, rhythm of spacing, similarity of style and massing, and the predominance of clapboard and shingle materials. Many of the structures remain in original condition and remodeling that has occurred within the district has not impaired the effect of an 1890 neighborhood. Significance: The structures within the boundary of the West Montgomery Avenue Historic District present a summary of the history of Rockville. Rockville became the County seat when Montgomery County was created in 1776. Through most of the 19th century, Rockville was a courthouse village surrounded by agricultural land. Some structures remain from this period. Rockville remained a sleepy town until the coming of the Metropolitan Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1873. Summer and weekend visitors stepped off the train to be taken in carriages to one of three grand hotels. The only remaining hotel in the district dating to this period is the former Woodlawn Hotel, later called the Chestnut Lodge Sanitarium. Around the resort trade, Rockville rapidly expanded in size and population. Many summer hotel patrons built summer residences in the district, and some stayed to live year round. Professional land developers also constructed houses, but by 1900 economic depression ended Rockville's building boom. Following the Victorian growth spurt, Rockville expanded slowly in size and population until rapid growth began following World War II. The West Montgomery Avenue Historic District is significant as a surviving contiguous area of a small 19th century town. It's structures strongly present the scope of Rockville's social, cultural, and architectural history.

District Resources (79) (24 contributing, 0 non-contributing)

From associated listing in National Register nomination form. C = Contributing, NC = non-contributing, blank = not evaluated.

AddressStatusResource Name and MIHP (if any)
101 N. Adams StreetCM: 26-10-14 -- Robb-Higgins-Ward House
103 S. Adams StreetCM: 26-10-2 -- Rockville Academy
106 N. Adams StreetCM: 26-10-13 -- Jones-Peter-Muth House
109 N. Adams StreetCM: 26-10-11 -- Darby House
100 Forest AvenueCM: 26-10-31 -- Talbot-Abbe House
108 Forest AvenueCM: 26-10-57 -- Edwin Smith House
101 W. Jefferson StreetCM: 26-10-22 -- Rockville Christian Church (Bell Tower Building)
104 W. Jefferson Street (MD 28)CM: 26-10-3 -- Prettyman House
Jefferson Street (MD 28) & Van Buren StreetCM: 26-10-25 -- Baptist Cemetery
11 Laird StreetCM: 26-7-2 -- Greene House
103 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28)CM: 26-10-1 -- Beall-Dawson House
117 W. Montgomery Avenue (MS 28)CM: 26-10-27 -- Lowry Villa (The Blue House)
227 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28)CM: 26-10-30 -- Morrow House
300 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28)CM: 26-10-35 -- Pumphrey's Funeral Home
409 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28)CM: 26-10-54 -- Veirs-England-Ward Villa
500 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28)CM: 26-10-4 -- Woodlawn Hotel (Chestnut Lodge Sanitarium)
309 Potomac StreetCM: 26-10-87 -- Charles Brewer House
15 Wall StreetCM: 26-10-85 -- Thompson House
16 Wall StreetCM: 26-10-62 -- Gude Cottage
19 Wall StreetCM: 26-10-63 -- Garrett Cottage
21 Wall StreetCM: 26-10-64 -- Green-Headley-Lai House
25 Wall StreetCM: 26-10-33 -- Kilgour House (Cinderella House)
26 Wall StreetCM: 26-10-34 -- Yearley-Conway House
21 Wood LaneCM: 26-10-39 -- Jerusalem M.E. Church
5 N. Adams Street M: 26-10-16 -- Jenkins-Miller-McFarland House
9 N. Adams Street M: 26-10-15 -- Baptist Parsonage
10 S. Adams Street M: 26-10-69 -- Quality Hill Cottage
12 S. Adams Street M: 26-10-21 -- Jerkinhead Cottage
14 S. Adams Street M: 26-10-20 -- Bessie Lyddane House
39 N. Adams Street  
102 N. Adams Street M: 26-10-80 -- Robert Peter House
107 N. Adams Street M: 26-10-10 -- Grahame House
108 N. Adams Street M: 26-10-12 -- House at Wood Lane
14 Forest Avenue M: 26-10-89 -- Dawson-Thomas House
18 Forest Avenue M: 26-10-94 -- Henderson-Saunders House
112 Forest Avenue M: 26-10-58 -- Presbyterian Manse
107 W. Jefferson Street (MD 28) M: 26-10-23 -- Cooke Luckett House
111 W. Jefferson Street (MD 28) M: 26-10-24 -- Methodist Parsonage
39 W. Montgomery Avenue M: 26-10-17 -- Judge Anderson House
100 W. Montgomery Avenue M: 26-10-19 -- Rebecca T. Veirs House
110-112 W. Montgomery Avenue M: 26-10-70 -- Rockville United Methodist Cottage
111 W. Montgomery Avenue M: 26-10-95 -- Stonestreet Medical Museum (Dr. E.E. Stonestreet's Office)
114 W. Montgomery Avenue M: 26-10-8 -- Edwin West House (Daisy Magruder House)
115 W. Montgomery Avenue M: 26-10-26 -- Stokes House
201 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-41 -- Wagner House
203 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-29 -- Wagman House
205 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-42 -- Sonner House
208 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-6 -- Speare House
212 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-43 -- Henderson House (The Judge's Chambers)
214 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-71 -- Thomas L. Dawson House
215 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-72 -- Rockville Presbyterian Church
217 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-44 -- The Annex (King House)
218 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-5 -- Daniel F. Owens House (Ricketts House)
222 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-37 -- Williams Farmhouse (Dowell House)
223 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-45 -- Old Episcopal Rectory
229 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-46 -- Miss Lucy Simpson House (Rockville Institute)
301 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-47 -- Welsh's Folly
307 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-73 -- Johnston House
310 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-48 -- Rosenberger House
311 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-74 -- Chabad House
314 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-49 -- Victorian Stick-style Cottage
318 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-51 -- Allen-Prettyman House
400 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-51 -- Duncan House
401 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-52 -- Jones-Kelly House
402 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-75 -- Stimek-Deighton House
405 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-53 -- McDonald-Gilchrist House
411 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-55 -- Conklin House
415 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-10-76 -- Charles Viett, Jr. House
419 W. Montgomery Avenue (MD 28) M: 26-7-3 -- Braunberg House
8 Thomas Street M: 26-10-88 -- Chinn House
10 Thomas Street M: 26-10-61 -- Dr. Willson Cottage
16 Thomas Street M: 26-10-32 -- Craig House
101 S. Van Buren Street M: 26-10-38 -- Sophia Higgins House (Waters House)
105 S. Van Buren Street M: 26-10-9 -- Almoney House
11 Wall Street M: 26-10-83 -- Wire-Vitol House
12 Wall Street M: 26-10-84 -- England House
22 Wall Street M: 26-10-86 -- Wootton Bungalow
17 Wood Lane M: 26-10-40 -- Jerusalem M.E. Parsonage
41 Wood Lane