Maryland Historical Trust Inventory No Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties Form

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1 Inventory No Maryland Inventory of 1. Name of Property (indicate preferred name) historic other 2. Location Chrobot House Margaret Price House street and number Hipsley Mill Road not for publication city, town Gaithersburg vicinity county Montgomery 3. Owner of Property (give names and mailing addresses of all owners) name Maryland Department of Natural Resources street and number telephone city, town Gaithersburg state MD zip code Location of Legal Description courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Montgomery County liber folio city, town Rockville tax map tax parcel tax ID number 5. Primary Location of Additional Data 6. Classification Contributing Resource in National Register District Contributing Resource in Local Historic District Determined Eligible for the National Register/Maryland Register Determined Ineligible for the National Register/Maryland Register Recorded by HABS/HAER Historic Structure Report or Research Report at MHT Other: Category Ownership Current Function Resource Count district public agriculture landscape Contributing Noncontributing building(s) private commerce/trade recreation/culture 3 buildings structure both defense religion sites site domestic social structures object education transportation objects funerary work in progress 3 Total government unknown health care vacant/not in use Number of Contributing Resources industry other: previously listed in the Inventory

2 7. Description Inventory No Condition excellent deteriorated x good ruins fair altered Prepare both a one paragraph summary and a comprehensive description of the resource and its various elements as it exists today. DESCRIPTION 1 The Chrobot House is located in Hipsley Mill Road in northern Montgomery County just off MD 650, near the community of Etchison. The property is owned by the Department of Natural Resources and is located within the boundaries of the Patuxent River State Park. The structure has Germanic influence, being banked into the hillside and having an exposed foundation on the first level of the front façade. The two story, five bay structure has a sidegable roof and is covered with a clapboard siding. The foundation is a combination of stone and brick and is parged. The roof is covered with metal and is punctuated by interior chimneys at both gable ends. The east façade, which is the front of the house, faces Hipsley Mill Road and is about 300 feet from the road. At the exposed basement level there are three porch supports 7 feet tall and one adjustable jack post supporting the north side where one of the supports deteriorated. Also at the basement level are two front door entrances, which was typical of Germanic house building in the 19 th century. The door in the northern central bay enters into a family room and the southern central door enters into a wash room. A two pane wood window is in the northernmost bay. Above the basement level, at the first floor level, a full width porch is 37 feet wide and 7 feet 9½ inches deep. Centered is a nine panel wood front door, exhibiting Green Revival influence with full transom and sidelights. On the north and south side of the front porch door are 2/2 sash wood windows. At the second story level there are three 2/2 sash wood windows. At the second and a half story level is a Gothic Revival influenced center cross gable of Gothic revival with a half round window. The west (rear) façade looks onto an ascending wooded lot. A central door is flanked on the north side by two sixpane wood windows and on the south by a single bathroom window. At the second floor level is a 2/2 sash wood window above the back door. On the southern side of the 2/2 sash window is a single bathroom window. At the basement level is a single six pane well window just below the 2/2 sash window on the first floor level. This window is sub level since the house is built into a hill. The north façade faces a washhouse out building in the northeast side, a wooded lot and an open field towards the Patuxent River about a 1/8 of a mile away. At the basement level is a double window, one being a six pane wood window and the other a single pane window. At the first floor level is a side entrance door that enters into a dining room. On the east side of that door is a 2/2 sash wood window. On the second floor level are two 2/2 sash wood windows. On the second and a half story level are two four pane single attic windows. There is an inside chimney that runs from the basement level and extends to about three feet above the pitch of the roof. At the basement level is a fireplace that isn t used. In the first floor level is a functional woodstove in the dining room. The south façade faces an open field, some brush, and a walking path that leads out to a corncrib out building. At the first floor level are two 2/2 sash wood windows. At the second floor level are two 2/2 sash wood windows. At the second and a half floor level are two four pane single windows. There is an inside chimney that runs from the basement level and extends to about three feet above the pitch of the roof. At the basement level is an oil furnace that vents into the chimney and on the first floor level is a concealed fireplace. 1 Source: Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Chrobot House documentation. Text modified for purposes of clarity.

3 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Warfield Farm Number 7 Page 1 The layout of the interior on the basement level consists of two rooms. The northern front door entrance enters into a family room with an exposed fireplace that is no longer functional. The southern door entrance enters into a wash/utility room with a furnace, a hot water heater and an oil tank for fuel. In the center of the two rooms are stairs leading to the first floor. The first floor has a central hall accessed by central doors from front and rear entries. This level features four functional rooms. A kitchen is on the northeast side and a dining room on the northwest side. On the south east side of the center hallway is a living room with a closet. On the southwest side is a full bathroom. From the center hallway are steps that leading to the second floor. The second floor features four and a half functional rooms. On the northeast side is a bedroom with a small closet. On the southeast side is a bedroom with a small closet. On the southwest side is a smaller bedroom with a closet and next to that closet at the top of the stairs is a half bathroom. Adjacent to the northeast bedroom are enclosed stairs leading to the attic. The unfinished attic runs the entire length of the house. A one story domestic outbuilding is located about 25 feet to the northeast and is easily accessible from the front basement level of the dwelling house. The structure is identified by Christopher Goodwin and Associates as a smokehouse dating from the early 20 th century. Wood clapboard walls rest on a concrete wall foundation. The concrete is rough with large aggregates and was once parged. The front facing gable roof has exposed rafter ends and is covered with standing seam metal. A vertical board door in the northwest elevation has exterior hinges. Single six light fixed windows lit the southeast and southwest elevations. A window opening on the northeast elevation has been boarded up. If the building was indeed built as a smokehouse, the windows would likely have been added later. 2 A poultry house is located north of the dwelling house. The one story concrete block structure is built into the hill slope and faces east. The shed roof is sheathed in corrugated metal. Fieldstone ruins of a barn, approximately 25 x 50, were identified in 1997 (see sketch map). A small wood frame with vertical siding was also photographed. More recent surveys have not located these structures. 2 Outbuilding descriptions from Katherine Grandine et al, R Christopher Goodwin & Associates. Patuxent River State Park, MHT MIHP form, M:15 98, p7:23 24, Charlie Mazurak photographs and sketch maps. Mazxurak identified the smokehouse as a springhouse, though no spring is located nearby. Curatorship documentation describes the building as a wash house.

4 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Warfield Farm Number 7 Page 2 Chrobot House, Dwelling house, front (south) façade, and outbuilding,

5 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Warfield Farm Number 7 Page 3 B. Deale, Dept of Natural Resources, 1979 Front staircase, Charles Mazurak, DNR, 1997

6 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Warfield Farm Number 7 Page 4 First floor and basement level of dwelling house

7 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Warfield Farm Number 7 Page 5 East façade of dwelling house (right) and springhouse (left)

8 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Warfield Farm Number 7 Page 6 West façade of dwelling house Charles Mazurak, 1997

9 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Warfield Farm Number 7 Page 7 East façade (left) and rear façades of dwelling house. Outbuilding to left of dwelling house. Charles Mazurak, 1997

10 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Warfield Farm Number 7 Page 8 Domestic outbuilding, possibly smokehouse

11 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Warfield Farm Number 7 Page 9 Poultry house, located north of dwelling house

12 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Warfield Farm Number 7 Page 10 Sketch map by Charles Mazurek, Department of Natural Resources,

13 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Warfield Farm Number 7 Page 11 Drawing by Charles Mazurek, Department of Natural Resources,

14 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Warfield Farm Number 7 Page 12 Topographic map showing Chrobot House (circle), M NCPPC GIS, 2009

15 8. Significance Inventory No Period Areas of Significance Check and justify below agriculture economics health/medicine performing arts archeology education industry philosophy architecture engineering invention politics/government art entertainment/ landscape architecture religion commerce recreation law science communications ethnic heritage literature social history community planning exploration/ maritime history transportation conservation settlement military other: Specific dates 1903 Architect/Builder Construction dates Evaluation for: National Register Maryland Register not evaluated Prepare a one-paragraph summary statement of significance addressing applicable criteria, followed by a narrative discussion of the history of the resource and its context. (For compliance projects, complete evaluation on a DOE Form see manual.) Summary of Significance: The Chrobot House is a frame residence banked into the hillside, with an exposed stone foundation on the front façade and two entry doors at the basement level. This distinctive method of construction is a Germanic tradition found extensively through Frederick County but relatively rare in Montgomery County residences. Lawrence and Katie Chrobot, German immigrants, are believed to have built the house in The house exhibits a mix of stylistic features with its Greek Revival style half round gable window and front door with transom and sidelights, and Gothic Revival steeply pitched cross gable and full width porch. Located in the Patuxent River State Park, the Price House is owned by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and is inhabited and maintained through the State Curatorship program. The property includes a domestic outbuilding, identified as a smokehouse or wash house. History: Lawrence Chrobot ( ) purchased 100 acres of Great Meadows for $900 in He and his wife Katie Chrobot (b1851) were said to be German natives who immigrated to the United States in Other Chrobots settled in the area. Relationships with Lawrence and Katie Chrobot have not yet been established. Another resource in the Patuxent River State Park is the H E Chrobot House (c1900) on Jennings Chapel Road. Fannie Etchison, of 7211 Hawkins Creamery Road, married a Chrobot. She was the daughter of Marcellus Etchison, namesake for the nearby Etchison community at Damascus and Laytonsville Roads. 4 3 Christina van Norman reference, DNR documentation. 4 Resource Scott-Etchison House. Fannie Chrobot s children attended Etchison School. See Clare Lise Kelly Etchison Historic District, MIHP form, H E Chrobot House in Patuxent River State Park, MHT MIHP form, M:15-98, Katherine Grandine et al, , pp7:10, 7:23.

16 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Number 8 Page 1 The form of the house is Germanic in style. German influence came into Montgomery County in force beginning in the early 19 th century: By the late 1700 s a wave of migrants from Pennsylvania traveled south in search of less densely settled, cheaper land and many settled in Montgomery County. In contrast to tobacco planters, who were dependent on slave labor and one staple crop, Mid Atlantic farmers introduced Germanicinfluenced farming practices. Migrants from the north brought new building types and settlement patterns that had dramatic impact on Montgomery County s landscape. Residents built houses and outbuildings into hillsides. Hillside siting is a distinguishing characteristic of Germanic architecture. Typical were two and a half story structures with an exposed basement that often contained a kitchen. This Germanic house type, known as the Pennsylvania Farmhouse, were dwellings with two adjacent front doors usually centered on the front façade. 5 The house is believed to have been built in A cornerstone and tax assessment records support this construction date. 6 In addition, the styling of the house is comparable to other houses in the area dating from this era. The Rezin Duvall House (1918, Resource #11/23) at 9011 Hawkins Creamery Road is also a three bay house with center cross gable and has a similar staircase with closed stringer and turned posts. The H E Chrobot House, Jennings Chapel Road is located on a farm established c1900. The house has a center cross gable roof with a similar pitch as the Lawrence Chrobot House. The familial relationship between these resources is unknown. 7 The paired attic windows and gable cornice returns are similar to the John Layman House (1908), 3955 Hipsley Mill Road. Earlier, the tract was inhabited by Joseph Snyder who owned the 100 acre property from 1857 to His house appears on an 1869 survey map when Hipsley Mill Road was platted. The house is shown as a two bay, side gable structure with a central chimney (see illustration). The depiction of the house and its location may be general and not intended for accuracy. The location of Snyder s house is unknown. Snyder had purchased the property for $900 back in The property had belonged to William Richard from , and before that it was part of George Ellicott s holdings. 8 The road was laid out to provide access to Warfield s Mill in 5 Clare Lise Cavicchi (aka Kelly), Places from the Past, pp 9-11 (M-NCPPC 2001). 6 Maryland Department of Natural Resources Curatorship documentation form. 7 Clare Lise Cavicchi (aka Kelly), MHT MIHP form 11/23, Rezin Duvall Farm. Patuxent River State Park, MHT MIHP form, M:15-98, Katherine Grandine et al, , pp7:10, 7:23. 8 Deeds H:107 (1803); JGH 7:151 & JGH 6:192 (1857). Source for extent of Great Meadows tract: tax assessment records legal descriptions, M-NCPPC GIS data layer. Snyder built a house on his land between 1857 and The Martenet and Bond map of 1865 shows Snyder living in this vicinity. The 100 acre tract is the only property Snyder ever owned (Grantor/grantee index, County Land Records). Snyder s property was part of a larger tract called Great Meadows that extended north at least as far as Mullinix Mill Road. The road plat was recorded , Deed EBP 7:493.

17 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Number 8 Page 2 Howard County. The only previous access to the mill had been from a very hilly private road. Access across the Patuxent River was via Rickard s Ford, so labeled on the 1869 plat. In 1876, Snyder took out a mortgage for $ Snyder was to convey his Great Meadows property to Lyde Griffith unless Snyder repaid the mortgage by Snyder described the property as all the real estate which Iam possessed of, and on which I reside, supposed to contain one hundred acres, more or less. The mortgage was later renegotiated and assigned in 1882 to William B. Mobley, this time for $ Snyder sold the property to Mobley in 1892 for $900. The next year Lawrence Chrobot bought the property from Mobley for the same amount. The Chrobot family sold the property in 1935 for $3,000. The property went through a succession of owners over the next few decades. In 1971, owner Margaret O. Gallagher Price conveyed 59.4 acres of the property to the State of Maryland. 10 Park acquisition for the Patuxent River State Park began in The Patuxent River State Park contains 123 historic resources. In 1979, the, in a comprehensive evaluation of historic resources in the Park, identified the Chrobot House (Margaret Price House) among the highest ranking resources in the park. The Chrobot House was added to the State Curatorship program in The program, established in 1982, provides life tenancy for private individuals in exchange for rehabilitation and maintenance of historic buildings mortgage, Deed EBP 16:21; 1882 mortgage EBP 27: Deeds 11 Patuxent River State Park, MHT MIHP form, M:15-98, Katherine Grandine et al, Evaluation discussed p8:7.

18 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Number 8 Page 3 Chain of Title 1803 George Ellicott and wife To William Richards 1857 Greenbury L Richard To Catherine Duvall 1857 Rueben & Catherine Duvall of Howard County To Joseph Snyder 100 acres pt Great Meadows 100 acres pt Great Meadows $900 for 100 acres pt The Great Meadows 1876 Joseph Snyder to Lyde Griffith Mortgage $ acres pt The Great Meadows 1882 Joseph Snyder to William B Mobley mortgage $ acres pt The Great Meadow 1892 Joseph Snyder to William B Mobley $900 for 100 acres pt The Great Meadow 1893 Mobley to Lawrence Chrobot $900 for 100 acres pt The Great Meadow 1935 Chrobot to Moore $3000, Equity ac, pt The Great Meadows 8 acres + 17 sq perches 1936 Moore to Neely $10 consideration 100 ac, pt The Great Meadows 8 acres + 17 sq perches 1942 Neely To Eggleston 100 ac, pt The Great Meadows 1943 Egglestons to William H Holmes Jr and Virginia Mae Holmes 1947 Holmes to Louis & Helen Warren Allinger and Warren Louis Allinger $40 consideration Equity acres pt Great Meadows $10 consideration Pt Great Meadows 100 acres, excepting ac to Hostick 1947 H:107 JGH 7:151 JGH 6:192 EBP 16:21 EBP 16:21 JA 36:143 JA 36: : :93 868: : :176

19 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Number 8 Page Allingers to Margaret O. Gallagher $5 consideration 1823: acres (pt of acres according to survey made by S R Maddox, ) Pt tract Great Meadows 1971 Margaret O. Gallagher, now known as Margaret Gallagher Price, by reason on remarriage, and Robert E Price her husband To State of Maryland 59.4 acres 4081:247

20 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Number 8 Page 5

21 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Number 8 Page 6

22 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Number 8 Page 7 Detail road plat 1869 survey EBP 7: USGS map

23 9. Major Bibliographical References Inventory No See continuation sheet. 10. Geographical Data Acreage of surveyed property Acreage of historical setting Quadrangle name 59.4 acres Quadrangle scale: Verbal boundary description and justification 11. Form Prepared by name/title Curatorship Program, Department of Natural Resources and Clare Lise Kelly, M-NCPPC organization date street & number telephone city or town state The Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties was officially created by an Act of the Maryland Legislature to be found in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 41, Section 181 KA, 1974 supplement. The survey and inventory are being prepared for information and record purposes only and do not constitute any infringement of individual property rights. return to: Maryland Department of Planning 100 Community Place Crownsville, MD

24 Maryland Inventory of Inventory No Name Number 8 Page 1 BIBLIOGRAPHY Coxe, Ellen K., Margaret Price House, #15 71, MHT MIHP form, August Grandine, Katherine, Chris Heidenrich, Jeff Mamon, R Christopher Goodwin & Associates. Patuxent River State Park, MHT MIHP form, M:15 98, Hopkins, G. M. map, Kelly, Clare Lise. Inventory forms: 11/23 Rezin Duvall Farm, 9011 Hawkins Creamery Road. 14/11 Scott Etchison House, 7211 Hawkins Creamery Road. 15/29 Etchison Historic District, Land Records, Montgomery County. Martenet and Bond map, Mazurak, Charlie. Department of Natural Resources, photographs and sketch maps, USGS topographic maps, 1909, Van Norman, Christina. Maryland State Curator Hipsley Mill Road. Source information DNR.

Maryland Historical Trust Inventory No. 15/6 Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties Form

Maryland Historical Trust Inventory No. 15/6 Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties Form Inventory No. 15/6 Maryland Inventory of 1. Name of Property (indicate preferred name) historic Becraft Farm other 2. Location street and number 28500 Ridge Road not for publication city, town Mount Airy