Appendix - Source Material: Community Heritage and Culture Elements

Source Material: Community Heritage and Culture Element M-NCPPC, African-American Historic and Cultural Resources in Prince George’s County, Maryland, (February 2012) M-NCPPC, Approved Anacostia Trails Heritage Area Management Plan, (September 2001) M-NCPPC, Approved Countywide Green Infrastructure Plan, (June 2005) M-NCPPC, Approved Historic Sites and Districts Plan, (June 2010) M-NCPPC, Approved Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment for Tuxedo Road/Arbor Street/Cheverly Metro Area, (April 2005) M-NCPPC, Glenn Dale/Seabrook/Lanham and Vicinity Approved Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment, (March 2010) M-NCPPC, Historic Contexts in Prince George’s County, M-NCPPC, (August 1991) M-NCPPC, Historic Fairmount Heights, Prince George’s County, Maryland, (February 2012) M-NCPPC, Kenilworth Avenue and Town of Cheverly Industrial Study, (September 2015) M-NCPPC, Largo-Lottsford Approved Master Plan and Adopted Sectional Map Amendment, (July 1990) M-NCPPC, Prince George’s County, Maryland, Cemetery Preservation Manual, (December 2010) M-NCPPC, Plan 2035: Prince George’s Approved General Plan, (May 2014) M-NCPPC, Postbellum Archeological Resource in Prince George’s County, Maryland: A Historic Context and Research Guide, MNCPPC, (March 2010) Maryland Historical Trust (MHT), Preserve Maryland, Statewide Preservation Plan 2014-2018, Maryland Historical Trust, (January 2014), http://mht.maryland.gov/documents/PDF/PreserveMaryland_plan2014.pdf M-NCPPC, Prince George’s County Landscape Manual, (December 2010) M-NCPPC Department of Parks and Recreation, M-NCPPC-owned Historic Sites and Resources in Prince George’s County, Maryland, (2015) United States Department of Interior and National Park Service, Archeology and Historic Preservation: Secretary of the Interior’s Standard’s for Preservation Planning, National Park Service, (June 2001), https://www.nps.gov/history/local-law/arch_stnds_1.htm

Appendix: Community Heritage and Culture Element

Section 1.1.: Historical Background: Cheverly Sector Plan Boundary Area The area encompassed within the boundaries of the Cheverly Sector Plan area was established as an earlytwentieth-century suburb in western Prince George’s County, approximately one mile from the northeastern border of Washington, D.C. Cheverly is bordered on the west by the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, on the north Landover Road, and on the south Maryland Route 50.

The land on which the Cheverly Sector Plan is situated in the Beaver Dam Creek watershed was originally the home of Anacostia Indians who farmed and hunted the tree-covered land and fished the waters of the Anacostia River and its tributaries. They were displaced by colonials who acquired the land as grants from Charles, Third Lord Baltimore, in 1685 and 1686, ten years before this part of Prince George’s County was formed from Charles County. 1 Mount Hope (PG: 69-024-11), constructed circa 1839 by Fielder Magruder, Jr., is the oldest house in the community. At its largest, the Mount Hope plantation contained 843 acres. 2 After Magruder’s death in 1888, the property changed hands several times until a 193-acre parcel, including Mount Hope (PG Historic Site #69-024-11), was purchased by Robert Marshall in 1918. Marshall, a former stockbroker and land developer from Ohio, purchased the surrounding acreage and began to plat the neighborhood of “Cheverly” by 1919. Marshall lived in Mount Hope where he undertook a restoration of the house. 3 Suburban development within the Cheverly Sector Plan boundary area began in earnest in the 1920s. Marshall served as president of the Washington Suburban Realty Company, and platted seven sections of Cheverly between 1918 and 1926. Taking advantage of the natural topography, Marshall designed Cheverly to meld with the surrounding curving, hilly landscape. Marshall named his new neighborhood after Cheverly Gardens, an adjoining 43-acre subdivision he acquired in 1918 near Landover Station.

Marketed as a “modern” subdivision with many conveniences, including “paving, electricity, highpressure water main, schools, etc.”, Marshall’s subdivision was quickly improved and in October constructed 34 pattern book houses between 1921 and 1925, the majority of which were designed by Sears, Roebuck and Company and McClure Homes Company. 4 By 1923, all roads in Cheverly were surfaced and street lamps installed. That same year, the first school for the neighborhood was constructed.

By 1924, more than 25 houses were built in the neighborhood and more than 350 lots had been sold.

Houses ranged in price from $5,000 to more than $15,000. The majority of lots in Cheverly were improved by individual owners; however, several were improved by speculative builders. S.A. Melius of Hyattsville was one of several builders who purchased lots in Cheverly for development. 5 In 1927, after a failed attempt to redevelop Forest Road into a grand avenue leading to the Beaver Dam Country Club (now the Prince George’s Country Club), Robert Marshall lost control of the Washington Suburban Realty Company and was replaced by Edwin Dutton. 6 In 1929, noted builder and developer 1

Raymond Bellamy, Jr., “The Town of Cheverly, Maryland-Plantation to Planned Community,” 1981, 1-2.

Raymond Bellamy, Jr., “Mount Hope (PG: 69-11),” National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form (March 1978), 8:1-2.

3 Bellamy, “Mount Hope (PG: 69-11),” 8:1-2.

4 Raymond W. Bellamy, Jr., “The Town of Cheverly, Maryland: Plantation to Planned Community,” written for Cheverly Day, May 11, 1996, 14.

5 “S.A. Melius Acquires Several Cheverly Lots,” The Washington Post, 3 July 1927.

6 Bellamy, “The Town of Cheverly,” 6.

2

Harry Wardman purchased the rights to develop Cheverly at a cost of two million dollars. 7 However, Wardman was financially overextended and fell into bankruptcy on the heels of the Great Depression. In May 1931, a public auction of 334 lots was held to “satisfy foreclosure” of the Cheverly Corporation. 8 That same year, the Town of Cheverly was incorporated.

The loss of prestige that resulted from the public auction combined with the economic constraints of the 1930s slowed development of the town. It was not until after World War II (1941-1945) that construction activity began to resume. Several churches were built and the Town acquired the ten-acre Town Park. In 1958, Cheverly expanded by one-third with the annexation of the Cheverly Industrial Park. Later in the twentieth century, expansion of the Metrorail line to Cheverly in 1978 solidified the community as a commuter suburb of Washington, D.C. There are eight Prince George’s County Historic Sites within the boundaries of the Cheverly Sector Plan:

7 8

“Cheverly Has New Finance Plan,” The Washington Post, 15 September 1929.

“Public Auction,” The Washington Post, 2 May 1931.

Section 1.2.: Prince George’s County Designated Historic Sites and Resources in Cheverly Sector Plan: PG:72-43

Arthur Jr. & Louise Ridgely Farmstead -Demolished for Addison Road Metro Station

8302-8304 Central Avenue

PG: 72-58 Beaver Heights

Cheverly

Cheverly

Inventory updated Phase 2 (2013).

PG:69-24

Cheverly Historic Community (No Documentation on File)

PG:69-14

Crawford's Adventure Spring

PG: 69-13 Magruder Spring (Cheverly Spring) Inventory updated Phase 3 (2013).

Cheverly

Crest Avenue & 59th Avenue in Cheverly Nature Park

Cheverly

Cheverly Avenue east of Columbia Park Cheverly Rd., in Magruder Spring Park

PG:69-11

Mount Hope (Gast House, Crestlawn)

1 Cheverly Circle

Cheverly

PG:69-25

Mount Hope Slave Ruins (No Documentation on File) *(HPS has new MIHP form)

Behind 18 Cheverly Circle

Cheverly

PG:69-22

Raymond W. Bellamy House (Belmar)

2819 Cheverly Avenue

Cheverly

PG:69-29

Schwier & Hilliard "Sears" Houses

2200-2202 Cheverly Avenue

Section 1.3.: Historic Sites in Cheverly Sector Plan Area

(1977) PG: 69-024-11, Mount Hope (National Register), 1 Cheverly Circle Built in 1839 and 1860s, Mount Hope is a two-story, side-gabled frame house with four brick chimneys and a one-story kitchen wing. It was begun in 1839 by Fielder Magruder, Jr., and enlarged in the 1860s, possibly on the site of an eighteenth-century house. A stone outbuilding from the earliest period still stands on the grounds. Mount Hope is probably the last remaining antebellum frame plantation house inside the Beltway in Prince George’s County. It was the home from 1919 to 1929 of Cheverly’s founder, Robert Marshall, and has been the town’s official symbol since 1931. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, Mount Hope is protected by an easement held by the Maryland Historical Trust.

Mount Hope was designated a Prince George’s County Historic Site in 1981.

PG: 69-024-13, Magruder Spring, Cheverly Avenue According to local lore, British soldiers stopped at this spring on August 24, 1814 as they marched through Prince George’s County before the Battle of Bladensburg. The spring was the water source for the Mount Hope tobacco plantation. It functioned in the 1920s as the water source for the new community of Cheverly and was prominently featured in original subdivision plats. Magruder Spring was designated a Prince George’s County Historic Site in 1988.

PG: 69-024-14, Crawford’s Adventure Spring, 3400 Belleview Avenue British soldiers stopped at this spring on August 25, 1814, in the course of their retreat from Washington, D.C. The spring is marked by a large beech tree in the Cheverly Nature Park, an area set aside as a park when Section 7 of the Town of Cheverly was platted in 1925. Crawford’s Adventure Spring was designated a Prince George’s County Historic Site in 1988.

PG: 69-024-22, Raymond W. Bellamy House (Belmar), 2819 Cheverly Avenue Built in 1925, the Raymond W. Bellamy House is a two-story frame dwelling in the Spanish Mission style with a hip roof and shaped parapets. It stands on extensively landscaped lots. It was built from the “Alhambra” mail-order house plan then available through Sears, Roebuck and Company, and was one of 23 mail-order houses built (1923-1925) by the development company in the newly platted community of Cheverly. It is one of two known examples of the “Alhambra” model in Prince George’s County.

Raymond W. Bellamy House was designated a Prince George’s County Historic Site in 1990.

PG: 69-024-26, Cheverly United Methodist Church, 2801 Cheverly Avenue Built in 1942, this Gothic Revival stone church has a compatibly designed 1970 education wing. The stained glass windows were fabricated by the Baut Studios, a renowned firm specializing in high-quality windows and doors. The church is an excellent example of a mid-20th century Gothic-Revival style church and is a centrally located landmark in the Cheverly community. The church is protected by a preservation easement held by The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Cheverly United Methodist Church was designated a Prince George’s County Historic Site in 2010.

PG: 69-005-10, Evergreen Cemetery, 3600 52nd Avenue, Bladensburg Evergreen Cemetery is a significant cultural landscape in the Town of Bladensburg. Residents of the town have been burying their dead in the cemetery since at least 1749. The Cemetery was the site of an early Presbyterian Church in the western part of Prince George’s County. One acre was dedicated by Archibald Edmonston in 1725 for the construction of a house of worship for the Presbyterian congregation on the Anacostia River. A church was built ca. 1725 and dismantled in 1818 when the congregation moved into the Town of Bladensburg. Burials likely commenced in the cemetery shortly after construction of the church, but the earliest known burial dates to 1749. The cemetery was expanded in the nineteenth century and is still in use today. Evergreen Cemetery was designated a Prince George’s County Historic Site in 2014.

PG: 72-064, Fairmount Heights High School, 1401 Nye Street, Capitol Heights Fairmount Heights High School opened in September 1950 and was originally known as Fairmont Heights Junior-Senior High School. Constructed as the larger of two high schools for African American students in Prince George’s County, Fairmount Heights was the culmination of many years of struggle for the area’s African American citizens seeking a modern school facility equal to those schools attended by white students. Serving the western part of the County, Fairmount Heights was the first to offer the twelfth grade to its African American students. Fairmount Heights High School was designated a Prince George’s County Historic Site in 2010.

PG: 72-014, D.C. Boundary Marker NE #8, 4200 Andalusia Lane, Capitol Heights Installed in the late 18th century, this is one of five boundary markers delineating the border of Prince George’s County from that of the District of Columbia. D.C. Boundary Marker NE #8 was designated a Prince George’s County Historic Site in 2010.

There is one Prince George’s County Historic Resource in Cheverly:

PG: 69-024-25, Mount Hope Slave Quarter Ruins, 18 Cheverly Circle The Mount Hope Slave Quarter Ruin is a chimney ruin located in a steep alley between Parkway Place and Cheverly Circle. The remains of the chimney are in poor condition and there are no above-ground remains of the structure with which the chimney was associated. The Mount Hope Slave Quarter Ruin has historically been associated with the Mount Hope Plantation (PG: 69-11) located at 1 Cheverly Circle.

The ruins are located approximately 400 feet northeast of the plantation house. There are references to slave quarters on the property in the census records and tax assessments of this era. However, it is unclear if they refer to this structure (69-024-25) specifically. If this chimney was a part of a slave quarters it would likely date to the 1840s to 1860s when the Magruder’s plantation and slave holdings grew. The Mount Hope Slave Quarter Ruin is significant because of its value as a part of the development and heritage of the area.

Documentation of Historic Sites and Resources A windshield survey of Cheverly was conducted in November 2007, followed by a ground survey of all Historic Sites and Resources by Countywide Planning Division, Historic Preservation Section staff in winter 2014. The Town of Cheverly contains a variety of buildings constructed from circa 1839 to the present, although the overwhelming majority of buildings in Cheverly were constructed from 1921 through the 1950s. Buildings in Cheverly reflect a variety of popular twentieth-century styles including Craftsman, Spanish Revival, Colonial Revival, Dutch Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, and a number of interpretations from the Modern Movement. Common building forms include Bungalows, Cape Cods, ranch houses, and minimal traditional houses. There are a number of extant kit houses in the neighborhood, most of which were Sears and Roebuck Designs. A variety of materials and decorative treatments are illustrated in Cheverly including brick, stone veneer, stucco, and half-timbering. The neighborhood is hilly and the landscape of the community is designed to take advantage of the topography, which resulted in curvilinear streets and irregular lot shapes. The community has a mature canopy of trees and there are several parks for Town residents. Buildings in Cheverly are almost exclusively residential, although there are several religious and social buildings in the community. Public

structures in Cheverly include a school community center, and town hall, all of which are located outside of the area originally platted by Robert Marshall.

Efforts to preserve the historic integrity of the Town of Cheverly include the continued evaluation and designation of historic properties, collaboration with current Historic Site property owners to highlight the visibility of the Town’s historic nature, and coordination with Town Council and officials to create a National Register Historic District or Prince George’s County Historic District within the Town.

These efforts will be crucial to preserving the historic fabric of Cheverly as the surrounding area experiences continued growth.

Section 1.4.: Recent Past/Midcentury-Modern Buildings within the Cheverly Sector Plan

The appreciation, documentation, and preservation of Midcentury Modern buildings is now a motivational force in historic preservation. Yet these types of resources remain among the most underappreciated and vulnerable aspects of Prince George’s County’s architectural heritage. Fine examples of Midcentury Modern buildings have aesthetic value and community importance and can have a role in sustainable planning. They are tangible reminders that help us recall and understand our shared past.

In the 1960s, Prince George’s County was the fastest-growing county in the United States. 9 New buildings, almost all designed in the Modern mode, were constructed to meet the demand for housing, shopping, offices, and worship space. Corporations invested in the county with new facilities or campuses; county and municipal governments built libraries, schools and administration buildings.

9

The Washington Center for Metropolitan Studies released a report on April 28, 1975 that stated, “In that decade [the 1960s], Prince George’s was the most rapidly growing major suburb of the most rapidly growing major metropolitan area in the nation. Its population increased by over 300,000 or 85 percent.” The 300,000 number/85% growth rate is substantiated by census data.

Private investors constructed speculative offices and large apartment complexes. Previously undeveloped land in Cheverly was part of that intense period of development.

Four Midcentury-Modern buildings worthy of recognition have so far been identified within the Cheverly Sector Plan.

Catalano House, 1955 (69-024-28) 6125 Landover Road Built by and for Philip and Beatrice Catalano by builder Hugo Balistone, the Catalano House is significant as an excellent, early example of a single-family, Modern-Movement dwelling that exemplifies the aesthetics of Midcentury-Modern design. It is also significant for its rarity, being the only known example of its type in the established early-twentieth-century suburb of Cheverly.

Pepsi-Cola Plant, 1962 (69-059) 2611 Pepsi Place This International-Style bottling plant representing large-scale investment in the County was designed by Chatelaine, Gauger and Nolan of Washington, D.C. Leon Chatelain, Jr., FAIA, (1902-1979) served as national president of the American Institute of Architects in the late 1950s. The central solid tower element with glazed end wall is a signature motif of the firm, who incorporated it in the now-demolished Kiplinger Editors Park in Hyattsville.

Edwin F. Ball House, 1969 (69-024-27) 23 Cheverly Circle This unusual Modern-Movement private residence evokes the deceptively simple, powerful forms of traditional Japanese architecture. Edwin Ball, AIA, (1927-1987) was noted for refusing to compromise his Modernist principles; he designed only Modern architecture. Establishing his own firm in Bladensburg in 1956, Ball’s outstanding work includes the 1959 Celtic Building in Riverdale (for Greenhorne and O’Mara) and the 1967 M-NCPPC Regional Headquarters across Kenilworth Avenue. M-NCPPC’s marble and smoked-glass building is now eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Southland Life Cheverly District Office, 1969 (69-063) 6307 Landover Road This branch office was designed for the Southland Life Insurance Company by the distinguished Texas firm Preston M. Geren, AIA. A restatement of Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe’s minimalist principles (“Less is More”) as interpreted by Philip Johnson, the firm’s Spartan design connoted modernity and respectability for its parent company. A prolific generator of buildings in Texas, Preston M. Geren is especially recognized for their collaboration with Louis I. Khan, FAIA, on his much-celebrated 1972 Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.