Photo credit:
Jennifer Falkinburg, 08/22/2003
|
Third Addition to Rockville and Old St. Mary's Church & Cemetery
Inventory No.:
M: 26-12, M: 26-12-6
Date Listed:
11/20/1978
Location:
, Baltimore Road , Rockville, Montgomery County
Category:
District
Period/Date of Construction:
mid 19th century to 1939
|
|
Description:
This area combines 19th century residential scale buildings with a tree-lined narrow street, country church, weathered headstones, Victorian Gothic railroad station, and a brick cast-iron front commercial structure, to create an atmosphere that evokes the era when the station served as the gateway to Rockville. Architectural styles used in residential buildings include Queen Anne, Georgian, Colonial Revival, and Victorian Gothic. William Brewer's Italianate building on its elevated site was meant to command special attention. Building materials are evenly divided between clapboard and brick. Front yard setbacks, building massing, and scale are compatible. Sidewalks and back alley accessibility, combined with large trees, complete the refined, 19th century character of this district.
|
Significance:
The small area known as the Third Addition to Rockville and Old St. Mary's Church and Cemetery reflects and typifies the intermingling of home, business, church, and society in Victorian small-town America. This area, just outside the City limits, was farmland prior to the coming of the railroad, and since 1873 has served as the City's gateway for arrival by train. Its importance was immediately recognized by City officials, investors, seekers of desirable residential locations, and the business community. A variety of complimentary Victorian architectural styles was constructed to produce a pedestrian-scaled, tree-shaded, refined atmosphere, closely related in scale, style, spacing, and detailing to other local Victoriana--all bordering Rockville's commercial center. Today the destruction of this commercial center and its replacement by tall, modern buildings have left the Third Addition to St. Mary's a pocket of late-19th century history and architecture. In addition, St. Mary's Church is significant as the County's first brick Catholic church, and the handsome hardware store is the area's last surviving cast-iron brick commercial structure.
|
|
District Resources
Resources not specifically itemized in a list within NR nomination form.
TEA-21 funds,
administered by the Maryland State Highway Administration, supported data development for this project.