Sears 'Kit House' Fails Historic Status Vote

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SHERIER PLACE in the Palisades is one of the District's most fascinating streets. Running along the old right-of-way for the No. 20 trolley line to the Glen Echo amusement park in Montgomery County, the neighborhood was a working-class suburb that developed in the first part of the last century, lined with simple bungalows on the heights of the Potomac River's gorge near Chain Bridge.

Today, you can still walk or hike much of the abandoned trolley line — we did last year — and at one point adjacent to Palisades Recreation Area, you can see the abandoned Jesse Baltimore House. Normally, the home of an ordinary plumber wouldn't get much recognition, but this house is a Sears "kit house," a residence picked out of a catalog and built in 1925. The home, which was bought by the National Park Service in 1958 as part of an expansion of the Palisades park, has been the subject of a historic preservation fight in recent years. Park supporters want the house demolished while others say the Baltimore House should be preserved or moved.

As The Current newspapers report this week, the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board has declined to give the house protected status. That doesn't mean the house will be demolished, it just means that the board has no jurisdiction over a pending demolition permit, the Current reports. The D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation, which now controls the park and the house, is currently seeking proposals to move or dismantle the house, but if none are received in the next month, the department will move forward with its demolition permit.

» "Save the Jesse Baltimore House" [Lost Landmarks]

EARLIER:
» "Surprises on the Abandoned No. 20 Trolley Line" [Free Ride/Express]
» "A Trolley Returns to Glen Echo" [Historical Marker Database]
» "Where Some See Eyesore, Others Eye Bit of History" [WaPo]

Photo by Michael Grass/Express