A dream house lurked in derelict Maryland Victorian
By Kathy Orton,
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The seven-acre farm in Germantown, Md., offered plenty of room for Bonnie and David Warfield to indulge in their passions. Bonnie likes the Victorian period, while David is into ’50s nostalgia and vintage cars. Their interests meld beautifully on this historical property.
Bonnie fell in love with the house, known as the John Hanson Gassaway House.
“I’m a porch person, and this house has five porches, so I was in heaven with the porches,” she said. “That was a big thing for me.”
Gassaway was a prosperous farmer and owner of a fertilizer and seed store in the late 19th century. As president of the Montgomery County Agricultural Society, a group formed to improve farming methods, he helped revolutionize agriculture in the area. Gassaway was also active in the community, serving as a county commissioner, school commissioner, director of the Montgomery County National Bank and president of the anti-saloon league.
In 1871, Gassaway purchased more than 115 acres from George and Ann Robertson. The two-story frame house was built in parts, with the original section erected circa 1872 and additions made in 1894 and 1897. It has two end-gabled sections joined by a galleried center section. It is one of the more elaborate farmhouses in the county, with ornate architectural details, and is on the Montgomery County Master Plan for Historic Preservation.
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The eight-bay garage was designed as a carriage house.
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The upstairs of the garage was turned into a ’50s-style diner.
The house remained in the Gassaway family until 1911 when it was sold to Jacob Hammann. In 1948, it passed to Ralph Charles Hammann. The state of Maryland bought the property in the early 1970s, but Ralph Hammann retained the right to live in the house until he died or moved out.
When Hammann moved into a nursing home, the state took possession of the house. Various agencies passed on using the house, and it remained vacant for several years. By the time the state decided to unload the house, it had holes in the roof, vandals had stripped it down and wild animals had taken up residence.
Marcia Saba bought the property at auction in 1983 but had to wait 14 months to take possession. Her herculean effort restored the house to livability.
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The house has five porches. “I was in heaven with the porches,” owner Bonnie Warfield said. “That was a big thing for me.”
There was still work to be done when the Warfields bought the house in 2004, from upgrading the electrical system and converting the furnace from oil to natural gas to rebuilding the parking pergola and restoring the millwork on the porches. They also replaced the shutters, added a koi pond and installed a pressed tin ceiling in the kitchen. They won preservation awards for restoring the corn crib and the smokehouse.
One of the biggest projects was repainting the exterior of the house. The Warfields hired a company in Georgia that specializes in safely stripping houses of lead paint.
“By the time they finished, it looked like a log cabin,” David said.
In one of Bonnie’s Victorian home magazines, they found a man who specializes in picking the best color combination for historical homes. He advised them on the house’s colors.
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The smokehouse houses a generator.
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The Warfields won preservation awards for restoring the corn crib, above, and the smokehouse.
The entire project took months and was messy. Bonnie hadn’t been in favor of it.
“I convinced her to do it,” David said. “When it was done, it was all spectacular.”
The spacious lot allowed David to build the garage of his dreams — an eight-bay carriage house for his collection of 1950s and 1960s cars, with a ’50s-style diner upstairs. A friend of his from high school helped him design it.
Over the years, descendants of the Gassaway family dropped by to visit. The Warfields threw a birthday party in John Gassaway’s memory, attended by his relatives and members of the Germantown Historical Society. Members of the Hammann family also stopped by. A woman whose mother was born in the house came by after her mother died.
“The really fun, different part about having owned this house is, over the years, we’ve had descendants of the Gassaway family and the Hammann family come and visit,” she said. “You don’t get that when you own just a regular house. You don’t get people who know stories about it. I think that’s been the most fun part for me.”
The three-bedroom, four-bathroom, 3,725-square-foot house is listed at just under $1.3 million.
Listing: 17200 Riffle Ford Rd., Germantown, Md. Listing agent: Pat Cunningham, Compass Previous House of the Week: A condo in Chevy Chase, Md., leaves the 1980s behind More Real Estate: $1 million over asking: D.C. bidding wars escalate as U.S. housing crunch intensifies How the D.C.-area housing market fared in 2020 by Zip code The 10 most expensive homes sold in the D.C. area in 2020
