Earlier this week on my way to testify at a historic preservation hearing in Maryland I got to stop by Silver Spring’s 1939 World’s Fair home. A few weeks ago I wrote about the Realtor emailing to let me know that the home was for sale. She generously offered to give me a tour of the home and I accepted.
Silver Spring’s World’s Fair Home. December 2012.
[Read the Nov. 2012 post about the home being for sale for only the third time in its history.]
One of the first rooms I wanted to see was the kitchen. I had been told that the original stove and cabinetry remained in situ. As if the newspaper ads and other marketing materials from 1939 I had seen before this week weren’t enough, the Realtor let me see the original 1939 sales brochure created by the marketing-savvy developer, Garden Homes.
1939 Garden Homes sales brochure.
Magic Chef range and “Ventahood.” December 2012.
1939 brochure detail.
Magic Chef timer and vent. December 2012.
Kitchen sink, Curtis Woodwork cabinets, and bay window. December 2012.
Silver Spring World’s Fair home kitchen, 1940s. Credit: Ann Scandiffio.
Curtis Woodwork cabinet plate. December 2012.
This all-gas (then) kitchen was outfitted with the best modern appliances and infrastructure, all wrapped inside a familiar traditional Cape Cod building envelope. All of the homes built in Northwood Park, the Garden Homes subdivision built out initially between 1936 and 1940 were solid, well-built period revival homes (mostly). This home, built under the microscope of local publicity and the strict contractual requirements detailed in the license Garden Homes got to build the home, is just as solid as its neighbors — more so, perhaps, because it was built as a tourist attraction and marketing tool.
Stay tuned for more surprises from Silver Spring’s 1939 World’s Fair Home.
Note: Thank you Maureen Bovich for being so generous with your time and for letting me know about the home’s impending sale. If you need a Realtor who specializes in Silver Spring homes, Maureen’s your go-to person. You know how most of the marketing cards you get from local realtors end up on a direct route from the mailbox to the circular file? When we lived in Silver Spring, Maureen’s had the coolest critters on them and I just couldn’t bear to toss them. Still have some of them buried in a moving box somewhere ….
Thanks also to the current owners for remembering my research and for mentioning it to Maureen.
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Updates:
- Visit the living room in this follow-up.
© 2012 D.S. Rotenstein
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What a amazing original kitchen. I especially love the ventahood over the stove. I hope the new owners appreciate the beauty and history of the home.
did whoever bought the house have to promise to not remodel the interior or raze teh house completely and build anew ?
woah …I Just searched. It sold for $395,000 in Jan 15 2013 !
http://www.mrishomes.com/homes-for-sale/MD/SILVER-SPRING/20901/10163-SUTHERLAND-RD-81922731
Was it based off the land bc there are no updates, no granite countertops, no SS appliances, and house is “as is”.
I have the same Ventahood in my 105 year old home not original to home of course but my house was remodeled by the original owner in the late 1950s. I know its not original to the house because the company started in 1933. but this model was discontinued because of a fire in the workshop were they were built. Does anyone know the model number or the year this type of Ventahood was built. This is only the third Ventahood of this kind that i see ever. The third one i had to destroy because it was in such a bad shape there was no way of rebuilding it. but this one in my kitchen it is still in great shape and the motor still runs i just need a few parts to make it compleat.