Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
15-71
Maryland Inventory of
Historic Properties Form
2. Location
street and number 24724 Hipsley Mill Road not for publication
6. Classification
Category Ownership Current Function Resource Count
district public agriculture landscape Contributing Noncontributing
building(s) private commerce/trade recreation/culture 3 buildings
structure both defense religion sites
site domestic social structures
object education transportation objects
funerary work in progress 3 Total
government unknown
health care vacant/not in use Number of Contributing Resources
industry other: previously listed in the Inventory
7. Description Inventory No. 15-71
Condition
excellent deteriorated
x good ruins
fair altered
Prepare both a one paragraph summary and a comprehensive description of the resource and its various elements as it
exists today.
DESCRIPTION1
The Chrobot House is located in Hipsley Mill Road in northern Montgomery County just off MD 650, near the
community of Etchison. The property is owned by the Department of Natural Resources and is located within the
boundaries of the Patuxent River State Park. The structure has Germanic influence, being banked into the hillside
and having an exposed foundation on the first level of the front façade. The two‐story, five bay structure has a side‐
gable roof and is covered with a clapboard siding. The foundation is a combination of stone and brick and is
parged. The roof is covered with metal and is punctuated by interior chimneys at both gable ends.
The east façade, which is the front of the house, faces Hipsley Mill Road and is about 300 feet from the road. At the
exposed basement level there are three porch supports 7 feet tall and one adjustable jack post supporting the
north side where one of the supports deteriorated. Also at the basement level are two front door entrances, which
was typical of Germanic house building in the 19th century. The door in the northern central bay enters into a
family room and the southern central door enters into a wash room. A two‐pane wood window is in the northern‐
most bay. Above the basement level, at the first floor level, a full‐width porch is 37 feet wide and 7 feet 9½ inches
deep. Centered is a nine‐panel wood front door, exhibiting Green Revival influence with full transom and
sidelights. On the north and south side of the front porch door are 2/2‐sash wood windows. At the second story
level there are three 2/2‐sash wood windows. At the second and a half story level is a Gothic Revival influenced
center cross gable of Gothic revival with a half –round window.
The west (rear) façade looks onto an ascending wooded lot. A central door is flanked on the north side by two six‐
pane wood windows and on the south by a single bathroom window. At the second floor level is a 2/2‐sash wood
window above the back door. On the southern side of the 2/2‐sash window is a single bathroom window. At the
basement level is a single six pane well window just below the 2/2‐sash window on the first floor level. This
window is sub‐level since the house is built into a hill.
The north façade faces a washhouse out building in the northeast side, a wooded lot and an open field towards the
Patuxent River about a 1/8 of a mile away. At the basement level is a double window, one being a six pane wood
window and the other a single pane window. At the first floor level is a side entrance door that enters into a dining
room. On the east side of that door is a 2/2‐sash wood window. On the second floor level are two 2/2‐sash wood
windows. On the second and a half story level are two‐four pane single attic windows. There is an inside chimney
that runs from the basement level and extends to about three feet above the pitch of the roof. At the basement
level is a fireplace that isn’t used. In the first floor level is a functional woodstove in the dining room.
The south façade faces an open field, some brush, and a walking path that leads out to a corncrib out building. At
the first floor level are two 2/2 sash wood windows. At the second floor level are two 2/2 sash wood windows. At
the second and a half floor level are two‐four pane single windows. There is an inside chimney that runs from the
basement level and extends to about three feet above the pitch of the roof. At the basement level is an oil furnace
that vents into the chimney and on the first floor level is a concealed fireplace.
1
Source: Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Chrobot House documentation. Text modified for purposes of clarity.
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 15-71
Number 7 Page 1
The layout of the interior on the basement level consists of two rooms. The northern front door entrance enters
into a family room with an exposed fireplace that is no longer functional. The southern door entrance enters into a
wash/utility room with a furnace, a hot water heater and an oil tank for fuel. In the center of the two rooms are
stairs leading to the first floor. The first floor has a central hall accessed by central doors from front and rear
entries. This level features four functional rooms. A kitchen is on the northeast side and a dining room on the
northwest side. On the south east side of the center hallway is a living room with a closet. On the southwest side is
a full bathroom. From the center hallway are steps that leading to the second floor. The second floor features four
and a half functional rooms. On the northeast side is a bedroom with a small closet. On the southeast side is a
bedroom with a small closet. On the southwest side is a smaller bedroom with a closet and next to that closet at
the top of the stairs is a half bathroom. Adjacent to the northeast bedroom are enclosed stairs leading to the attic.
The unfinished attic runs the entire length of the house.
A one‐story domestic outbuilding is located about 25 feet to the northeast and is easily accessible from the front
basement level of the dwelling house. The structure is identified by Christopher Goodwin and Associates as a
smokehouse dating from the early 20th century. Wood clapboard walls rest on a concrete wall foundation. The
concrete is rough with large aggregates and was once parged. The front‐facing gable roof has exposed rafter ends
and is covered with standing‐seam metal. A vertical board door in the northwest elevation has exterior hinges.
Single six‐light fixed windows lit the southeast and southwest elevations. A window opening on the northeast
elevation has been boarded up. If the building was indeed built as a smokehouse, the windows would likely have
been added later.2
A poultry house is located north of the dwelling house. The one‐story concrete block structure is built into the hill
slope and faces east. The shed roof is sheathed in corrugated metal.
Fieldstone ruins of a barn, approximately 25’ x 50’, were identified in 1997 (see sketch map). A small wood frame
with vertical siding was also photographed. More recent surveys have not located these structures.
2
Outbuilding descriptions from Katherine Grandine et al, R Christopher Goodwin & Associates. Patuxent River State Park, MHT
MIHP form, M:15‐98, p7:23‐24, 6‐2004. Charlie Mazurak photographs and sketch maps. Mazxurak identified the smokehouse
as a springhouse, though no spring is located nearby. Curatorship documentation describes the building as a wash house.
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 15-71
Number 7 Page 2
Chrobot House, Dwelling house, front (south) façade, and outbuilding,
1‐2008
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 15-71
Number 7 Page 3
B. Deale, Dept of Natural Resources, 1979
Front staircase, Charles Mazurak, DNR, 1997
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 15-71
Number 7 Page 4
First floor and basement level of dwelling house
1‐2008
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 15-71
Number 7 Page 5
East façade of dwelling house (right) and springhouse (left)
1‐2008
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 15-71
Number 7 Page 6
West façade of dwelling house
Charles Mazurak, 1997
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 15-71
Number 7 Page 7
East façade (left) and rear façades of dwelling house. Outbuilding to left of dwelling house.
Charles Mazurak, 1997
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 15-71
Number 7 Page 8
Domestic outbuilding, possibly smokehouse
1‐2008
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 15-71
Number 7 Page 9
Poultry house, located north of dwelling house.
1‐2008
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 15-71
Number 7 Page 10
Sketch map by Charles Mazurek, Department of Natural Resources, 2‐11‐1997
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 15-71
Number 7 Page 11
Drawing by Charles Mazurek, Department of Natural Resources, 2‐11‐1997
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 15-71
Number 7 Page 12
Topographic map showing Chrobot House (circle), M‐NCPPC GIS, 2009
8. Significance Inventory No. 15-71
Construction dates
Evaluation for:
Prepare a one-paragraph summary statement of significance addressing applicable criteria, followed by a narrative discussion of the
history of the resource and its context. (For compliance projects, complete evaluation on a DOE Form – see manual.)
Summary of Significance:
The Chrobot House is a frame residence banked into the hillside, with an exposed stone foundation on the front
façade and two entry doors at the basement level. This distinctive method of construction is a Germanic
tradition found extensively through Frederick County but relatively rare in Montgomery County residences.
Lawrence and Katie Chrobot, German immigrants, are believed to have built the house in 1903. The house
exhibits a mix of stylistic features with its Greek Revival style half round gable window and front door with
transom and sidelights, and Gothic Revival steeply pitched cross gable and full width porch. Located in the
Patuxent River State Park, the Price House is owned by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and is
inhabited and maintained through the State Curatorship program. The property includes a domestic
outbuilding, identified as a smokehouse or wash house.
History:
Lawrence Chrobot (1856‐1926) purchased 100 acres of Great Meadows for $900 in 1893. He and his wife Katie
Chrobot (b1851) were said to be German natives who immigrated to the United States in 1882.3
Other Chrobots settled in the area. Relationships with Lawrence and Katie Chrobot have not yet been
established. Another resource in the Patuxent River State Park is the H E Chrobot House (c1900) on Jennings
Chapel Road. Fannie Etchison, of 7211 Hawkins Creamery Road, married a Chrobot. She was the daughter of
Marcellus Etchison, namesake for the nearby Etchison community at Damascus and Laytonsville Roads.4
3
Christina van Norman reference, DNR documentation.
4
Resource 14-11 Scott-Etchison House. Fannie Chrobot’s children attended Etchison School. See Clare Lise Kelly 15-29 Etchison
Historic District, MIHP form, 11-2009. H E Chrobot House in Patuxent River State Park, MHT MIHP form, M:15-98, Katherine
Grandine et al, 6-2004, pp7:10, 7:23.
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Continuation Sheet
Number 8 Page 1
The form of the house is Germanic in style. German influence came into Montgomery County in force beginning
in the early 19th century:
By the late 1700’s a wave of migrants from Pennsylvania traveled south in search of less densely
settled, cheaper land and many settled in Montgomery County. In contrast to tobacco planters, who
were dependent on slave labor and one staple crop, Mid‐Atlantic farmers introduced Germanic‐
influenced farming practices. Migrants from the north brought new building types and settlement
patterns that had dramatic impact on Montgomery County’s landscape. Residents built houses and
outbuildings into hillsides. Hillside siting is a distinguishing characteristic of Germanic architecture.
Typical were two and a half story structures with an exposed basement that often contained a
kitchen. This Germanic house type, known as the Pennsylvania Farmhouse, were dwellings with
two adjacent front doors usually centered on the front façade.5
The house is believed to have been built in 1903. A cornerstone and tax assessment records support this
construction date.6 In addition, the styling of the house is comparable to other houses in the area dating from
this era. The Rezin Duvall House (1918, Resource #11/23) at 9011 Hawkins Creamery Road is also a three bay
house with center cross gable and has a similar staircase with closed stringer and turned posts. The H E Chrobot
House, Jennings Chapel Road is located on a farm established c1900. The house has a center cross gable roof
with a similar pitch as the Lawrence Chrobot House. The familial relationship between these resources is
unknown.7 The paired attic windows and gable cornice returns are similar to the John Layman House (1908),
3955 Hipsley Mill Road.
Earlier, the tract was inhabited by Joseph Snyder who owned the 100‐acre property from 1857 to 1892. His
house appears on an 1869 survey map when Hipsley Mill Road was platted. The house is shown as a two bay,
side gable structure with a central chimney (see illustration). The depiction of the house and its location may be
general and not intended for accuracy. The location of Snyder’s house is unknown. Snyder had purchased the
property for $900 back in 1857. The property had belonged to William Richard from 1803‐1857, and before
that it was part of George Ellicott’s holdings.8 The road was laid out to provide access to Warfield’s Mill in
5
Clare Lise Cavicchi (aka Kelly), Places from the Past, pp 9-11 (M-NCPPC 2001).
6
Maryland Department of Natural Resources Curatorship documentation form.
7
Clare Lise Cavicchi (aka Kelly), MHT MIHP form 11/23, Rezin Duvall Farm. Patuxent River State Park, MHT MIHP form,
M:15-98, Katherine Grandine et al, 6-2004, pp7:10, 7:23.
8
Deeds H:107 (1803); JGH 7:151 & JGH 6:192 (1857). Source for extent of Great Meadows tract: tax assessment records legal
descriptions, M-NCPPC GIS data layer. Snyder built a house on his land between 1857 and 1865. The Martenet and Bond
map of 1865 shows Snyder living in this vicinity. The 100‐acre tract is the only property Snyder ever owned
(Grantor/grantee index, County Land Records). Snyder’s property was part of a larger tract called Great Meadows that
extended north at least as far as Mullinix Mill Road. The road plat was recorded 2-25-1870, Deed EBP 7:493.
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Name
Continuation Sheet
Number 8 Page 2
Howard County. The only previous access to the mill had been from “a very hilly private road.” Access across the
Patuxent River was via Rickard’s Ford, so labeled on the 1869 plat. In 1876, Snyder took out a mortgage for
$292.66. Snyder was to convey his Great Meadows property to Lyde Griffith unless Snyder repaid the mortgage
by 1879. Snyder described the property as “all the real estate which Iam possessed of, and on which I reside,
supposed to contain one hundred acres, more or less.” The mortgage was later renegotiated and assigned in
1882 to William B. Mobley, this time for $600.9
Snyder sold the property to Mobley in 1892 for $900. The next year Lawrence Chrobot bought the property
from Mobley for the same amount. The Chrobot family sold the property in 1935 for $3,000. The property went
through a succession of owners over the next few decades.
In 1971, owner Margaret O. Gallagher Price conveyed 59.4 acres of the property to the State of Maryland.10
Park acquisition for the Patuxent River State Park began in 1965. The Patuxent River State Park contains 123
historic resources. In 1979, the Maryland Historical Trust, in a comprehensive evaluation of historic resources
in the Park, identified the Chrobot House (Margaret Price House) among the highest ranking resources in the
park. The Chrobot House was added to the State Curatorship program in 2004. The program, established in
1982, provides life tenancy for private individuals in exchange for rehabilitation and maintenance of historic
buildings.11
9
1876 mortgage, Deed EBP 16:21; 1882 mortgage EBP 27:389.
10
Deeds
11
Patuxent River State Park, MHT MIHP form, M:15-98, Katherine Grandine et al, 6-2004. Evaluation discussed p8:7.
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No.15-71
Name
Continuation Sheet
Number 8 Page 3
Chain of Title
1803 George Ellicott and wife 100 acres pt Great H:107
To William Richards Meadows
1857 Greenbury L Richard 100 acres pt Great JGH 7:151
To Catherine Duvall Meadows
1857 Rueben & Catherine Duvall of Howard $900 for 100 acres JGH 6:192
County pt The Great Meadows
To Joseph Snyder
1876 Joseph Snyder to Lyde Griffith Mortgage $292.66 EBP 16:21
100 acres
pt The Great Meadows
1882 Joseph Snyder to William B Mobley mortgage $600 EBP 16:21
100 acres
pt The Great Meadow
1892 Joseph Snyder to William B Mobley $900 for 100 acres JA 36:143
pt The Great Meadow
1893 Mobley to Lawrence Chrobot $900 for 100 acres JA 36:357
pt The Great Meadow
1935 Chrobot to Moore $3000, Equity 5472 592:418
‐100 ac, pt The Great
Meadows
‐8 acres + 17 sq perches
1936 Moore to Neely $10 consideration 612:93
‐100 ac, pt The Great
Meadows
‐8 acres + 17 sq perches
1942 Neely To Eggleston 100 ac, pt The Great 868:385
Meadows
1943 Egglestons to William H Holmes Jr and $40 consideration 920:203
Virginia Mae Holmes Equity 10933
100 acres pt Great
Meadows
1947 Holmes to Louis & Helen Warren Allinger $10 consideration 1104:176
and Warren Louis Allinger Pt Great Meadows
100 acres, excepting
6.465 ac to Hostick 1947
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Detail road plat 1869 survey EBP 7: 493
1909 USGS map
9. Major Bibliographical References Inventory No. 15-71
The Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties was officially created by an Act of the Maryland Legislature
to be found in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 41, Section 181 KA,
1974 supplement.
The survey and inventory are being prepared for information and record purposes only
and do not constitute any infringement of individual property rights.
Name
Continuation Sheet
Number 8 Page 1
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Coxe, Ellen K., Margaret Price House, #15‐71, MHT MIHP form, August 1979.
Grandine, Katherine, Chris Heidenrich, Jeff Mamon, R Christopher Goodwin & Associates. Patuxent River State
Park, MHT MIHP form, M:15‐98, 6‐2004.
Hopkins, G. M. map, 1878.
Kelly, Clare Lise. Maryland Historical Trust Inventory forms:
11/23 Rezin Duvall Farm, 9011 Hawkins Creamery Road.
14/11 Scott‐Etchison House, 7211 Hawkins Creamery Road.
15/29 Etchison Historic District, 11‐2009.
Land Records, Montgomery County.
Martenet and Bond map, 1865.
Mazurak, Charlie. Department of Natural Resources, photographs and sketch maps, 1997.
USGS topographic maps, 1909, 1944.
Van Norman, Christina. Maryland State Curator. 24724 Hipsley Mill Road. Source information DNR.