Milimar

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Construction of this home is believed to have begun in 1760 following the purchase by Henry Lazenby II of this land. Lazenby was the descendent of immigrants who arrived in Maryland at the very beginning of the century. Today, the two-and-a-half brick house remains one of the only remaining examples of mid-18th-century architecture in this area. The property is an example of an "upper-middle-class" home for the period, an era where large landowners built mansions while most colonists lived in log cabins, wood-frame homes, or other simple dwellings. Additionally, the home's boxwood hedges demonstrate landscape design contemporary to the period. The house has a Georgian facade oriented west. The National Register of Historic Places recognized the house in 1973. The property is privately owned.

Images

Milimar by Jessica Falkenburg, courtesy of Maryland Historical Trust (reproduced under Fair Use)

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

The Lazenby family came to North America in 1701 with a large land grant from Charles Calvert, Third Lord Baltimore. In 1723, Robert Lazenby purchased a tract of land called "Wolf's Den" from William Beall, which measured 217 acres. He and his wife Ann Jones Lazenby had a son, Henry Lazenby II (1721-1789), who was named after Anne Arundel County High Sheriff Henry Lazenby (d. 1723). The younger Henry married Margaret F. Beall (1725-1821). He enlisted in the Prince George's County militia in 1748, and in 1760 purchased "Girl's Gift" tract near his father's land. He most likely began building Milimar on this land in the same year.

Milimar's Georgian exterior is Flemish bond on the west-facing front facade with common bond brick on the other sides, with decorative patterns in the brick work. It is five bays long on the front. At the entrance of the property, two seven-foot-high stone gate posts hold a wooden gate on iron hinges. Each end of the house has a chimney. The single-story addition at the rear or east side of the house dates to several decades after the house's construction.

Inside the home, the first floor of the original section contains two rooms separated by a central hallway. The central hall stairway turns at ninety degrees without a landing, and its wooden railing features natural "knee" curves. Fireplaces in the master bedroom and dining room are faced with locally-made soapstone.

An elevated brick terrace wraps around the west and south sides of the house, edged with a double row of boxwood hedges separated by a dry moat. These large hedgerows are interesting examples of early American landscape design. A double row of spruces forms a windbreak along the north side of the structure.

Homeowners Robert D. and Joyce Pullen Barendsen nominated Milimar to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and it was recognized in 1973. The house remains privately owned.

Sources

Barendsen, Robert D., and Joyce Pullen Barendsen. Milimar, National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form. July 23rd 1972. Accessed August 28th 2020. https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/NR_PDFs/NR-151.pdf.

Haight-Eckert, MaryJane. Henry Lazenby II (1721-1789), Find a Grave. March 13th 2010. Accessed August 29th 2020. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49651136/henry-lazenby.

Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. Deed to 410 Randolph Road, Silver Spring, Maryland. Deed Reference #/54434/ 00457. August 28, 2020. Search at https://sdat.dat.maryland.gov/RealProperty/Pages/default.aspx

Image Sources(Click to expand)

https://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?FROM=NRDBList.aspx&NRID=153&COUNTY=&SEARCHTYPE=locationSearch&PROPNAME=&STREETNAME=&CITYNAME=silver%20spring&KEYWORD=