Old Town & Calvert Hills Historic Neighborhood Walking Tour

Graham Cracker

Interpretive description available at site location.

Fraternities and Sororities

In the late 1930s, as the University of Maryland grew and began to influence development in the City, approximately fifteen grand, domestic buildings were constructed to house fraternal organizations. Today, there are nine such buildings still standing including 7511 Princeton Avenue, 4607 Knox Road, 4517 College Avenue, 4603 College Avenue, and 7407 Princeton Avenue. Additional structures were built in the 1940s including 4517 and 4610 College Avenue.

Holbrook House

Interpretive description available at site location.

Harrison Store (Trolley Stop Sweet Shop)

Interpretive description available at site location.

7400 Rhode Island Avenue

This Queen Anne-style house was built in 1900. Typical of the style, it has projecting bays and intersecting gable roofs.

Old Parish House

Interpretive description available at site location.

McDonnell House

Interpretive description available at site location.

Cory House

Interpretive description available at site location.

Symons House

The house, built in 1906, is in the Colonial Revival-style.

Taliaferro House

Interpretive description available at site location.

4813 Calvert Road

The only remaining non-residential building from this period is the one-story volunteer firehouse at 4813 Calvert Road. The firehouse opened in August 1926 to serve the growing community of Calvert Hills and Old Town College Park. The building also briefly served as City Hall. The building, however, proved too small for the fire department and has been substantially altered and serves a residential function at this time.

4801, 4805, and 4809 Calvert Road

When Fanny A. Calvert's Addition was replatted as Elmore Powers' Addition to College Park in 1921, there was a modest growth spurt. There were 22 buildings and a firehouse constructed during the period between 1921 and 1928. Many of these dwellings reflect the popular Craftsman-style bungalow, including the houses at 4801, 4805, and 4809.

Carroll House

The Carroll House was built around 1900 on Calvert Road near the train station. It is one of the largest Colonial Revival-style homes in College Park.

Harrison House

4707 Calvert Road

Shaw House

This house illustrates the American Four Square-style, which was introduced to College Park in the 1910s.

4704 Calvert ROad

This home is a Colonial Revival-style house, built in 1898. The placement of windows and doors on the front facade and side elevations is symmetrical, rather than the asymmetrical placement commonly associated with the Queen Anne-style.

Harlow House

The house is in the Colonial Revival-style, with a shallow hipped roof, which flares out to cover the front porch. The house has undersized front gable dormers. Although the structure was originally built in 1911, a two-story colonnade on the front of the house has been added.

Trolley Trail

Interpretive description available at site location.

4811 Harvard Road

4811 Harvard Road is a stylistically and technologically unique dwelling. This Lustron house is constructed of a prefabricated porcelain-enamel material. There were approximately 2,500 Lustron houses constructed in the late 1940s. The Army Corps of Engineers used the material to construct military housing on bases and there are 60 Lustron houses at Quantico Marine Base in Quantico, VA.

7204 and 7208 Bowdoin Avenue

The properties at 7204 and 7208 Bowdoin Avenue pre-date the 1907 platting of Fanny A. Calvert's addition to College Park. The house at 7204 Bowdoin is a Colonial Revival-style dwelling, while the house at 7208 is a vernacular Queen Anne-style dwelling.

4801 Guilford Road

This house is an example of a Tudor-style home.

4709 and 4711 Guilford Road

The houses at 4709 and 4711 Guilford Road represent a blending of the Craftsman and Colonial Revival-styles.

7201 Rhode Island Avenue

A good example of the larger-scale residential buildings in the Calvert Hills neighborhood can be found in the Colonial Revival-style dwelling at 7201 Rhode Island Avenue (1928 - 1939).

4600 Beechwood Road

The house at 4600 Beechwood Road is a distinguished Colonial Revival-style building constructed between 1928 and 1939.

6908 and 7000 Wake Forest Drive

The houses at 6908 and 7000 Wake Forest Drive are examples of typical Cape Cods. The one-and-a-half story Cape Cod cottages of the 1930s were based on an 18th Century building form and exhibit Colonial Revival-style form and detail. The Cape Cods found in College Park typically are three bays wide and two bays deep.

4605 Calvert Road

The house at 4605 Calvert Road, constructed in 1915, exhibits elements of the Colonial Revival-style.

4601 Calvert Road

The College Park Elementary School is a two-story brick building set on a raised brick foundation. A three-bay wide Classical Revival-style pediment shelters the main entry on the north elevation.