Glen Hurst

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Glen Hurst is one of the five substantial homes that were built in the first decade after the Palisades subdivision was plotted. Founded in 1890 by financier and Washington Post founder Stilson Hutchins, the Palisades of the Potomac Land Improvement Company planned to develop land on both sides of the river between Georgetown and Great Falls. The company’s expectations apparently rested on taking advantage of low land prices, lovely topography, and the likelihood of a new streetcar line to Glen Echo, which had been approved by Congress two years later and which was completed in 1895. But the residential building boom in the Palisades did not occur until after the turn of the century, peaking in the 1910s and 1920s, when more modest homes designed by builders or even ordered by mail were the norm.

The handful of large architect-designed 1890s homes illustrate the subdivision’s character before arrival of the streetcar, when it was home to a few upper-middle-class residents who could afford personal conveyances. Glen Hurst was one of these buildings, the home of real estate broker John C. Hurst, who had been an early promoter of the Palisades. The architect, Richard Ough, was also intimately involved in the development project, also designing his own home in the Palisades and the other three original houses. Glen Hurst is a substantial stone and frame Queen Anne-style house constructed in 1892 or shortly thereafter.

DC Inventory: January 27, 2005
National Register: June 1, 2005