Owl’s Nest
This historic Shingle-style home stands as a reminder of Washington's surroundings before suburban development.
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Built as a rural country house for journalist William L. Crounse, Owl’s Nest and its exceptional wooded grounds illustrate the gradual transition of the former Washington County from farmsteads, to scattered suburban country houses on large lots, to denser suburbs situated on a planned system of grid streets.
The home is a handsome and imposing Shingle-style residence, a rare artifact from the beginnings of suburban development on the fringe between Washington’s earliest inner suburbs and its rural hinterlands. Designed by Appleton P. Clark, Jr., a significant Washingtonian architect, it is one of the city’s best examples of the Shingle style, exhibiting the complex asymmetrical massing, wide sheltering roofs, massive stone walls, and contrasting wood-shingled surfaces that characterize it.
Built in 1897, the house and its hilltop setting above the old Grant Road have seen remarkably little change.
DC Inventory: April 26, 2001
