Brooklands / Rainbow Hill

USA / Maryland / Garrison / Maryland Route 129 (Park Heights Avenue), 10729
 house, place with historical importance, Horace Trumbauer (architect), historic landmark

It was originally known as Brookfield. Edward T. Stotesbury, senior partner in the Drexel Company Philadelphia banking house, and long-time Treasurer of the Republican National Committee, built it for Louise Cromwell Brooks, then wife of Baltimore contractor, Walter B. Brooks Jr. and the daughter of his second wife, Eva Roberts Stotesbury. He also built the 150-room Whitemarsh Hall in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Horace Trumbauer, a Philadelphia architect, designed the marble and stucco building, possibly with the help of his chief designer, Julius F. Abele. It was built on the site of the Avalon Inn, which had burned in 1912. Construction was started in 1915 and completed in 1917, at a cost of $1,000,000. The house was 77 feet long and 75 feet wide and contained a reception hall, a drawing-room, a dining-room, a breakfast-room, nine bedrooms and six bathrooms. There were nine servants' rooms, three bathrooms for servants, and a ten-car garage. General Douglas MacArthur became Mrs. Brooks' second husband in 1921, and when he was Commandant at Fort Meade, Maryland, Brookfield was renamed to commemorate the 42nd Rainbow Division which he had commanded in World War 1. The house was sold in 1940 to Henry Rosenberg, husband of Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg, and founder of Crown Central Petroleum Corporation. He sold it in 1960 for use as the Baptist Home of Maryland.

Currently is home to the Church of the Resurrection. resurrectionbaltimore.org/_wsn/page8.html
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   39°25'8"N   76°43'37"W

Comments

  • Several minor corrections: This home was originally named "Brooklands" (after Walter Brooks); it was never called Brookfield, as far as any of our research shows. While Louise Cromwell Brooks did meet Douglas MacArthur in 1921, they were not married until February 14, 1922; that wedding occurred at another of the Stotesbury homes - the "El Mirasol" estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
This article was last modified 9 years ago