"Milton"

 NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, historic house

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Maryland's National Register Properties

5312 Allandale Road
Bethesda, MD 20816

Milton, constructed in two stages, is built of uncoursed stone. Unlike most Montgomery County stone construction, however, this house is built of granite rather than Seneca sandstone. The older section, constructed prior to 1820, is 1 1/2 stories in height with two 6/6 sash dormer windows on each facade of the wood-shingled roof. The front and rear facades are each three bays with a central doorway. On the west facade, the doorway has a transom and sidelights, and the door itself has beaded panels set flush with the rails on the exterior surface. The west facade of this section is now covered with a screened-in porch; the east facade formerly had an open porch, which has been removed. In plan, the wing has two rooms, one on each side of a central chimney. This portion of the building is now a southern wing of the main block of Milton, a two-story three bay structure built in 1847. The principal facade of the building was reversed at that time towards the east. The principal entrance has a transom, and the windows are 6/6 sash with heavy granite lintels and louvered shutters. A flush stone chimney rises from the north gable end. In plan, the main block has an end hall and single parlor. The interior features paneled, splayed window jambs in the parlor, with raised panel backs below the windows. Door and window frames are plain boards with bulls-eye block corners. The staircase rises along the south hall wall, with a landing across the back of the hall and a short run to the second floor. The posts are turned, with octagonal bases; the balusters are turned and taper with marked entasis. The north wing was built at the same time as the main block, but is 1 1/2 stories to balance the earlier south wing. The west facade is three bays in width with a central entrance flanked by 6/6 sash windows with lintels and shutters to match the main block. Its west facade is two bays, with a transom-lit door and 6/6 sash window. There are two 6/6 sash dormer windows on either facade. The fireplace on the interior of this wing shares a chimney with the main block. Outbuildings on the property include a square, stone smokehouse with a square, hipped roof, and a 19th century stone icehouse.

Significance:
Milton is a three-part stone house that was the home of Nathan Loughborough, Comptroller of the U.S. Treasury during the John Adams administration. Loughborough built the main block and north wing in 1847, on the occasion of his second marriage. The original house was standing when he bought the property, c. 1820, and Loughborough's additions were constructed of the same rough stone. Loughborough came to Washington from Philadelphia to serve in the Federal government. Active in the financial community, he was a stockholder in the C & O Canal Company and a director of Georgetown's Farmers and Mechanics Bank. Loughborough moved to Milton from Grasslands, an estate located on the present site of American University. The original house on the Milton property was, according to tradition, built c. 1700 as a Dutch trading post and tavern. Milton is located along River Road, an early Indian trail. Typical of Mid-Atlantic building traditions, the house is of stone construction, with a central chimney, a basement kitchen, and two rooms on the main floor. The structure is banked into a hillside with full basement exposed on the west side, a tradition usually associated with Germanic construction. From 1934 until the 1970s, the house was owned by the agricultural economist, Mordecai J. Ezekiel and his wife. Ezekiel bought the house shortly after coming to Washington as a member of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal team. He helped formulate the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1936 and was Assistant Director of Food and Agricultural Organization. Prior to the purchase by the Ezekiels, the estate had been in the Loughborough family continuously since 1847.

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