Built in 1898, the E.C. Reynolds House (5320 Willard Avenue) is perched above the Little Falls Branch within the Willard Avenue Neighborhood Park. The Park’s paved path once carried the tracks of the Washington and Glen Echo Railroad. Reynolds was an engineer and surveyor who subdivided an area called West Friendship, adjacent to Friendship Heights and the border of Chevy Chase and Bethesda. The house is an example of late 19th century homes built by federal civil servants now able to live in the suburbs with the advent of the streetcar.
The house was bought in 1995 by Montgomery Parks. It was leased for many years, until the summer of 2022 when: 1) it was considered by Montgomery Parks for demolition; and 2) furthermore, at one point, the property was considered for the creation of a dog park. Both ideas have apparently been paused.
Plans for the future of the house are unclear despite numerous inquiries by concerned neighbors.
Montgomery Preservation, Inc, President Eileen McGuckian notes that the Reynolds house is one of the structures deteriorating from lack of attention by public owners, including the Jesup Blair House, Silver Spring, owned by the parks department and the Red Brick Courthouse, Rockville, owned by the County.
For more information on the house and historic photograph, continue scrolling.
Friends of Willard Avenue Park 