The Montgomery County Planning Board will consider Thursday whether to designate as historic two local properties — one with ties to the county’s Black history and another that served as a summer camp for children with intellectual disabilities in the 1960s and inspired the launch of the Special Olympics.
The properties are the Romeo and Elsie Horad House at 2118 University Boulevard West in Wheaton and Timberlawn at 5700 Sugarbush Lane in Rockville, the former home of Eunice Kennedy and Sargent Shriver.
The board and county planners will hold work sessions to discuss the properties at their Wheaton headquarters. A public hearing in the afternoon will also be held for the Timberlawn site.
Here are the properties under consideration:
The Romeo and Elsie Horad House
According to planning staff, Wheaton’s Romeo and Elsie Horad house is historically significant because it is “representative of the development of the African American community in Wheaton.” The “Colonial Revival”-style home was constructed in 1938 on property owned by Elsie Horad’s family.
“Most of the resources associated with the Wheaton African American community, including Chestnut Ridge, the segregated Black elementary school, and Allen Chapel AME Church are no longer extant or are highly altered,” a planning report about the home states. “Therefore, the Horad House is a singular and critical resource that represents the lost African American heritage in this section of the county.”
In addition, the property reflects the political and social significance of the Horad couple, who were advocates for the rights and well-being of Black Americans at the local, state and national levels, the report said.
Romeo Horad, a Black lawyer and real estate agent, challenged racially restrictive covenants in Washington, D.C.; lobbied to improve educational facilities and infrastructure for the county’s Black communities; and helped coordinate voter registration of the state’s Black residents, according to the report.
Elsie Horad, who was born and raised in the county, was an educator in the District of Columbia school system for 37 years before joining the family’s real estate business. She is also the granddaughter of Charles Webster, who was a leader in Wheaton’s Black community in the early 1900s and worked to improve school conditions for Black students. Webster was a trustee of a segregated elementary school in Wheaton.
County planning staff are recommending the Planning Board list the Romeo and Elsie Horad House, as recommended by the Historic Preservation Commission, in the Locational Atlas & Index of Historic Sites, a county resource that identifies potentially historic sites. The staff also suggests that the board recommend the County Council designate the property for historic preservation in the county’s Master Plan for Historic Preservation.
Timberlawn
Rockville’s Timberlawn property was the home of Eunice Kennedy and Sargent Shriver for 18 years beginning in 1961, when the family moved to the county to work in politics alongside President John F. Kennedy, a planning staff report on the home states. Eunice Shriver was a lifelong advocate for intellectual disability rights and later created a week-long summer camp for children with intellectual disabilities at the property called Camp Shriver.
“This unique summer camp provided a transformative experience for its participants and staff and inspired the creation of the Special Olympics,” according to the report.
In 2022, Timberlawn’s current owner requested the planning department evaluate the property for listing in the Master Plan for Historic Preservation. And in October 2024, the Historic Preservation Commission held a public hearing and work session about the designation.
Planning staff are recommending that the board list Timberlawn on the Locational Atlas and Index of Historic Sites and also recommend the council designate the property in the Master Plan for Historic Preservation.
The board is expected to take action on an amendment to the historic preservation master plan and the locational atlas at its meeting on Thursday regarding Timberlawn. The item will likely be discussed in the late afternoon.
