Skip to Navigation | Skip to Content
» Back to:» Historic Preservation home » Kensington Cabin

Kensington Cabin

10000 Kensington Parkway

The County Council on June 28, 2011 took action to designate the Kensington Cabin on the Master Plan for Historic Preservation, approving the Planning Board Draft Amendment in their Council resolution 17-187.

Kensington Cabin

Historical and architectural significance of Kensington Cabin

  • Built in 1934 as a park recreation building and community center, Kensington Cabin was a collaborative effort of the Town of Kensington and the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission.   Blanch Armstrong, Kensington’s Woman’s Club, initially conceived of the park and community center in 1924.  M-NCPPC Landscape architect Roland Rogers drafted a park plan in 1929 and M-NCPPC engineer Irving Root requested funds for the recreation building in 1934.
  • Kensington cabin is one of the earliest park structures built by or for M-NCPPC, founded in 1927.  Built in the New Deal era, the cabin was begun with funding from the Civil Works Administration and completed with MNCPPC funds.
  • The log structure is an outstanding example of a rustic park building exemplifying parkitecture, a concept of rustic architecture promoted by the National Park Service in the 1930s.  Characteristic features include whole log construction, stone chimney and rustic bracketed door hood.
  • Kensington Cabin is an established visual feature of the local landscape and namesake of the Kensington Cabin Local Park.

Learn more about the history of Kensington Cabin in this research form, prepared by the Kensington Historical Society.

Learn more

Video clip on Kensington Cabin excerpted from our Montgomery Plans cable show.

Planning Board and Historic Preservation Commission Evaluation

M-NCPPC Staff Contact

For information about historic designation:
Clare Lise Kelly, Research & Designation Coordinator
clare.kelly@montgomeryplanning.org

For information about Historic Area Work Permits or Historic Preservation Tax Credits:
Anne Fothergill, Historic Preservation Planner
anne.fothergill@montgomeryplanning.org
Joshua Silver, Historic Preservation Planner
joshua.silver@montgomeryplanning.org

If you need to speak with someone in our office please call us at: 301-563-3400

Date of last update: December 1, 2010