Evermay

High on Georgetown's northern rim and close to Rock Creek Park, Evermay occupies one of the largest surviving plots of open land in the vicinity. The site provides a superlative view of Georgetown, descending south to the Potomac River. Although diminished from its earlier size, the Evermay property is an especially impressive estate. The house, a fivebay, two-story brick structure, is trimmed with stone and wood. The northern and main facades are nearly identical, although the latter is slightly more ornamented, particularly in the round-headed window above the door in the central bay. Three dormer windows on the roof and double chimneys rising above the sides enhance the vertical forces of the building; the hyphens and wings of the main block reinforce the horizontal. The house had been Victorianized in the mid-nineteenth century with verandas, balconies, and brackets but was restored in the 1920s by Ambassador F. Lammot Belin. Admired for its elegant detailing, it represents the form and scale of the best of the builders' tradition in Georgetown.