Custom Modern in Bannockburn Co-op – $1.059 Million

If you are looking for a modernist home in Bethesda, run to see this one in Bannockburn Co-op. Offers are due Tuesday at 3 pm. This 2008 custom, ground-up build by Division 1 Architects sits on Braeburn Place, the original street in the neighborhood. The two-level home with approximately 3,600 square feet has walls of windows, double-height living room and 300-gallon aquarium and radiant heat.
Bannockburn Coop was founded in the mid-1940s by individuals who formed a housing cooperative to build homes and a community. The coop hired architects Burket, Neufeld and DeMars to further develop co-op member Mary Goldwater’s idea (She was an architect and planner.) The first two dozen homes were built on Braeburn Place. The original land, 75 acres near the Potomac, cost $193,000, which the co-op paid off in three years, according to a history of the neighborhood by Mary and Jack Herling.

Today: Rare Chance to See Breuer House in Bethesda

You have a rare chance today to see the only Marcel Breuer-designed home in the Washington area as well as seven other homes in the Bannockburn neighborhood in Bethesda. “The Seymour Krieger House, built in 1958 and placed on the Historic Register in 2008, is significant for its architectural and landscape designs, the product of master architect … Breuer and master landscape designer Dan Kiley,” the guide for the tour says.
The house tour, which will benefit Glen Echo Park, will be held Sunday, April 30, from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. You can purchase tickets here. Other modernist homes on the tour include a home by Francis Donald Lethbridge and one by Alex Morse, which has been redone by Mark McInturff.

Bannockburn Highlighted by WashPost

In its latest neighborhood profile, the Washington Post highlights Bannockburn in Bethesda. Started as a co-op in 1946, the neighborhood in the woods off MacArthur Boulevard was packed with mid-century modern houses. While the community still has many mid-century modern homes, as each year passes more are being lost. “Like many other suburban neighborhoods, Bannockburn is experiencing growing pains as some of those older homes are demolished to make way for vastly larger ones,” the story says. I posted here about the trend last year, including the eventual loss of the Stokes House (above) designed by by Hal Esten.

Bannockburn’s Disappearing Mid-Century Moderns

The Bannockburn neighborhood in Bethesda, which features large wooded lots close to the Potomac River, is known for its cluster of impressive custom mid-century modern homes. The question is: How long will this last? The Stokes House on Crail Drive, which was designed by architect Hal Esten, sold for $850K earlier this summer. The house, which needs much work, sits on a prime wooded acre. (See what the house looks like here and what it may become.) It was purchased for cash and will be lost as you can see below.

Here is Hal Esten's original drawing for the Stokes House.
There is a mid-century home on Nevis Road behind the trees and sign pictured at the top of the post. This will be torn down as well. And just a few houses down, a mid-century modern home was torn down and replaced with this home, Corinithian columns and all. So sad.

Two New Mid-Century Rambler Listings in Chevy Chase, Bethesda

Here are two new listings from mid-century ramblers in Chevy Chase and Bethesda:

1956 4-bedroom in Somerset Heights – $1.35 million; Open 12/6 from 1 to 4 p.m.

1951 4-bedroom in Bannockburn – $849K

Bannockburn Bethesda MD