Woodend Manor House

Woodend Manor House, designed in Georgian style by John Russell Pope in 1927 on what had once been hunting grounds for Algonquin Indians, was originally the residence of Chester and Marion Wells, who wanted to recreate the atmosphere of English country living in their American home. Captain and Mrs. Wells chose to build the mansion after abandoning plans to rebuild and enlarge the ruins of the Clean Drinking Manor House. Clean Drinking was the name of the property, which at one time comprised about 14,000 acres from when John Courts took it up in 1680 and it was patented in 1699 until Captain and Mrs. Wells purchased it in 1916. The mansion contains 30 rooms, has 10,000 square feet not including the basement, and includes a partial third floor that is not visible from outside. Forty acres surround the mansion, though Captain and Mrs. Wells once owned 100 acres, including part of what is now Rock Creek Park. In 1967, following Mrs. Wells's death, Woodend was donated to the Audubon Naturalist Society, founded in 1897. Today the grounds have numerous paths and are home to more than twenty-nine species of birds, while the house serves as the society's headquarters with classrooms, a library, and a bookstore on the first floor, office space on the second, a great hall with high ceilings and an elegant fireplace just inside the entrance, and a spacious terrace across the lawn that can seat 150 people for a variety of occasions.

Chevy Chase, Maryland · United States