This Week's Find: One of Chevy Chase DC's Most Intriguing Homes

• March 23rd 2020

by Nena Perry-Brown

This Week's Find is an architect's modernist home in Chevy Chase DC that hit the market for the first time on Friday.

The 3,300 square-foot house on a 5,500 square-foot lot was the first home that architect Pierre Paul Childs designed and built. The cylindrical plywood exterior is covered with a stucco-like shell, and its round edges provide a theme for the rest of the house. In Chevy Chase, residents have long marveled about the unique design of the home. 

Stairs wind up to the recessed front door of the house. Inside, the rooms are mostly squared-off, creating nooks and crannies and curved built-in areas throughout. The 39 foot-long living room has a bar built into one end and windows stacked above sliding glass doors opposite a slate fireplace with mantel seat.

The dining room provides access to the balcony, and a mezzanine level houses two bedrooms. The loft-like owner's bedroom has a corner fireplace, a study nook, a dressing area, and a view into the living room below.

The house also has a cylindrical tower appended to the circular stairwell, where a rounded plexiglass window offers space for a sitting area with views of the National Cathedral.

"I combined strong discipline with a bit of whimsy," architect-owner Childs explained in a 1977 feature about the home in The Washington Star.

Additional details are below.

• Full Listing: 5500 Broad Branch Road NW (map)
• Price: $1.45 million
• Bedrooms: Three
• Bathrooms: 2.5
• Square Feet: 3,300
• Year Built: 1975
• Listing Agent: Steve Agostino, Compass

Photos courtesy of HomeVisit; those featured have been virtually staged.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/this-weeks-find-one-of-chevy-chase-dcs-most-intriguing-homes/16627.