Why mid-century? You ask.
My partner, Ryan and I currently live in Washington DC. Neither of us grew up here and we have rotated through apartments in the city (Shaw, U Street, Mt. Vernon Triangle) for the last several years. The surrounding area of the Maryland and Virginia suburbs have always felt nebulous…unknowable. We don’t have many friends who have relocated to the suburbs and we obtusely considered ourselves “city people” until recently. When we began our search this past year, I was leading the charge. I looked at houses on Redfin and Zillow constantly. I interviewed and selected our realtor. I drove 30 minutes outside of town to the first few tours. A few things became clear in the initial search days: Firstly, Ryan would need to be extremely involved in the process if we were to find a home he would consider and secondly, we had not yet settled on what we liked “together.”
The past few months, we have looked exclusively in Maryland: Silver Spring, Kensington and Potomac. The liberal enclaves, diverse demographics, and reputable school systems seem like an extension of DC but with green space and privacy. Apparently, everyone else has the same idea. Maybe it’s COVID. Maybe it’s that millennials are finally ready to begin a mass exodus from the city and settle down. Our realtor schedules mostly private tours but every so often we attend an open house. Lines snake around the block in specific neighborhoods that boast three bedrooms and a backyard under one million dollars.
But something has been feeling off. The brick colonials and cape cods are nice. I can envision a family and a dog in the space. We could fit our furniture into the disconnected rooms. It would do. However, as the weeks go on, we have not felt compelled to put an offer in on any of these homes. Until this past week, when we saw our first Charles Goodman in Rock Creek Woods.
Midcentury homes, especially those in the Charles Goodman style, an architect who built and influenced thousands of homes in the Washington, Maryland, Virginia area, are boxy, often painted several colors, and typically have floor to ceiling windows in the great rooms. They may look odd or different than what most people are used to, especially on the exterior, but when inside, I feel my body calm. One is surrounded by vaulted wood paneled ceilings and large brick fireplaces. If the home is two stories, there is usually a distinct stair case connecting each multi-functional floor.
While this particular Charles Goodman was not right for us; we needed a larger yard and its location on a hill made landscaping difficult, we were immediately thrilled with the prospect of narrowing our search to historic midcentury modern homes only and so this blog is born. A search for the right midcentury home in Maryland or Virginia during one of the most competitive housing market periods…ever.
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