JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010
Tucked away on private Red Barn Lane in Potomac, Maryland, O’Neill Development’s luxury-home community of Highgate brings a bit of old England to the suburbs.
Highgate’s 16 homes—all of which have been sold—were designed using an English Country house theme by prominent local architects David Jones, David Neumann, Greg Weidemann, Stephen Muse and David Peabody.
“We thought we’d hire five architects and let them approach the subject as they saw it,” says Brendan O’Neill, Sr., company founder and president and project leader. He did impose some requirements, however: Each design had to be original and could not include decks or turrets; exterior elevations were subject to approval; and exteriors were required to use a particular western Maryland stone that resembles the Cotswold stone found in England. “The stone was a major factor in achieving the look we wanted,” says O’Neill.
The builder hired landscape architect Jay Graham to create the site plan and street features, which gave the architects a footprint to follow on each of the two-plus acre lots. The result is a subdivision of stately, pleasingly shaped homes with sloping roofs, tall chimneys, casement windows and understated front doors, set against a bucolic background of rolling hills.
O’Neill Development has built other architecturally themed luxury enclaves, including communities featuring Williamsburg, New England and Historic Maryland home styles. The firm is currently planning a project in Upper Montgomery County with large lots, farmhouse style architecture and an agricultural theme.
FACTS & STATS
CONCEPT
Using an architectural theme and different architects to create a visually cohesive community of one-of-a-kind homes.
TIMELINE
Per agreement with existing neighbors to the building site, only two or three homes were built each year; it took six years to complete the community.
STIPULATION:
Buyers were permitted to choose any of the five architects to design their home.
INQUIRIES
Call O’Neill Development at 301-840-9310 or visit www.oneilldev.com.
HIGHGATE ARCHITECTS: David Jones, AIA, David Jones Architects, Washington, DC. David Neumann, AIA, Neumann Lewis Buchanan Architects, Washington, DC. Greg Wiedemann, AIA, Wiedemann Architects, Bethesda, Maryland. Stephen Muse, FAIA, Muse Architects, Bethesda, Maryland. David Peabody, AIA, LEED, Peabody Architects, Alexandria, Virginia. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: Jay Graham, Graham Landscape Architecture, Annapolis, Maryland. BUILDER: Brendan O’Neill, Sr., O’Neill Development, Gaithersburg, Maryland. PHOTOGRAPHY: Anice Hoachlander, Hoachlander Davis Photography, Washington, DC.
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