This stately home was originally owned by Brianard Warner, who built this Victorian mansion, Hadley Hall, c 1890, as a retreat for his family from Washington, DC. The house is built in a Queen Anne Style – note its massive front porch and its asymmetrical facade. The carriage house in the back was built sometime later. Warner made his wealth as a real-estate developer in D.C. Warner purchased a large portion of what is now Kensington to the south of the railroad tracks and subdivided it. He named the subdivision Kensington Park after the famedKensington section of London, known for its majestic gardens. Nature factors into the design of the home itself with bays and turrets projecting out into the trees. The estate became the model for other Victorian-style homes in the neighborhood as homes were built with large plots and plenty of green space. In fact, the town's curving streets were intentionally designed to contrast with D.C.'s rigid grid system. Warner lived in Kensington until sometime after 1910, and during that time, the estate was a center for social events, including grand parties entertaining congressmen, senators, and even President William Howard Taft. After Warner passed away, his home changed hands a few times. In 2005, the Montgomery County Parks purchased the property and restored the exterior of the home and the carriage house. While Montgomery Parks has retained the land around the house, which will remain a park, the house itself is undergoing preservation and renovation and is being converted to a condominium community. This project represents a unique public/private sector partnership effort to preserve this property by repurposing it. Throughout the town, you can spot Brainard Warner's influences. He donated funds and land for the Noyes Library, the Montgomery Press, and the Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church.

Garden open to tour – This home, built before 1911 and enlarged in 1990, received a Montgomery County Historical Preservation Award for its north side addition. It continues the classical details of the original house as well as its balanced proportions. Notable features in the original portion of the house include the fanlight above the front door and the Palladian window on the north side.

The Compass Art Center, which is home to schools of art for children and adults, as well as professional art studios and art galleries, will be open for guests to peruse throughout the day of the tour. Enjoy viewing recent art from local artists, visit with our working artists in their studios, or even pop in to view a class in action. Compass is the hub for art and artists in quaint Kensington. This is a good starting point for the Kensington Open Studios event taking place today. Note: Ticketing and restrooms are available at this stop.

Located next to the B&O railroad, these sites date back to the beginning of the Knowles Station community, serving the handful of farmers in the area. St. Paul Street, known as County Road at that time, crossed the tracks, which made it an ideal location for businesses. In the 1880s, William Mannakee established a general store. In the 1930s, Russell Mizell bought this property and relocated his lumber business next to the Kensington station. The B&O railroad provided deliveries of high-quality lumber and hardware from distant sources. Three generations of the Mizell family ran the Mizell Lumber and Hardware Company for over 90 years at this location until the business closed in December 2011. The old hardware store on the left has been preserved and is now part of Modena Reserve. The building to the right, now the District Café, was originally built as a service station and known as Carmack's in the 1920s and later as the Curtis Brothers' Station. Both these buildings are great examples of how a public/private sector effort can preserve historic structures through repurposing. These two buildings are in the Kensington Historic District and have kept their general appearance with wood siding and a low overhanging roof. The street-facing gable with its scalloped shingles centered above the front doors, and the symmetrical windows flanking the doors, are the original design. The turned posts and decorative brackets of the porch are typical of the 1890s. Restrooms available at District Café As you are standing at the corner of Metropolitan and St. Paul Streets, you will see a section of our Historic District that goes for several blocks along St. Paul ending with a home at the corner of St. Paul and Plyers Mill, where St. Paul's Methodist Church was first located.

This home is a cross-gabled Victorian with siding at the first floor, shingle at the second, and a flared dormer at the third floor, displaying a shingle diamond flare with painted cross trim in the gable to highlight the front facade. Visitors will be able to see a State Champion Kobus Magnolia (BT-2627) tree, which is not normally accessible to the public.

This home was called "Lorraine's Crescent" after Lorraine Shepherd, daughter of one of the District of Columbia's early governors. A 1904 example of the Queen Anne style, its whimsical features include an octagonal turret on the southwest corner and a flag balcony on the east side. Details of interest are the fish-scale gable shingles, patterned windows, and turned porch posts. The ample wraparound porch provides a pleasant transition from indoors to out. Like many of Kensington's older houses, it once had a windmill in the backyard.

This home is a beautiful example of a Garden Victorian located in the center of town with a wraparound porch and a shingled turret. The house features a wood- trimmed gable facing the street, which at one time was painted a contrasting color to highlight the geometry of the gable.

One of the most iconic stops is the Kensington B&O Train Station. This station is the second-oldest active one in the Countycounty. Note on the roof, the construction date 1891, written in period lettering. It was originally called Knowles Station, named for George Knowles, whose farm was subdivided to create much of the town. Notice the station's large eaves. The design is known as Stick Style since it was meant to mimic the outside walls of an exposed half-timbered frame. The Kensington station was designed by E. Francis Baldwin. For 25 years, he served as chief architect for the entire B&O rail line – creating hundreds of buildings, though Kensington is one of only a handful of surviving stations. Looking along the side of the station, you can see the bay for the original ticket window facing the railway. Inside the station is a period cast-iron stove. Merchants built their businesses adjacent to the rail line to cater to people arriving from the train and the Electric Car Line. Restrooms are available at this stop. As you enjoy the displays at the Train Station, be sure to take the time to cross the tracks and walk to your left to enjoy two historic landmarks as noted below.

This park and its adjacent green space and private garden at 10312 Armory Ave showcase the public/private sector initiatives that the Town of Kensington and its residents are working on to ensure that Kensington is a thriving community 150 years from now. The initiatives will demonstrate how a Town can incorporate its historic past with a plan for a vibrant future. Kensington is a Tree City, so the care taken to maintain our tree canopy and add to it through the planting of additional trees on municipal property is a priority. In addition to maintaining the beauty of our many gardens, the town has a number of active projects to enhance the health of our green space. We have been awarded the designation of Sustainable Kensington by Sustainable Maryland (a program in partnership with UMD and Maryland Municipal League). This recognizes municipalities that have taken measurable steps to make their community more sustainable on a number of levels. Kensington very much identifies as a walkable community (as you will see from your time spent on the walking tour) and has an energetic town committee working within the town and with the county and state to enhance the ease with which town residents and visitors can access all parts of the town on foot, by bicycle, or by public transportation.

In 1892, when Henry Copp subdivided twenty acres of land along the north side of the railroad just west of the Town of Kensington, the area was accessed solely by Bonny Castle Road, which connected with Garrett Park. Today, this road, known as Plyers Mill Road, dead-ends at a path leading to Rock Creek. (Our Home Town, An Oral History of Ken-Gar, Maryland) Building lot sales were slow in the early years, and the sparsely settled community retained a rural character. In 1903, this started to change when trustees of the nearby Lee African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church bought a single lot to build a new church for African American residents. Over time, families settled around the church, which also served as Ken-Gar's first school. In 1920, under the leadership and direction of Reverend W. B. Cave, what is now The First Baptist Church of Ken-Gar was organized at the home of Carrie Davis, along with other "Baptist" founders from the community. Ken-Gar thus welcomed its second church in 1921-1922, when "First Baptist" members of the community bought a lot at the corner of Hampden and Vaughn Streets. First Baptist Church of Ken-Gar was formed, receiving a charter from Mount Calvary Baptist Church, Rockville, Maryland. The Reverend James W. Murphy was installed as the first full-time pastor in 1951. The original building was built in 1920 and completely rebuilt over the original "lower sanctuary" in 1974. The tenth and current pastor, the Reverend Norman O. Hall, was elected on April 18, 2018, and installed on August 19, 2018. The two churches and the community center have remained staples of Ken-Gar, helping to coalesce a strong sense of community that endures today. The county partnered to construct a building established as one of the Rosenwald Schools. When the county integrated its schools in 1955, the schoolhouse was closed. The school building was later given new life as the Ken-Gar Community Center. The Center was dedicated to Leonard Jackson, a local activist and champion of civil rights who organized the Ken-Gar Civic Association in the 1950s and helped bring basic improvements to the community. Ken-Gar is only one of the several early Montgomery County settlements. But others were greatly changed or even erased by suburban sprawl. Thanks in part to its being hemmed in by the railroad tracks to the south, Rock Creek Park to the west, and a commercial strip along Connecticut Avenue, Ken-Gar has survived with more of its original structures, dignity, and history preserved. Learn about Ken-Gar's history at the First Baptist Church of Ken-Gar at 3922 Hampden Street. You are welcome to join them for service at 11:00 or afterward to see displays on the history of Ken-Gar, including a photo slide show/videos of church and Leonard Community Center activities and history.