The Hilleary T. Burrows House Washington, D. C.

Built in the Queen Anne style, the Hilleary T. Burrows House is one of first homes built in the new American University Park subdivision.

Because of its location at River Road and 46th Street, it remains one of the more visible and familiar.

It is an excellent example of a two-story Queen Anne-style home, notable especially for it unusual wrap-around porch and the fact that its original lot remains undivided.

Its construction predated the opening of 46th Street. Because of the house’s proximity to Civil War Fort Bayard, it is likely that a rifle trench connecting Fort Bayard with Fort Reno, another Civil War fortification to the east, would have run close to where the house now stands.

The design for this house, according to the building permit, was taken from a picture in a pamphlet of H. Galloway Teneyck designs.

Pamphlets of designs, or pattern books, were often published by nineteenth century architects. This is the only documented example of a pattern book design in AU Park.

Hilleary Burroughs owned the public livery stable in Tenleytown that provided the “herdic” bus service from the village to the new subdivision, a service that left some patrons unsatisfied.

He had a varied career including occupations as diverse as lawyer and well digger! In the late 1890s when the American University campus was being laid out, he worked as a contractor moving dirt and grading the site.

Though they share a surname there is no evidence that Hilleary Burrows and Samuel Burrows were related. Tenleytown was home to several unrelated Burrows/Burroughs families.

When the current owners purchased the house, it was in need of extensive renovation.

The exterior was stripped to its original siding and later interior alterations were removed while period details were retained where possible and duplicated where damaged beyond repair. Mechanical systems were replaced and the interior improved to reflect twenty-first century needs.

In 2005 the owners, Todd and Monte Corbett Monash, received a DC Historic Preservation Award for Excellence in Stewardship for their sensitive restoration of the property.

(Listed in DC Inventory of Historic Site, 2001)