A new historical marker honoring the Reeves Farmhouse property is up for consideration this week at the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB).
The vote, slated for Wednesday, comes as renovation and expansion work continues on the property, which will be used to provide housing and services to adults with intellectual disabilities.
The proposed historic marker is the standard “tabletop” size of 36 inches by 24 inches, tracing the history of the property.
HALRB members will have to decide on the location for the marker. According to county staff:
“The first and preferred option is for the marker to be installed at the bottom of the driveway close to N. Manchester Street. The second option would be at the eastern corner of the property, facing the front elevation of the house.”
County staff, the development team and the HALRB’s design review committee all support having the historic marker at the bottom of the driveway rather than adjacent to the home itself.
At the meeting of the design review committee, “there was some discussion about potentially having a marker at both proposed locations, but [historic preservation] staff explained that the project team was only required to provide one marker, and any additional markers would need to be evaluated at a later date,” historic-preservation staff said.
The farmhouse, constructed in 1878 and expanded several times, was the centerpiece of a large dairy operation run by Nelson Reeves (1900-2000) and his family until the 1950s.
After the 160-acre dairy operation closed, much of the land was sold off for development of the Boulevard Manor community, while other acreage was incorporated into Bluemont Park. The current house site totals about 2.1 acres.
The county government acquired the property at 400 N. Manchester Street in 2001 and designated it a local historic district in 2004. But it languished for two decades without a plan for its future, and a proposal to sell the property off in 2015 drew public criticism.
In 2020, a coalition composed of Habitat for Humanity of Washington, D.C. & Northern Virginia; L’Arche; Toll Brothers; and HomeAid National Capital Region reached an interim agreement with the county to acquire and renovate the property. A final agreement was signed in 2024.
Renovation and expansion work is ongoing. When complete, L’Arche will own and operate the home, providing housing for up to four adults with developmental challenges.
HALRB members are expected to carefully consider the marker and could propose changes at their Aug. 19 meeting. Any changes to the staff design would need to be shared with both the development team and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
The state government is involved in the process because the rehabilitation project is using federal funds, requiring oversight by state historic-preservation staff.
Once the new marker is installed, an existing Reevesland marker along the Four Mile Run Trail in Bluemont Park will be removed.
“Information on the marker is out of date and does not reflect the currently understood history of the Reeves site,” county staff said in a memo to HALRB members.
A replacement marker could be put in place at a later date, but county historic-preservation staff did not commit to it in the memo to HALRB members.
Also at the Aug. 19 meeting, HALRB members will be asked to approve various design alterations that do not comply with plans approved by county and state historic-preservation bodies.
Historic-preservation staff is recommending retroactive approval of the altered architectural designs.
