NOTICE: The White Gardens house is no longer considered for resident curator program.
Alert:
The White Gardens House is located within John C. and Margaret K. White Gardens Horticultural Park.
In 1938, John C. and Margaret K. White bought 13 acres, which creates the Park today. The house was constructed in 1939.
The area serves as an example of the pre-World War II suburban development which took place around the Washington Metropolitan area, converting predominantly agricultural settings into bedroom communities for the Nation’s capital. The house was designed by Joe Harry Lapish, a local architect who studied at George Washington University, then the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He was a part of the Architects Small Home Service group, which provided architectural advice and assistance with construction supervision for new home builders as part of the lending services offered by Perpetual Building Association, a savings and loan organization.
Mr. & Mrs. White began the cultivation of the property as a garden starting in the late 1940s and early1950s. One of the first additions was the large Willow Oak, between the circular driveway and the house, planted in either 1942 or 1943. Most of the work was done by Mr. & Mrs. White after 1960, including digging up the pond with a tractor and scope. After Mr. White’s death in 1979, and once Mrs. White became too old to do much work on the property, she hired a caretaker name John Kennedy who lived right next door. Mr. Kennedy mowed the meadow and took care of the flowers.
In 1999 the County acquired the property, but Mrs. White received a life estate and oversaw the day-to-day workings of the Park until her passing.