University Park

University Park, an incorporated municipality, is an early-twentieth-century automobile suburb within the Route 1 corridor in northwestern Prince George’s County. The neighborhood, which developed from 1920 to 1945, is exclusively residential. Beginning in the 1880s, a rapid process of suburbanization began, made possible by a nearby railroad line and the extension of streetcar lines from Washington, D.C. Unlike its older neighbors College Park and Riverdale Park in Prince George’s County, from the onset, University Park was designed to accommodate the automobile. The primary building type is the detached single-family dwelling with a freestanding garage. Prominent features of University Park include its gently rolling topography, a broad diagonal avenue that bisects the community from the southwest to the northeast, and as a counterpoint, the meandering course of a stream valley park runs from the northwest to the southeast. Other notable features include the property’s original farmhouse (Bloomfield/Deakins House, PG: 66-029-05) and the nearby family cemetery. The neighborhood is characterized by streets of evenly spaced houses shaded by mature trees. The houses are built in a range of popular early-twentieth- century architectural styles including Tudor and Mediterranean Revival, and varied interpretations of the Craftsman and the Colonial Revival. 1 The neighborhood was framed on three sides by major thoroughfares. On the east, Baltimore Avenue (US Route 1) runs almost directly north/south. On the west, Adelphi Road follows a north-northwesterly course. The southern boundary is formed by East-West Highway. The pattern of streets and blocks within the neighborhood is generally based on a rectangular grid. Many blocks within the neighborhood have at least one curvilinear side and several blocks are triangular, the result of diagonally intersecting streets. In most cases, dwellings are placed roughly at the center of a rectangular lot with an entry facing the street. Lots are typically small and rectangular in shape, with a setback between 50 and 100 feet. Freestanding garages are common and are typically located to one side of the lot with a driveway leading to the garage. 2 The Town of University Park developed from 1920 to 1945 on land that was once associated with Bloomfield, a nineteenth-century farmstead belonging to the Deakins family. Bloomfield, the oldest house in University Park, was constructed c. 1830 as a two-and-a-half-story vernacular farmhouse. The house was rebuilt in 1923 and now presents as a neo-classical suburban dwelling. 3 This house is also associated with the Deakins family cemetery, which is located approximately one block northwest of Bloomfield. The 20-foot-square plot was platted in April 1936 and contains approximately twenty burials. 4 The 1861 Martenet map and the 1878 Hopkins map document the Deakins property as the only dwelling in the vicinity of what is now University Park. 5 In April 1920, Harry W. Shepherd and Claude Gilbert platted College Heights, a hilly, 30-acre parcel of land, west of Baltimore Avenue near the present Old Town College Park and the University of Maryland. In 1923, the University Park Company platted a 30-acre subdivision known as Section 1 at the intersection of Baltimore Avenue and Colesville Road. The University Park Company continued to plat subdivisions throughout the 1920s and 1930s, gradually expanding the neighborhood of University Park. The University Park Company sold individual lots with 1 Howard S. Berger, “University Park Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places nomination form (April 1995), 7:1. 2 Berger, “University Park,” 7:4-5. 3 The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, “Illustrated Inventory of Historic Sites, Prince George’s County, Maryland” (Upper Marlboro, MD: The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, June 2006), 43. 4 Berger, “University Park,” 7:9-11. 5 Simon J. Martenet, “Atlas of Prince