On August 1, Rockville Mayor and Council voted unanimously to concur with the Historic District Commission and the Maryland Historic Trust to support listing New Mark Commons in the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation, authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. It is is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archaeological resources.

Peerless Rockville strongly supports this nomination as an appropriate and important action recognizing the value of New Mark Commons, particularly for its significance as one of the City’s unique Mid-Century Modern historic resources. Nationally recognized in its own time, New Mark Commons is also a superior example of mid-century architecture and development patterns and represents the physical, social and economic fabric of Montgomery County and Rockville during this period of growth and change.

A “situated modernism” community, New Mark Commons was designed by homebuilder Edmund J. Bennett and the modernist architecture firm Keyes, Lethbridge & Condon to harmoniously integrate the various housing types and community amenities with preserved natural features. The specific design of each home was selected based on which model best fit the natural topography and modern homes were clustered on courts and cul-de-sacs.

New Mark Commons was the first PRU (Planned Residential Unit development) in Rockville and has retained high integrity as a significant modernist community. Peerless Rockville applauds the hard work of the New Mark Commons Homeowners Association and Isabelle Gournay and Mary Corbin Sies of the University of Maryland in initiating and completing the nomination process, including community involvement and notification.

Click here to read the agenda item from the Mayor & Council Meeting.