This sixteen-room house was the first to be built on Forest Avenue. Designed for Edwin and `Lucy Smith by a Rockville master builder, the house has remained in the family since 1890. The Smiths donated a parcel of land next door to the Presbyterian Church for a manse, and Lucy Smith gave Forest Avenue its name.

Lucy and Edwin Smith began planning a summer cottage in Rockville soon after vacationing at the Woodlawn Hotel. By the time they added rooms for a nursery, servants' quarters, a study, and a room for their visiting mothers, the cottage became a large home. The Smiths chose local builder Edwin M. West, paying about $6,800 for all construction. West is credited with at least 15 homes and churches in Rockville, built between 1886 and 1909.

Edwin Smith was an astronomer for the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey for 40 years. Lucy Smith remained at home with the children, writing daily to her husband. "Mr. Astronomer Smith," as he was known in Rockville, built an observatory in the back yard, where he studied the variation of latitude during 1891 and 1892. He later established an observatory in Gaithersburg, now a National Scientific Landmark.

Mrs. Smith was a proper southern woman from New Orleans who insisted on having a verandah, which she referred to as a gallery. The second-floor semicircular balcony was copied from a plan in Scientific American. The roof was covered with Buckingham (PA) slate, and the gables are fenced with fish-scale shingles made of cypress.

Lucy Neville Smith, the only daughter, lived in the house all of her life. Like her father, for many years she walked to the B&O depot to catch the train to Washington to work. In 1963, she played the role of Warren Beatty's grandmother in the movie "Lilith," part of which was filmed in this house. The house is still owned by a member of the family.