Being frugal and imaginative, Rockville residents often relocated or reused buildings for new purposes when the original intent was no longer practical.  The house at 315 Great Falls Road is an example of such a change to keep up with modern utility and architectural preference.  

Great Falls Road, also once known as the road to Cabin John, has been used for centuries.  Indians and European settlers traveling on the interior ridge road (now Route 355) took it to the Potomac River.  It’s no surprise that two of Rockville’s earliest still-surviving structures – the Bingham-Brewer house (307 Great Falls Road) and Rose Hill, dating from the antebellum era – face the road that leads to the fall line on the Potomac. 

Julius and Charlotte Bingham constructed the small Federal style brick house at 307 Great Falls Road in 1821.  Julius Bingham published the True American and Farmer’s Journal in Rockville and engaged in several other enterprises.   The Binghams sold the 7 ¼ acre property in 1834 to William and Elizabeth McClenahan.  An immigrant from Ireland who came to Rockville about 1817, Rev. McClenahan helped to found the Disciples of Christ Church (the Christian Church) in Rockville and taught English at the Rockville Academy.  Subsequent owners were Joanna Everett, Jetson and Mary Granger, Anna McCormick, and the heirs of Joshua Dorsey. 

By the turn of the century, members of the Brewer family lived on this property.  The Brewers were early settlers who helped Rockville grow through their real estate holdings, business interests, and political participation.  John Buchanan Brewer, his wife Virginia, and their ten children rented 307 Great Falls Road for a number of years, purchasing the property in 1906.  

In 1927, Brewer family members demolished a barn west of the old house and built a residence, 315 Great Falls Road, on the fieldstone foundation.  The cottage was designed in the Colonial Revival style, popular in America from the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876 through the Williamsburg restorations of the 1930s.  This style is reflected in wood structures symmetrical in form and window placement, with gable roofs and dormers, 6 over 6 sash windows, a side porch and brick chimney.  The house served as a summer place for the Brewers, who lived in Washington, D.C.  Some of the old barn timbers were retained in the house for decorative purposes.  The 20,000 square foot parcel containing the small cottage at 315 Great Falls Road was separated from the larger parcel in 1948, but it remained in the Brewer family until 1957.

Mike Henry and Cynthia Fischer-Henry purchased the house in 2002.   The Mayor and Council designated this property as a Rockville Historic District during Historic Preservation Week, May, 2003.