Around World War I, a new type of dwelling emerged as the All-American home. Rejecting the huge, ornate Victorian houses of their parents and grandparents, American middle-class suburbanites sought a simpler, more natural family home. People liked the idea of compact homes with clean lines, minimal decoration, and balanced proportions. Modern technology and labor-saving devices eased the homemaker's burden and reduced the need for servants. The bungalow became associated with good health, home economics, and a comfortable life style.

The bungalow was a type of house, a period of architecture, and a movement. Typically, it featured a wide, low-pitched roof, spacious front porch, overhanging eaves, low silhouette, dormers, and a mix of exterior materials. Sears Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, Aladdin, Bungalowcraft, and others offered variations of bungalows in their mail-order catalogues. The bungalow could be large or small, relatively inexpensive or not. Most of Rockville's bungalow population sits comfortably on lots in East Rockville and in the West End. Bungalows are a part of the study now being conducted by Peerless Rockville on Rockville's Recent Past, buildings of the 20th century.

The bungalow was in the thoughts of Roger and Annie Spates in 1923, when they paid $400 for two lots in "The Park." This area was subdivided in 1888 by Judge William Veirs Bouic, who hoped to take advantage of Rockville's construction boom. While the lots were convenient to the Pike, the railroad and trolley, the Fairgrounds, and the center of Rockville, few people erected houses on them in the 19th century. The Spates hired local contractor Harry Howes to build their home at 115 Park Avenue. The design they chose appears almost identical to The Kilbourne model bungalow offered by Sears Roebuck from 1921 through 1929. The Spates House, in the popular craftsman style, has bracketed eaves, a wide overhang, rusticated concrete block foundation, tapered square porch columns, dormers, and clusters of windows formed of multiple small panels.

J. Roger Spates (1882-1950) walked a few blocks to his job as deputy clerk of Montgomery County Circuit Court. An attorney, Spates served three terms as Mayor of Rockville, 1926 to 1932. During that time, Rockville passed its first Zoning Ordinance and watched a square block of the business district being razed to construct the Gray (now District) Courthouse. The first major expansion of County government, this project called attention to the challenges the city faced as the seat of county government.

The house passed out of Spates ownership in 1949. Mary Offutt, widow of Mayor Lee Offutt, lived at 115 Park Avenue from 1954 to 1962. In 1963, Eugene B. Casey, farmer, financier, and one of the largest landowners in the County, purchased the house and began to rent it for residential and office use. Most structures in The Park disappeared when nearby roads were changed in the 1970s and 1980s. The last tenant was Robert K. Maddox, long-time Montgomery County Surveyor. Peerless Rockville's offers to purchase the property thus far have not been accepted by the Casey family. Subsequently, the owner applied for a demolition permit.

Peerless Rockville nominated Spates bungalow for Historic District designation in 2001. The Rockville Historic District Commission unanimously agreed that the property met criteria for designation, as a little-altered representative of the craftsman architectural style and for its associations. The proposal goes to public hearing before the Planning Commission in April and to the Mayor and Council in June, 2002.