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Photo, Print, Drawing Blandair, 6651 Highway 175, Columbia, Howard County, MD

View 34 images in sequence.
[ Photos from Survey HABS MD-1149  ]

More Resources

View 23 images in sequence.
[ Drawings from Survey HABS MD-1149  ]
[ Data Pages from Survey HABS MD-1149  ]
[ Photo Captions from Survey HABS MD-1149  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Blandair, 6651 Highway 175, Columbia, Howard County, MD

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • Schara, Mark, field team
  • Davidson, Paul, field team
  • Gray, Karen, field team
  • Toplaghaltsyan, Armen, field team
  • Schara, Mark, project manager
  • Price, Virginia Barrett, transmitter
  • Rosenthal, James W, photographer

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  plantations
  • -  mansions
  • -  agriculture
  • -  domestic life
  • -  building deterioration
  • -  Maryland -- Howard County -- Columbia

Notes

  • -  Significance: The Howard county property known today as Blandair dates to a land grant of 1087 acres, called Talbot's Resolution Manor, which was patented in 1714. The property, in various configurations, passed through several owners over the course of the 18th century. A 1798 tax assessment lists two houses on the property, including a two-story brick house, although its dimensions (46 x 36 feet) do not correspond to the existing house. In 1804 the property, at that time consisting of 382 acres, was purchased by John Compton Weems, a planter from a prominent Anne Arundel County family, who subsequently served in the U.S. Congress (1826-29). Weems named his new plantation Lagrange. In 1833 he sold Lagrange, then 400 acres, to his daughter-in-law Martha P. Weems, the wife of his son John W. Weems. Difficult economic circumstances forced the Weemses to sell the property in 1843. It was purchased by Theodorick Bland, who had been appointed Chancellor of the state of Maryland in 1824. In a letter to the Weems's lawyer at the time of the purchase, Bland noted that "the Dwelling House...is but a shell...." Bland maintained residence in Annapolis, using the plantation, which he renamed Blandair and had surveyed at 402 ½ acres, as a country house. Bland died in 1846, leaving the property to his daughter, Sarah Bland Mayo, the wife of Captain Isaac Mayo, USN. In 1857 the Mayos gave the property to their daughter, Sophia, on the occasion of her marriage to Thomas H. Gaither. The Blandair house which survives today was most likely built by the Gaithers at the time of their wedding. Constructed of load-bearing brick masonry, with fieldstone foundations at the exterior walls, Blandair is two stories tall with a pitched side-gable roof enclosing a full attic. The house sits on a raised cellar, with a simple brick ledge serving as the water table. Machine-made bricks are laid in a seven-course American bond pattern on the exterior. Brick jack arches span the door and window openings. Granite was used for the door and window sills, and for the corner dentil blocks. The floors, roof, and some interior partitions are built of wood frame construction. Interior walls and ceilings were plastered. Sylistically plain, Blandair exhibits both Greek Revival and Italianate features. In plan Blandair consists of a large, rectangular, five-bay main block (approximately 38 x 52 feet), with a smaller, off-center service wing (approximately 23 x 36 feet) extending to the east. The layout of Blandair is typical of Chesapeake plantation houses of the period, consisting of a center passage, double-pile plan. A center hall runs front to back, with the main staircase rising against the side and back walls. To the west of the hall, two parlors of equal size are separated by tall pocket doors. A large dining room and smaller sitting room are found to the east of the center hall. The service wing on the first floor originally consisted of a large kitchen room and two pantries. The second floor of the main block consists of four bedrooms, two on either side of the center hall. The two bedrooms on the east side are separated by a long service passage leading to the wing. The second floor of the service wing was divided into three rooms, most likely a nursery and accommodations for servants or slaves. The Gaithers sold Blandair in 1867, and the property passed through a series of owners over the next 70 years. In 1937 Blandair was purchased by Baltimore developer Henry E. Smith and his wife Lillie, for use as a country estate where they could raise Arabian horses. The Smiths undertook substantial renovations to the house, inserting the first electrical and plumbing systems, upgrading the heating system, and installing Colonial Revival trim and finishes. Smith died in 1939, but his wife continued to operate Blandair as a farm until her death in 1979. Blandair was inherited by the Smiths' daughter, Elizabeth, who resided in the house until she died in 1997. In 1998 the Blandair estate was purchased by Howard County for use as a county park.
  • -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N944
  • -  Survey number: HABS MD-1149

Medium

  • Photo(s): 34
  • Measured Drawing(s): 23
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 2

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS MD-1149

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • md1606

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS MD-1149
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

If Digital Images Are Displaying

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HABS/HAER/HALS materials have generally been scanned at high resolution that is suitable for most publication purposes (see Digitizing the Collection for further details about the digital images).

  • Photographs--All photographs are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Call Number and Item Number that appear under the photograph in the multiple-image display (e.g., HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-2).
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    • Make note of the Survey Number (e.g., HAER NY - 143) and Sheet Number (e.g., "Sheet 1 of 4"), which appear on the edge of the drawing. (NOTE: These numbers are visible in the Tiff "Reference Image" display.)
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  • Data Pages
    • Make note of the Call Number in the catalog record.

If Digital Images Are Not Displaying

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  • Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
  • P&P reading room staff can provide up to 15 quick copies of items per calendar year (many original items in the holdings are too old or fragile to make such copies, but generally HABS/HAER/HALS materials are in good enough condition to be placed on photocopy machines). For assistance, see our Ask a Librarian page OR
  • Hire a freelance researcher to do further selection for you (a list of researchers in available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/resource/013_pic.html).
  • You can purchase copies of various types, including quick copies, through Library of Congress Duplication Services (price lists, contact information, and order forms for Library of Congress Duplication Services are available on the Duplication Services Web site):
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      As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)
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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, Mark Schara, Paul Davidson, Karen Gray, Armen Toplaghaltsyan, and Mark Schara, Rosenthal, James W, photographer. Blandair,Highway 175, Columbia, Howard County, MD. Howard County Columbia Maryland, 1933. translateds by Price, Virginia Barrettmitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/md1606/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C., Schara, M., Davidson, P., Gray, K., Toplaghaltsyan, A. & Schara, M., Rosenthal, J. W., photographer. (1933) Blandair,Highway 175, Columbia, Howard County, MD. Howard County Columbia Maryland, 1933. Price, V. B., trans Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/md1606/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, et al., photographer by Rosenthal, James W. Blandair,Highway 175, Columbia, Howard County, MD. trans by Price, Virginia Barrettmitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/md1606/>.