March 2015 Washington Post Article
about the Worland Community
Worland is a tight-knit community in Potomac, Md., that is centered around children.
“We have a big, huge hill to slide down, and all the kids gather there,” said Arya Gupta, 7. “There’s a passageway from school” — the elementary, middle and high schools are all within walking distance — “to run down the hill to your house or just for fun. And my best friend lives across the next court.”
Several cul-de-sac courtyards, each circled by about 18 large single-family homes attached via their garages, are connected by meandering trails that beckon to the children. “I love that they can bike and run all around,” said Arya’s father, Shiv Gupta, who has another daughter, Anika, 11.
He and his wife, Tanu, moved into their newly purchased home in July after renting for two years. “We had no restrictions on where to live and chose to stay here,” said Tanu Gupta. “This is where I want to retire.”
Sabina Broadhead has lived in Worland for five years with her husband, Francis Freisinger, and their children, Leah, 10, and Julian, 8. “There are so many kids here,” she said. “They knock at the door. They play at someone’s house, and I can see them from my window. They play outside the old-fashioned way.”
“It’s like a village. Everyone knows everyone else’s kids and watches out for them,” Freisinger said.
“We know basically everybody in our court, and that gives me a sense of security,” Broadhead said. “If anyone needs help, I give it; if we need help, I get it. It really is like living in a village, and the design of Worland encourages that.”
Federal Williamsburg style: The community is framed by mature pines and hardwood trees. It is bounded by Democracy Lane on the east, Democracy Boulevard on the south, Gainsborough Road on the west and another subdivision on the north between Gainsborough Road and Democracy Lane. Large painted wooden signs point down the driveways into the courtyards. The courtyards are built in a slight depression of the landscape, which enhances the sense of privacy and and quiet.
Washington architect Wilfrid V. Worland designed the community in the early 1970s. His eponymous apartments at 2828 Wisconsin Ave. NW are among the notable buildings in “Best Addresses” by James M. Goode (1988).
“What’s unusual is that the houses are theoretically townhouses, so you have the psychology of a community where everyone lives next to each other, but they’re staggered,” Freisinger said.
“We don’t share walls or living space. These are single-family homes joined by the garages,” Shiv Gupta said.
“You really live separately,” said Freisinger. “Mr. Worland created a sense of community where you feel close to people but not on top of each other. If designed now, a developer would not provide a family with so much space. We get a real sense of being able to breathe.”
The houses are in the Federal Williamsburg style, with slight variations in each. “Worland is one of his little jewels, and we try to keep it that way,” said Broadhead, a member of the Architectural Preservation Committee. “We’re not fascist about it, but we love the aesthetics, and our committee tries to preserve the look because there’s a sense of architectural value. When someone wants to do something that isn’t right, we’ll very nicely say that the door doesn’t conform and could they please rethink their proposal.”
Build-A-Bear: “You don’t feel in the middle of the action, but you can get to the action pretty quickly and that’s priceless,” said Broadhead.
Montgomery Mall is five minutes away. “It’s really walking distance, but we drive,” said Tanu Gupta. There’s a new movie theater and dozens of shops and restaurants. “The mall is awesome, because it has Build-A-Bear [Workshop], and you get to stuff it and put a heart in,” Arya said.
Five minutes in the other direction is the Cabin John Shopping Center and Mall, with a Giant, a Home Depot and everything else a suburban family needs, Broadhead said. Another five minutes away is the Potomac Woods Shopping Center, with a Harris Teeter supermarket and Founding Farmers restaurant. Cabin John Regional Park is close and offers hiking trails, camping and spots to hold children’s birthday parties.
Living there: Worland houses are attached single families with a Potomac mailing address in the 20854 Zip code.
According to Meg Percesepe, a real estate agent with Washington Fine Properties, one five-bedroom, four-bath home is on the market for $799,000. One four-bedroom, three-bath home is under contract for $725,000, she said.
In the past year, four properties were sold, ranging from a four-bedroom, three-bath home for $760,000 to a five-bedroom, five-bath home for $875,000.
Transit: Driving via interstates 495 and 270 or out River Road through Bethesda are the most direct ways to Worland. It’s about nine miles from the District. Metrobuses run on Democracy Boulevard and from Montgomery Mall to the Bethesda Metro station on the Red Line. Ride On buses take commuters to Montgomery Mall.
"Where We Live" (The Washington Post, Audrey Hoffer March 27)
ARCHITECT WILFRID WORLAND DIES AT 92
Adam Bernstein, Washington Post Staff Writer, Tuesday, December 14, 1999, page B07
Wilfrid V. Worland, 92, an architect who since the 1930s shaped Washington's suburban landscape by specializing in town houses and who designed two developments named for him, died Dec. 11 at his home in Bethesda after a heart attack.
Mr. Worland designed the Worland, a five-story apartment building on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, and a town house cluster called Worland on Democracy Boulevard in Bethesda.
Among the thousands of brick colonial and federal-style homes he designed since the 1930s were parts of Woodacres and the entire neighborhoods of Fallsreach, Falls Mead, Luxmanor, Old Farm and Westbard Mews in Maryland. He also designed the nighborhoods of Lake Ridge, Falcon Ridge, Carlyle Walk and Afton Glen, all in Virginia.
Among the nonresidential structures Mr. Worland helped design was Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Bethesda.
In the late 1940s, Mr. Worland formed a partnership with architect Michael A. Patterson. Their firm, Patterson & Worland, became Worland Associates after Patterson retired in 1978. Mr. Worland retired in 1992, and the Rockville-based concern became Hutchinson + Associates.
Explaining the appeal of the colonial style in 1980, Mr. Worland told The Washington Post, "Many people move here from someplace else. They feel that they need something with a background. The brick colonial is sort of a blanket--it provides security, a feeling of having been established in a community. And it holds its value."
Bob Mitchell, president-elect of the National Association of Home Builders, leads a firm that built many of the projects Mr. Worland designed. Mitchell said: "Everything he did, particularly his exteriors, were just perfectly in balance. He used to go to Williamsburg at least once a year He told me he_went down there to get his_ fix."
Peerless Rockville Historic Preservation Ltd. gave a Preservation Award in 1985 to Mitchell & Best Co. for a group of five wood-and-brick, condominium-style buildings Mr. Worland designed. The structures are called Rockmanor Office Park, at 1686 E. Gude Dr., and feature rear balconies overlooking Redgate Municipal Golf Course.
Mr. Worland, who was born in Jasper, Ind., was a 1931 architecture graduate of what was then the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh. After graduation, he came to the Washington area and began work as an architect.
During World War II, he served in the Army Corps of Engineers, receiving a Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit. He retired from the Army Reserve as a colonel in 1967.
He was a member of the American Institute of Architects and Holy Cross Catholic Church in Garrett Park. His hobbies included gardening and family history.
Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Mary Rose Pauly Worland of Bethesda; two daughters, Kathleen Hamm of Bethesda and Paula Lipsitz of Tucson; two sons, Julien, of St. Louis, and Wilfrid, of British Columbia; a brother; and 11 grandchildren .
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