The Polychrome Historic District is a national historic district in the Four Corners neighborhood in Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland. It recognizes a group of five houses built by

John Joseph Earley John Joseph Earley (1881 in New York City – November 25, 1945) was the son of James Earley, a fourth generation Irish stone carver and ecclesiastical artist. A skilled artisan, architect, and innovator in the use of concrete Earley is best know ...

in 1934 and 1935. Earley used

precast concrete Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples include precast bea ...

panels with brightly colored aggregate to produce the

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...

effect, with

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

details. The two-inch-thick panels were attached to a conventional wood frame. Earley was interested in the use of mass-production techniques to produce small, inexpensive houses, paralleling

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

's Usonian house concepts.

References

External links

*, including photo in 2003, at Maryland Historical Trust
Boundary Map of the Polychrome Historic District, Montgomery County
at Maryland Historical Trust * Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Art Deco architecture in Maryland Four Corners, Maryland Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Houses in Montgomery County, Maryland Historic American Buildings Survey in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Maryland {{MontgomeryCountyMD-NRHP-stub