A popular venue for special events, the Glenview Mansion sits at the heart of the Civic Center overlooking 28 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds with ornamental gardens. Built in 1926, the elegant, Neo-Classical Revival home is on the National Registry for Historic Places and considered a local historic landmark.
The grounds were originally part of Judge Richard Bowie’s farm, then called Glen View, when Heiress Irene Moore Smith bought the land in 1917. After she married Dr. James Alexander Lyon, they commissioned prominent Washington, D.C., architects Lochie and Porter to build the two-story home and it became a popular destination for Washington’s socialites. The country estate touted formal boxwood gardens, exotic marble floored, holding fountains and Mrs. Lyon’s collection of exotic birds.
In 1936, Dr. Lyon had a small playhouse built for their daughter, Betsy. Referred to as the dollhouse, now known as The Cottage, the one-story structure features bunk beds, sun room, stone fireplace and wooden gables.