Ellmore Farmhouse Begins Resident Curator Approval Process

HERNDON, VA — Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will be voting Tuesday to kick-off a process that could see an historic Herndon-area property undergo a long-term rehabilitation. The board will be voting to authorize a public hearing to sublease the Ellmore Farmhouse to a resident curator.

Built in 1891, the farmhouse is a 3,300 square-foot, two-story historic property located at 2739 West Ox Road. Up until the 1950s, it was the center of 50-acre dairy farm. The Fairfax County Park Authority purchased the home in 2001 so that it could be incorporated into the adjacent Frying Pan Farm Park.

A screening process identified ServiceSource, a local nonprofit organization that supports people with disabilities, as the proposed resident curator of the Ellmore Farmhouse. The board will need to approve a separate special exception application before ServiceSource can occupy the property.

Once the sublease and special exception is approved, ServiceSource will be able to sign the lease. It can then start making all the necessary repairs and improvements. ServiceSource intends to use the property as a Community Integration Center, where up to 15 adults will operate an onsite cafe and handicrafts speciality store.

The county currently has three historic homes operating under its Resident Curator Program — the Simpson House in Lorton and the Turner Farmhouse in Great Falls. The Hannah Potter Clark-Enyedi house in Lorton is currently operating under a interim lease that expires in the spring. On Tuesday, the board will be voting to advertise for a public hearing to renew its sublease.

"The program allows the county to offer these long-term leases to qualified tenants —there's a competitive application process — for the purposes of rehabilitating and maintaining the property," said Stephanie Langton, Resident Curator Program manager. "The curator is able to occupy the property with no cash-rent collected, but in exchange for their financial commitment to rehabilitate and maintain the property to a set of preservation standards."

Langton sees this program as a win-win for both the county and the resident curator.

"The curators get the benefit because they're occupying a property," she said. "Most of them are on beautiful parklands and we do credit their sweat-equity, their labor that they put toward their total investment so that they're able to tackle the projects that benefit them. For the county, of course, we're able to address these properties that have been vacant for awhile and get someone in there who can rehabilitate and maintain these structures."

Before a resident curator signs a lease with the Park Authority, a third party conducts an inspection of the property, submits an historic structure report and construction plan, which includes an itemized list of repairs and improvements that are needed. The curator's work and financial investment mean that less public funding is being spent on those repairs.

The curator's work is overseen by county staff in the Resident Curator Program and no work can be done without proper review and approval, according Langton. The curator also must follow all permitting and inspection requirements.

The program also includes a public benefit requirement, in which the curator must provide reasonable public access to the property.

"It is a public resource and it needs to be shared with the public as such," Langton said. "Typically, this occurs in the form of an annual open house event, where the public is invited in."

"House museums can only work in so many situations," Langton said. "When you have big properties like this, you have to think about how you can put them back to use, because when they are vacant, they fall into disrepair quicker. It's a great win-win because on the part of the curator they're able to contribute in such a way that they become a part of the history of the house. They're the next piece in the legacy. It makes an impactful solution to an otherwise vacant property."

Provided Tuesday's motion is approved, the Ellmore Farmhouse sublease public hearing will take place May 4, at 4:30 p.m.