“Avalon”, 309 Gun Road
Baltimore County, MD 21227-3822
(Documented by Baltimore County in 2008 for consideration of landmark status)
Historical Significance
The estate at 309 Gun Road, designated as “Avalon” by the Baltimore County Final Landmarks List (No. 230)
by vote of the County Council (Bill No. 116-03 on December 15, 2003), is comprised of several buildings on the
almost historic four–acre property. This estate was delineated as an historic environmental setting in Baltimore
County Council District #3.
Gun Road is a suburb dating from the 1890’s that retains its isolation near the Patapsco River Valley State Park
and main line of the B. & O. Railroad. “Gun Road” reflects the passage of Washington’s and Lafayette’s force
across the Patapsco River on the way to Yorktown in 1781. Most old maps and deeds gave it the name Avalon
Forge Road. Avalon was a name the Ellicott family gave to Dorsey’s Forge after they bought it and turned it
into a nail making works about 1820. The historic river town of Avalon was built in the late 1700’s primarily of
quarried stone from the region. The town and its residents, many working in the local mills, settled quietly
along the industrious Patapsco River Valley. During the Civil War, Union gun batteries were positioned nearby
to protect the railroad junction at Relay. One such remnant exists at 309 Gun Road. Avalon suffered many
floods over the years; the Great Flood of 1868 resulted in the ultimate abandonment of the town. Only one
complete building known to be original to the town of Avalon still stands in the Patapsco River Valley State
Park, and is presently used as a Visitor Center.
Some families of Gun Road represent several generations of homeowners. The first of the Clayton family, John
Alexander Clayton, came to Baltimore County to serve as chief engineer of the Orange Grove flourmill of the
C.A. Gambrill Company. He had nine sons, one of whom was named Corliss Clayton in honor of the Corliss
brand of steam engine that mill operators swore by in the pre-electrical age of manufacturing. The Claytons
were an example of neighborhood persistence because John Alexander Clayton stayed there even though the
Orange Grove Mill burned in 1905 and was never rebuilt.
To build his family homestead on a lot adjoining his father’s place at 307 Gun Road, Silvan ‘Sid’ Monroe
Clayton purchased the ruins of Avalon: timber, brick and stone. This purchase included a predominant building
of the town that housed the original church. Lucy W. Merrill McKean in her 1995 article in History Trails
entitled “Gun Road, ‘Cannon Track’ to Suburb,” noted that the 1898 Bromley Atlas of Baltimore County,
Maryland, showed a small Catholic Church. This church did not thrive and was demolished in the early 1930’s.
Its stone was used by Sid Clayton, who designed and built other dwellings and structures in the area, to build a
series of personal home estate buildings above the Patapsco River Valley overlooking the site of the once
prosperous town of Avalon. Building materials were brought up the cliff to be recycled into the buildings that
Clayton built. The buildings’ foundations, two stone fireplaces, and stair paving are testaments to the stone that
was originally quarried for the town of Avalon over two hundred years ago. Included in the purchase of these
materials was the church bell, which has since been lost. In 1949 as his family grew, Mr. Clayton added a
guesthouse and two garages to the property. The guesthouse was built from materials taken from an historical
sailing vessel, the Somerset. Beams in the main house suggest that these were also from a sailing ship. The
garage was built in a style similar to the guesthouse.
The main house and what would become a clubhouse were built in 1934 in Arts and Crafts Mission style with
salvaged materials from the Colonial Revival period and style from the original town of Avalon, particularly the
quarried and finished stone. The clubhouse was expanded with similar stone, brick, and flagstone, stained and
painted wood and stucco materials by Mr. Clayton and his son, Von, in 1949 when the guesthouse was built.
Sid Clayton ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in 1954.
Description of Physical Appearance
The main house and clubhouse, designed in Arts and Crafts Mission style, were built c. 1934. The house is
comprised of stone, brick and cedar shake, materials from the Colonial Revival period and style and materials
from the original town of Avalon, particularly the quarried and finished stone. The ground floor is of random
quarried stone with corners built of brick. The clubhouse is comprised of brick, stone, wood, flagstone, stained
glass windows, and stucco. The detached garage and guesthouse were built in 1949 -50. The builder used as
much existing and salvaged materials as possible for all the buildings. Access to the property had been via an
eight-foot wide unpaved dirt lane up a hill presently paved.
The main house front door is a six-window wood door. The windows are three over three wood windows. Its
main windows have brick flat arches with brick surrounding the sides and brick sills at the bottom. The roof is a
gable style. There is no formal porch on the main house, but an entrance portico of concrete and brick that had
cracks and gaps, now highlighted by a stone dragonfly. There were some additions behind the original house
that blend in well with the original structure, but had serious structural damage, since remedied by a new
structure, a loggia.
There is a simple wood, columned porch across the façade of the guesthouse. The design is informal and rustic,
as inspired by the Craftsman Movement. The walkways around both houses are of an attractive flagstone, but
were once cracked and heaving, now reset.
The property has changed owners several times over the years. At one point the houses were divided up as
rental property. Off of the main foyer of the main house, arched stucco walls lead to the DR and LR. The LR
features a large stone fireplace. The main staircase is in the rear of the foyer. Off of the DR is the kitchen and
adjoining breakfast room. The rear door is a fifteen-window door. On the second floor, there is a master
bedroom and bathroom, an adjacent bedroom, a study and a rear room. The rear room was built as a Summer
Sleeping Porch (a room with windows on 3 sides for air circulation) as was the fashion of the Craftsman
Movement. The walls in the Summer Sleeping Porch are covered with original bead board. Most of the original
features of the house remain intact; there are seventeen original panel wood doors that are still in place, and
original wood trim and oak and pine wood floors run throughout the structure.
The Avalon Clubhouse was built with the main house in 1934, both of the Arts and Crafts Mission style, with
salvaged materials from the Colonial Revival period and style from the original town of Avalon, particularly the
quarried and finished stone. The design is informal and rustic, as inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement.
The clubhouse features stone and brick walls; painted post and exposed beam wood construction; flagstone and
concrete floors; a brick fireplace; an asymmetrically pitched roof; “kitchenette” area; and, two stained glass
windows. Sitting in the shadow of an ancient beech tree, the clubhouse has glass doors and multiple windows to
allow in as much natural light as possible.
In 1949 the clubhouse was expanded using similar stone, brick, flagstone, concrete, windows, stained and
painted wood and stucco construction materials. The expansion room has a stone, brick and flagstone table built
into it. There is a patio entrance to the clubhouse constructed of stone, brick, flagstone and concrete with a
built-in stone table and tabletop comprised of a stone millwheel taken from a former mill in the Patapsco River
Valley. The patio, floors and walls had extensive structural damage. The roof, wood ceiling, joists and beams
were rotted in many places with large gaping holes. The plumbing and electric had serious damage and multiple
safety hazards. In the clubhouse expansion room, the most recent owner had added a glass panel door to the
wall and window systems to the ceiling to produce a greenhouse effect; all had been significantly damaged.
This project restored the 1934 and 1949 construction to their original states. The buildings’ stone, brick and
wood walls were left intact or rebuilt using the same materials. Wood was repaired or replaced as necessary
using matching materials, many found in storage areas elsewhere on the estate. Disintegrating support walls
were rebuilt. Floor drains, downspouts and gutters were installed. Plumbing, heating and electric were
replaced. To the main house, insulation was added as well as central AC without cutting into any of the walls
for ducts. Fixtures that could be salvaged were reused while others were replaced with those of similar historic
period and style, e.g. sconce lighting was replaced with similar sconces, tile sinks were left intact, etc. Flagstone
and concrete floors were repaired or replaced as necessary. Fireplaces and chimneys were restored to safe use.
Stained glass windows, stone millwheel, flagstone table, and curiosities such as the clubhouse kitchenette vent
hood painted with the words, “Dominus Vobiscum” (echoes of the church?), were left intact. The buildings’
footprints and roof pitches were not altered.
The intent of the current owners has always been to maintain the historic integrity of the structure; preserve the
structure’s key historic elements; and, restore the buildings to their original historic style and use, including
using as many existing and salvaged materials as possible. Repairing has been the first choice; replacing has
been employed only when necessary and has been consistent with the original historical periods and styles.
Project Timeline: Through mid-April 2008.
Budget: $370,000.