Long & Foster Real Estate, the largest family-owned residential real estate company in the United States and an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, announced it has listed a historic home in the Five Oaks subdivision of Vienna, Va., located at 2601 Babcock Road. The property includes three bedrooms and two bathrooms in 1,897 square feet of living space. The home is listed by Long & Foster’s Jon DeHart and is being sold for $850,000.
“This property, which is just 15 miles from the nation’s capital, is an excellent opportunity for someone who loves a novelty home with value add opportunity, or for a buyer who is interested in building the home of their dreams on one of the best lots in Vienna,” DeHart said.
The property is approximately 1.05 acres with about 200 feet of frontage with three existing structures, including the main house, a guest house/office and a two-car detached garage. The property is prime for redevelopment for a 12,000-square-feet mansion. The location is ideal being a short drive to downtown Vienna and local schools including Flint Hill Elementary, Thoreau Middle School and Madison High School.
Since it was built, the mail-order Sears home has been owned by only two families. It was built by former Vienna mayor, Charles Babock. Babock and his wife chose the property, which then overlooked a potential orchard, in about 1916 and built a small two-room house on the land while they waited for the construction of the three-bedroom colonial they had chosen from the Sears & Roebuck catalog. The home, called The Roanoke, originally cost only $1,600.
The home was delivered to the Vienna train station on two flat-bed railroad cars and included all wood, boards and materials cut to size, including the nails, screws, lights, siding, bathroom fixtures and even the “charming china cabinet” advertised in the catalog. The blueprints of the Sears home even provided suggested locations for furniture, such as the twin beds in the master bathroom and the piano and Sears Silvertone radio in the living room.
The home originally included three bedrooms and one bathroom. Over the years a family room and a second bathroom were added and the kitchen was enlarged, though the integrity of the home’s style remained in tact. At the time the Babcock family built the home the property included more than a dozen acres, and as they built homes on the land for their growing family the acreage was reduced to its current size. The two-room house built by the Babcocks as they awaited their Sears home currently serves as a comfortable guest house and office.
Learn more about 2601 Babcock Road, and view additional listing photos, by visiting the property website. For more information, contact DeHart at 703-405-7576 or by emailing jon.dehart@longandfoster.com.