Two Robert Sherlock Houses on Avon Road

In 1929, Mr. and Mrs. Lockwood Youngs acquired two large parcels of land, one on each corner of Avon and Country Club Roads.

The land on the north was purchased from Daniel Collins and contained a good-sized house. The Youngs engaged the talented local architect, Robert Sherlock, to completely remodel this into a large and handsome home virtually unrecognizable from the original. They resided here for several years and in 1937 sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Townsen. In the late 1960’s Mr. Townsen and his second wife moved to Arizona and sold the property to Ambassador and Mrs. J.J. Wadsworth who moved from Washington upon the Ambassador’s retirement from public life. They named the house “Stratford House” and altered the south facade to accommodate an indoor swimming pool. After Ambassador Wadsworth’s death in 1984, Mrs. Wadsworth sold the property to Susan Lockhart Docherty. She renamed it “Lockwood House” in honor of both the builder and her ancestor Lockwood Doty, the historian.

The land on the south corner, known in the early 1900’s as “Full View Farm,” was purchased from Seymour Bolt and contained a house near the Avon Road with a fruit stand in front. These were razed, and after selling the aforementioned property to the Townsens, Mr. and Mrs. Youngs again contracted Robert Sherlock to design a smaller, but gracious and nicely detailed house situated back from the road. This was completed in 1938 and the Youngs made it their residence until 1960, when they sold the property to Dr. and Mrs. Joseph O’Dea. The O’Deas converted the attached two-car garage on the north into a breakfast room and study, and added a new garage attached to the house by a breezeway, all conforming to the design of the existing house. During the following years, they also added a large stable constructed around a courtyard some distance south of the house and named the property “Roscommon Farm.”