Clio Logo
Downtown Bethesda Walking Tour
Item 9 of 9
The Bethesda Chevy Chase High School, constructed in 1935, is one of two high schools in Montgomery County that was constructed with Public Works Administration funds (the other being Montgomery Blair High School). The original building when constructed, was the largest school building in Maryland. Constructed in the Georgian Revival style, it was based on the academic buildings of William and Mary College, and Harvard College. The school has undergone numerous additions in response to population growth. The 1952 administration building was the last public school building in Montgomery constructed in the Georgian revival style, with modernism taking over school designs. Other additions include one in 1938, 1941, 1946, a 1976 renovation, a 2002 major addition that combined the Administration and original building into one building, and a new 2018 addition.

Sky, Window, Plant, Building

Bethesda Chevy Chase High School first started in 1926, when a ninth grade was added to an 8 grade school on Wilson Lane. In 1928, with more grades, the school moved to Leland, near the intersection of 44th street and Willow Lane in Chevy Chase. At the time, it was only the third high school in the county, with Rockville HS and Takoma Silver Spring HS in other sections of the county.

In 1936, when the new school building opened on the site of the old Watkins farm, grades 10, 11, and 12 moved to the new BCC HS while the old Leland site was converted to Leland Junior High School for grades 7 and 8. Leland was demolished in 1988 for the new Leland Community Center.

The BCC original building is a 25 bay wide, 3 and a half story structure, with a cupola on the top of the central wing. It was built with funds from the Public Works Administration, which was a depression-era economic program set up by President Franklin D Roosevelt to increase jobs and rebuild America's infrastructure. Buildings such as the Bethesda Post Office were also funded through the PWA. The administration building, built in 1952, models the original building in style and structure.

Clare Lise Kelly, Places from the Past: The Tradition of Gardez Bien in Montgomery County, Maryland (Silver Spring, Md.: Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, 2001), 281, accessed April 2, 2021, https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Places-from-the-Past-web_with_cover.pdf.

Memorandum, "Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Trusts Form, M: 35-14-14," n.d., accessed April 2, 2021, https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2035-14-14.pdf.

Betheda-Chevy Chase High School, Town of Chevy Chase. Accessed April 2nd 2021. https://www.townofchevychase.org/DocumentCenter/View/132/Bethesda-Chevy-Chase-High-School?bidId=#:~:text=The%20high%20school%20began%20in,the%20community%20center%20stands%20today..