Exterior restoration of Kensington

Dan Gross/The Gazette

Carlos Cobos of Hyattsville primes new siding Thursday where a wing was removed during renovation of the historic house in Warner Circle Park in Kensington.

A historic mansion in the heart of Kensington is making progress on its long road to restoration.

A major project to restore the Brainard Warner house on Carroll Place, which dates to 1891, began last year, and work on the exterior of the building is almost complete.

The first step was removing wings that were added to the house in the 1960s, when it was used as a nursing home. Montgomery Parks also is reconstructing a porch and terrace that used to be on the back of the house, said Julie Mueller, the projects cultural resources manager. An oval-shaped driveway for carriages and cars to travel between the mansion, the carriage house on the property and the road also is being restored, she said.

The Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission bought the property in 2005 for $6.4 million using funds from the countys Legacy Open Space program and is planning to spend about $5 million renovating it, The Gazette previously reported. Much of the funding for the renovation is coming from state bond bills. The work done so far has cost $700,000, Mueller said.

Workers are finishing the walls to close off the spaces where the wings were removed, which Mueller hopes will be finished by the end of April. They also are waiting on doors and windows to be delivered from the manufacturer. Once those arrive, the installation wont take long, she said.

Right now, we are planning sort of a ribbon-cutting event with the Kensington Historical Society for May 17, Mueller said, to be held jointly with the societys annual garden party.

Roof repairs are planned for this summer or earlier on both the main house and a carriage house on the property, Mueller said.

After that, were out of funding for a while, she said.

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Exterior restoration of Kensington