Commodore Joshua Barney House

{{short description|Historic house in Maryland, United States}}

{{Use mdy dates |date=February 2024}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Commodore Joshua Barney House

| nrhp_type =

| image = Commodore Joshua Barney House.jpg

| caption =

| location = 7912 Savage-Guilford Rd., Savage, Maryland

| coordinates = {{coord|39|9|17|N|76|49|54|W|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Maryland#USA

| built = {{Start date|1811}}

| added = August 25, 1978

| area = {{convert|6.7|acre}}

| refnum = 78001470{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

}}

The Commodore Joshua Barney House is a historic home located at Savage, Howard County, Maryland, United States.{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=Traveling Back in Time |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/05/17/traveling-back-in-time/91541aec-6977-44ff-a871-d5e34cee1f2f/ |first=Ruth |last=Besse |access-date=February 9, 2024 |date=17 May 1985}} It was originally situated on a 700-acre tract in modern Savage Maryland named Harry's Lot, at a time when the closest town was Elk Ridge. Both "Haary's Lot" and "Huntington Quarter" were inherited by Charles Greenberry Ridgely, sixth son of Colonel Henry Ridgley and Elizabeth Warfield Ridgley. After the death of Charles Greenberry Ridgely, Thomas Coale purchased portions of the land containing the structure. His daughter would become the famous Commodore Joshua Barney's second wife, bringing the figure from business in Baltimore.{{cite book |last1=Stein |first1=Charles Francis Jr. |title=Origin and History of Howard County Maryland |date=1972 |publisher=Howard County Historical Society |location=Baltimore |page=246 |edition=First |language=en}} In 1809, Nathaniel F. Williams (1782-1864) married Caroline Barney, daughter of Joshua Barney, who in turn expanded an existing mill site on the property to create the Savage Mill.{{cite book |last1=Davenport |first1=Charles Benedict |title=Naval Officers: Their Heredity and Development |date=1919 |publisher=Carnegie Institution of Washington |location=Washington, D.C. |page=39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OENDAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Caroline%20Barney%22 |access-date=February 9, 2024 |language=en |via=Google Books}}

It has three sections: the original {{frac|2|1|2}}-story brick house built by Charles Greenberry Ridgley Sr. about 1760, a 2-story frame addition built in 1941, and a one-story frame addition to the west, built in 1946.{{cite book |title=Images of America, Howard County |author=Howard County Historical Society |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |page=28 |isbn=978-0738587660}} The interior of the house was altered during the 1940s when it was used as a boys' school, and about 1960 when it was converted into apartments. Its significance is tied to Commodore Joshua Barney, who was a hero of the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and who lived in the house until leaving the industrial operations to family just prior to his death in 1818 from wartime wounds en route to another property owned in Kentucky. Barney rose to prominence for action during the war while living in this house including involvement in commissioning "The Star-Spangled Banner".{{cite web |url=https://apps.mht.maryland.gov/medusa/PDF/Howard/HO-41.pdf |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Commodore Joshua Barney House |date=1977 |access-date=1 January 2016 |first=Bob Gillette |last=Skaggs |publisher=Maryland Historical Trust}} The house is situated near the Ridgley family cemetery.{{cite news |newspaper=The Times (Ellicott City) |date=31 March 1965 |title=Two Families County Estates}} It was operated as a bed and breakfast inn starting in 2000, until being placed on the market for $1.2 million in 2012.{{cite news |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |title=Joshua Barney House in Savage on the market |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/ph-ho-vw-wayside-sidebar-2-20120719-story.html |access-date=February 9, 2024 |date=July 19, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505205939/https://www.baltimoresun.com/ph-ho-vw-wayside-sidebar-2-20120719-story.html |archive-date=May 5, 2016}} The house never sold, and had been vacant and neglected until 2017.{{cite news |first=Fatimah |last=Waseem |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |title=War hero's vacant historic house in Savage faces uncertain future |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2016/07/20/war-heros-vacant-historic-house-in-savage-faces-uncertain-future/ |access-date=February 9, 2024 |date=20 July 2016 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209182136/https://www.baltimoresun.com/2016/07/20/war-heros-vacant-historic-house-in-savage-faces-uncertain-future/ |archive-date=February 9, 2024}} The house is currently an occupied private residence. The seven remaining undeveloped acres surrounding the structure place it at risk of incompatible development and has been placed on the 2014 and 2015 top 10 most endangered properties list by Preservation Howard County.{{cite news |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |title=Top 10 endangered historical sites in Howard County |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2014/07/17/top-10-endangered-historical-sites-in-howard-county-pictures/ |access-date=February 9, 2024 |date=15 July 2014 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209182827/https://www.baltimoresun.com/2014/07/17/top-10-endangered-historical-sites-in-howard-county-pictures/ |archive-date=February 9, 2024}}{{cite news |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |title=Former school tops Howard County's endangered sites list |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2015/05/26/former-school-tops-howard-countys-endangered-sites-list/ |first=Amanda |last=Yeager |access-date=February 9, 2024 |date=26 May 2015 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209183504/https://www.baltimoresun.com/2015/05/26/former-school-tops-howard-countys-endangered-sites-list/ |archive-date=February 9, 2024}}

The Commodore Joshua Barney House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.