Jan. 25, 2008, 3:01 a.m. -

The Hilltop Manor Apartment Complex in Bladensburg  is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson announced yesterday.

            Hilltop Manor is a 150-unit, eight-building garden apartment complex on approximately seven acres at 5302 Annapolis Road in Bladensburg, was placed on the national register on Dec. 21, 2007 as a significant representative of  the county’s mid-20th century history and development.

            "This National Register listing is a notable example of the historically important growth and development of Prince George's County before and after World War II," said Johnson, who concurred with the unanimous recommendation of the county’s Historic Preservation Commission.

            "This effort illustrates a strong community interest in the 20th century history of Prince George's County and for concern for the preservation of this important legacy," Johnson said.

          Hilltop Manor was constructed 1942-1943 from a design by Prince George's County architects Ross & Walton. R. Webster Ross & John M. Walton, then with offices in Hyattsville, were also responsible for the designs of several other local garden apartment complexes of the period.

            The two- and three-story brick buildings exhibit characteristics of both the traditional Colonial Revival style as well as the more contemporary Modern style of the pre- and post-World War II period. Much of the complex's original landscape plan remains intact. The landscape plan was devised by J.H Small & Sons of Washington, D.C.

            Hilltop Manor is also significant as one of the earliest projects in Prince George's County to be completed under the auspices of the Federal Housing Administration and through the Section 608 of Title VI of the National Housing Act of 1934. This New Deal program was designed to address the nation's increasing need for affordable housing and resulted in the construction of numerous projects around Washington, D.C. in the years before and after World War II. Section 608 of Title VI was specifically aimed at the provision of defense housing during World War II.

            The National Register is the nation's official list of buildings, sites, districts, and objects that are considered by the National Park Service, Department of Interior, to be of outstanding historic and/or architectural significance. Hilltop Manor is the first nomination to be filed under the multiple property documentation, which provides for the listing in the National Register of physically separated but related resources.