Photo courtesy of Fairfax County
Fairfax County Home Renovation Program
Resident Curator Steven J. McCullough gets the keys to the historic Stemper House in Lorton.
If you're handy and feeling up for a challenge, you might be a candidate for a Fairfax County program that allows residents to live rent-free in a historic home in exchange for fixing it up.
The county's Resident Curator program kicked off in early December with the Colonial Revival style Stempson House, built in 1937 in Laurel Hill, a neighborhood in the Lorton area. Lt. Cmdr. Steven McCullough is the resident curator for the home.
The house is associated with the Occoquan Workhouse and Reformatory, later known as Lorton Prison.
In 1910, the land on which the Stempson House is located was purchased by the federal government for the prison. The home was originally constructed, by prisoners, for a prison officer. It was later converted to the prison security office.
The three bay by two bay frame house measures approximately 1,500 square feet with a garage of approximately 400 square feet. It has three porches.
The basement walls, chimneys, portico floors, walkways and basement areaways are made out of brick. The construction materials and methods used are typical of residential housing construction in the early 1930s. The home has a living room, office, kitchen, dining room, three bedrooms, one full bath, two half baths and an unfinished attic.
You can keep up with McCullough's renovation of the home — he is documenting his progress online.
