The rendering from Sunrise shows the existing Silas Burke house on the left, with a concept for the Sunrise community behind the house on the right. Image courtesy of Sunrise Senior Living
Though once home to Burke’s enterprising namesake Silas, the stately white house he built circa 1824 and the property overlooking Burke Lake Road aren’t actually owned by the county.
“The neighborhood just seemed to adopt it as their own property,” said Terry Neal, who has owned the estate with his wife Suzanne “Suzi” Fowler Neal. “Someone would complain because the windmill wasn’t going around, wondering when the grass was going to get cut.”
For years, Terry and Suzi maintained the nearly 200-year-old house and the grounds, the place where Suzi grew up. Her family purchased the home in 1925 from Henry Copperthite, a businessman originally from Connecticut who specialized in pie-making and built the Burke Racetrack.
But for the current Chantilly residents, the labor became too much to handle.
“We looked long and hard for someone we could feel comfortable turning it over to,” said Neal, “someone to care for the house.”
FOR THE LAST YEAR, Neal and his wife have had the property under contract with Sunrise Senior Living, an organization looking to build an 82-unit, 54,000 gross-square-foot structure there.
“We’re working together and committed to saving the house,” said Sunrise Chief Financial Officer Edward Burnett. “The use interacts well. Using the slope [down behind the Burke house] to hide the new building would keep the Burke house as the prominent feature.”
Burnett said Sunrise has agreed to maintain the house in perpetuity and proffer it to the county, opening it for various groups to use.
The deal with Sunrise came up for clarification at the Jan. 29 meeting of the Fairfax County Planning Commission. In order for Sunrise to proceed with their facility, the land needs to be rezoned as R-3, allowing two-to-three dwelling units per acre.
The commission, acknowledging some confusion in the public understanding of the proposal to the Board of Supervisors, passed a slight change in the staff report.
The new language states: “The Silas Burke House should be retained and preserved in accordance with The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, with commitment to an active use for the house.”
The change was from “active adaptive reuse,” that had some citizens worried the house might be torn down.
“We’ve received lots of feedback from folks in Burke, Springfield and beyond, saying it must be preserved,” said commission chair Peter Murphy. “There is nothing before the Planning Commission alluding to or concentrating on the destruction of this house.”
Jon Vrana, president of the Burke Historical Society who often portrays Col. Burke, was at the meeting on Jan. 29. “Our focus is careful protection of the house,” he said. “With the language, it’s clear from what we’ve seen, we’ve gotten good support.”
“We believe it’s a positive thing for the neighborhood,” Neal said of the Sunrise development, “for the security of the home.”
THE NEXT STEP is for the language change to go before the Board of Supervisors for approval. Then’s it’s back to the Planning Commission for the rezoning application. The tentative date for that meeting is March 19, though the public is advised to check agendas through the commission website at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/planning.