Nestled on one of the area’s finest residential streets, the incredible home at 21 Blythewood Road once served as the residence of Howard Head, a visionary in the sports of tennis and skiing, who invented the oversized tennis racquet and laminated metal skis. Head meticulously redesigned the five-bedroom luxury home and grounds with wonderful living and recreational spaces. Located on nearly two acres in the highly desirable Blythewood community, this English country style five bedroom home welcomes guests into a garden courtyard accented by an antique lamppost. The beaded oak entry door opens into a classic vestibule and foyer. A wide cased portal leads into the adjoining living room featuring an oversized fireplace, concealed bar, built-ins, French doors to the front garden and a breathtaking window wall with sliding doors to the two-tier, 11,000 gallon koi pond and bluestone patio. Steps from the foyer lead to the solarium with two walls of glass and greenhouse ceiling as well as a wide stone planter open to the adjacent dining room with a fireplace and doors to the patio.

The tremendous, Trish Houck designed custom gourmet kitchen provides extensive cabinetry, quartz and granite counters, professional grade stainless appliances and an attached breakfast area, perfect to daydream over coffee through two full-length windows at the patio and pond. A hall leads to the chestnut library with built-in bookcases and cabinetry as well as floor length triple casement windows and a fireplace. A powder room and an exquisite family room with vaulted, wood paneled ceiling, built-ins, wet bar and billiard area complete the main level.

A large hall on the second floor flows to a seating area with a fireplace and banister overlook. A private hall provides entry to the primary bedroom suite where a window wall with sliding doors opens onto a large balcony overlooking the koi pond, pool and extensive woodland garden. Pocket doors lead into the attached dressing room with extensive custom fitted wardrobe cabinetry and a triple casement window and into the primary bath with heated porcelain tile floor, full-width cantilevered double vanity and glass-enclosed shower stall. Two additional, large en-suite bedrooms (one with fireplace) and a bedroom passage leads to bedrooms four and five as well as a hall bath. The third level provides a walk-in cedar closet and additional storage.

A back foyer on the lower level leads to the attached three-car garage while a separate hall opens to the laundry room, climate-controlled wine room, exercise room and bath. In addition to the extraordinary back patio and koi pond, extensive decking and patios lead to the picturesque pool complex with a hot tub, built-in bench seating, and a large custom built-in teak bar. The pool area overlooks the fabled tennis court, specifically designed below grade to ensure a natural barrier to wind. This competition quality tennis complex is one of the most beautiful private courts in the country. Terraced lawns accented by extensive stone garden walls lead to the wooded hillside garden area with floating curved steps, a man-made stream and waterfalls creating a fairytale setting. Designed throughout with state-of-the-art lighting and irrigation and stormwater management systems to maintain this lush venue and showcase it to the best advantage. Located on nearly two gorgeous and thoughtfully landscaped acres, this is a rare opportunity to acquire one of the most spectacular properties in Baltimore.

 

 

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“My mother, Myrtle, was an avid tennis player and we lived near Druid Hill Park, so my three sisters and I grew up playing,” recalls Ann Koger. “She joined the Baltimore Tennis Club, whose history people should look up. They were doctors, lawyers, and educators who offered lessons and they put together a program to develop juniors and organized tournaments.”

In 1917, the club, originally called the Monumental City Tennis Club, hosted the first National Championship of the American Tennis Association, which remains the oldest Black sports association in the U.S. In 1924, the club again hosted the ATA National Championships in Druid Hill Park. In 1948, several club members, including Koger’s mother, protested the segregation of the park’s popular clay courts and, despite arrests, got the city to open the courts.

Eventually, the Baltimore Tennis Club played host to U.S. Open and Wimbledon champions Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe—as well as Koger, who would go on to a groundbreaking career at then-Morgan College, where she starred on the men’s team, and as one of the first two Black women, with former Morgan teammate Bonnie Logan, to play on the Virginia Slims professional circuit. (Koger was on hand when Billie Jean King routed Bobby Riggs in the famed “Battle of the Sexes” match at the Houston Astrodome in 1973.)

Not that discrimination on Baltimore’s tennis courts had ended when she began playing as a girl in the late ’50s. Black players could only use Druid Hill Park’s clay courts after white players had first crack. At public-court tournaments, the Black players were all put into the same bracket to prevent more than one from reaching the finals. Other tournaments were held at private white clubs, which maintained the city’s only grass courts.

“The first time I played on grass was at a national tournament in Illinois,” Koger says. “To prepare for the speed, I practiced indoors on a basketball court.” Then, there was the cheating by some white opponents, which was ignored by officials. “I told one girl that I was going keep playing until I met her again, and I was going beat her,” Koger says. “She looked at me like I was a crazy. Being 12, I’d sit down under a tree and cry.”

After her pro career, Koger coached at Haverford College for 35 years, once pulling the team from a South Carolina event as part of a boycott around the state capitol’s Confederate flag. She also found time to officiate college basketball and was the first women to referee a Division I men’s game in the ’80s. Still, her time at Morgan, where she lettered in seven sports from 1968-1972—an era loaded with Baltimore talent—remains memorable for many reasons.

“I taught [future NBA first-round pick] Marvin Webster his hook shot,” she laughs. “In a pick-up game, I once got sandwiched under the boards between [future Pro Bowl tight end] Ray Chester and another football player and got knocked out.

“Everyone always comments about my hair when they see those photos from Morgan,” Koger continues, with another laugh. “On campus, the police would stop me because they thought I was Angela Davis, who was then a fugitive wanted by the FBI. I don’t think I even look like Angela Davis. I did like the hairstyle. No fuss, which was perfect because I went from one sport to the next in those days.”

Not Angela Davis. But a revolutionary with a racquet.