London Town Publik House
house in Anne Arundel County, United States of America
The William Brown House, also known as London Town Publik House or Londontowne Public House, is a former Colonial tavern located in the Historic London Town and Gardens museum complex in Woodland Beach, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Completed in 1764, it is one of the best-preserved examples of a colonial-era brick tavern house. From 1828 to 1965 the structure was used as a county alms house. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.
Description
The William Brown House is located northeast of the Woodland Beach community in Edgewater, Maryland, at the end of Londontown Road on the south bank of South River, about four miles from Annapolis. Woodland Beach is now also known locally as Londontowne.
The William Brown House is a two-story brick structure with an elevated basement, seven bays wide and three deep. The hipped roof is cut off to form a deck or terrace with a massive chimney at each end. Windows in the front (south) facade are topped by brick flat arches, while windows in the rear and ends have segmental arches. Windows are nine-over-nine sashes at the first floor and nine-over-six at the second floor.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “London Town Publik House” is house in Anne Arundel County, United States of America. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through London, Town and Publik, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “house in Anne Arundel County, United States of America” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15242674. Authority coordinates are 38.942, -76.540. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1764, 1828, 1965 and 1970.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “London Town Publik House”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow London Town Publik House primary sources, London Town Publik House archive and London research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “London Town Publik House”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “London Town Publik House” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.