Charles Wagner -- shown in the right foreground -- helped to establish the Moyaone Reserve. Photo © Scott Odell. »View photos of homes designed by Charles Wagner

The main body of Charles Wagner's work is to be found in the Moyaone Reserve. It was here that, as a returning veteran from World War II, he designed and built his own contemporary house in 1947. Over the next 30 years he designed contemporary homes for about fifteen of his neighbors.

Through the efforts of Wagner and other community leaders, the Moyaone Reserve and adjacent Piscataway Park became a model for public/private partnership in the protection of environmental and scenic values.

How was it that an outstanding group of modernist houses came to be built in this outer rural Washington suburb at a time when the Washington area lagged far behind other places in America in its willingness to embrace contemporary architecture?

Alexandria's Hollin Hills, begun in 1949, is often recognized as the first local example of contemporary residential construction, but one of Charles Goodman's first modernist houses had already been built in Accokeek five years prior to Hollin Hills. That house was the link to Charles Wagner's first commission soon after he had built his own home.

A new Moyaone Reserve lot owner, recently returned from MIT, stopped at the Goodman house to ask directions. He was delightfully surprised to discover a beautiful contemporary house such as he hoped to build. "Was there an architect available?" Charles Wagner happened to be in the next room, was signed on immediately and began the plans for a hilltop house on 22 acres with a grand view of the Capitol.

Another early client was James Whyte, owner of Washington's first contemporary art gallery -- the place where noted connoisseur and dealer Franz Bader got started. Many houses followed, ranging from a weekend cabin to a home for a family with eight children.

Principles of Wagner's Design close collaboration with the owner to ensure the plan would suit the actual probable use, instead of some theoretical ideal. One client insisted that she have a wide window seat with cushions upon which to sit and do embroidery. Wagner correctly pointed out t hat she didn't do embroidery and was very unlikely to attempt it. She gave in and later agreed that he was right. houses should be oriented for maximum light and warmth in winter. All the Wagner houses are sited to benefit from south-facing windows, often with sun-flooded tile or slate floors, long before the idea of passive solar heat became a common concept. the roof would have a rather shallow pitch in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright, with high "cathedral" ceilings. High clerestory w indows are common, serving to balance the light and reduce glare from the large floor-to-ceiling windows. Generous overhangs help to keep the house cool in summer, while permitting the low-angle winter sun to warm the house. storage systems were convenient, generously-sized, and carefully adapted to the practical needs of the household. When he disc overed that one of his clients had a big clutter of garden tools around the back door, he immediately added a big back porch storage cupboard to the plans for the new house. open space plans with multiple sight lines throughout the house and inviting views of the outside. From a four year old visitin g the Wagner home for the first time, "I just love that house. You could go indoors and outdoors and indoors and outdoors." esthetics based on good proportions, simplicity of form and materials, rather than fancy ornamentation. respect for the client's wishes tempered by refusal to include anything that was unnecessary, silly or pretentious.

The Moyaone Reserve with its protective scenic easements was ideal for contemporary houses. Lots were at least five acres and it was heavily wooded with restrictions on tree clearing, so that each home site was distinct and separate. This gave an architect great freedom to satisfy the practical requirements of the client and to orient the structure to the natural features of the land, view and seasonal change.

Wagner's designs for newcomers to this growing community were realized at different times and for different needs, but all incorporate certain basic principles. They are detailed in the table to the right.

Charles Wagner was born in 1909, the son of an engineer and a mother who loved houses. He grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in architecture.

He was a traveler. As a college student he hitch-hiked to San Francisco to travel around the world aboard a freighter. In 1937 he took a year off work to live in Europe. At some point he hitch-hiked to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's studio in Taliesin, Wisconsin and later to Taliesin, Arizona.

In World War II, as a young navy officer he saw active duty on a destroyer escort and, later, with the early occupation forces in Japan.

In his later years, until his retirement in 1980 from designing hospitals and public facilities for the Office of Health, Education, and Welfare, he traveled extensively in the third world, returning often to San Francisco. After his retirement he volunteered at the University of Maryland's School of Architecture.