Charles Goodman

Charles Goodman Townhomes for Sale in River Park

There are currently three Charles Goodman-designed townhomes for sale in River Park. All three units have been listed for more than a month and look like they need work.
History of Goodman Townhomes at River Park
Opened in 1962, River Park is a mid-century modern cooperative housing project of Charles Goodman townhomes and an apartment block built by the Reynolds Aluminum Corporation. It was developed as as a way to showcase aluminum as a building material.
The complex was built as part of Southwest Washington’s urban renewal efforts in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The community was designed by architect Goodman and landscape architect Eric Paepcke, who also did work in Hollin Hills in Virginia with Goodman.
River Park Highlighted
River Park has been highlighted by the likes of The Washington Post, which in addition to calling it “unmistakable,” wrote that “to live under a barrel roof in Southwest is to live in a building of some historical import.”
The New York Times featured the River Park shortly after it was built on the front page of the newspaper, calling the community a “fresh design outlook.”

Goodman Rental

Goodman Rental in Hammond Wood

Check out this opportunity to rent a tricked-out Charles Goodman-designed mid-century modern in Hammond Wood. It is available now through March 31, 2020. Rent is $3,250 per month including utilities and furnished (house and studio) or $2,400 per month unfurnished not including utilities (house only). Email admin@cookarchitecture.com if interested. (Photos by John Cole.)

Live in a secluded 2-bedroom, 1-bath mid-century modern compound for a short term rental. This “cabin like” home is located in North Kensignton/Wheaton in the Hammond Wood neighborhood, a small enclave of Charles Goodman designed homes from 1950, and included in the National Register of Historic Places. The home is close to NIH, Water Reed Naval Hospital and Bethesda (all within several miles).

Situated 5 miles to the DC border, and less than 1 mile from the Metro (Wheaton), this house has been completely renovated by Cook Architecture during the last five years. The house includes a designer kitchen, complete with high end appliances, Poggenpohl cabinetry, open walnut shelves, and silestone countertops.

There are wood floors in the kitchen and radiant heated large stone floors in the living/dining area. The bedrooms have cork flooring, the bathroom is very well appointed with glass doors, nice fixtures, and full walls of tile.

There is a wood burning fireplace and floor to ceiling glass that looks south into the garden and patio area. The home is furnished with Danish, Eames and other mid-century furniture and is currently furnished, has fully equipped kitchen, towels, and linens.

The yard is enclosed with tall fences, mature trees, two Read More >

Charles Goodman on 1+ Acre in Potomac – $810K

This Charles Goodman designed mid-century modern is set on a stunning, private 1.23 acre lot in Hollinridge backing up to Watts Branch Park. It is listed for $810,000. (Photos by Tod Connell.)
Like Marcel Breuer designs, Goodman carried the slate from the outside into the entrance to connect the outside with the indoors of the house, which is a 4 bed/3 full bath with a total of 2,784 square feet.

The 1962 design includes Goodman’s signature large expanses of glass and distinctive large end-gable chimney with two fireplaces. Updated, period-appropriate kitchen with Kerf cabinets, Modwalls glass-tile backsplash, Quartzite countertops and Kitchen Aid stainless steel appliances, including induction cook top.

Renovated bathrooms, including master with glass enclosed shower, seamless drain, glass penny tiles and Lenix Shower Panel with bodysprays.

Here is the second upstairs bathroom.

The upstairs level features three bedrooms and two bathrooms, including the master suite directly below.

The lower level includes an expansive den/family room with second fireplace and walls of glass, the fourth bedroom/office, third full bathroom and large light-filled laundry/mudroom room. The house has updated electrical.

Goodman, one of the leading residential modernists in Washington, designed the site plan for the neighborhood for a group of developers that included Robert Davenport, who built Hollin Hills.
Charles Goodman designed a number of the homes in Hollinridge, but the developers later sold lots to individual buyers mandating that they build homes in the contemporary style. In addition to several Goodman houses, you can find the work of Thomas Read More >

Coming Soon: Goodman on 1.23 Acres in Potomac

Here’s a first look for my readers of my latest listing. It will be active later in the week with an Open House this Sunday. It is a Charles Goodman-designed mid-century modern on a stunning 1.23 acre lot in Hollinridge backing to Watts Branch Park. 4 bed/3 bath two-level house with a total of 2,784 square feet. Updated, modern open kitchen with Kerf cabinets. Renovated upstairs bathrooms, including master. The 1962 design includes Goodman’s signature large expanses of glass and distinctive large end-gable chimney.
Goodman designed the site plan for the neighborhood for a group of developers that included Robert Davenport, who built Hollin Hills. Goodman designed a number of the homes in Hollinridge, but the developers later sold lots to individual buyers mandating that they build homes in the contemporary style. In addition to several Goodman houses, you can find the work of Thomas Wright, Arthur Newburg, Richardson & Bruce, Carl Freeman and two prefab Alside homes. The homes are situated on large, wooded lots as Goodman designed the community to preserve the trees and landscape.

Charles M. Goodman

Charles Goodman National Homes Design in Vienna – $759K

This Charles M. Goodman-designed 1955 house on an acre in Vienna, Va., is being marketed as a tear down. Goodman designed the house for prefab home manufacturer National Homes. A 1954 Time article on National Homes mentions Goodman, who served as a consulting architect to National Homes for five years beginning in 1953. “In his mass operation, Price has not neglected style. The 31 models in his 1955 line, now starting in production, were designed by Architect Charles M. Goodman of Washington, D.C. Says Price: ‘We can fight it out on a mass or class basis. We can provide a home for somebody who hasn’t any kind of home, or give a rich man a home where he can entertain a Rockefeller.’” The price recently dropped from $799K to $759K.

My New Listing: Renovated Goodman in Hammond Wood – [Under Contract]

My new Goodman listing is now active. I will be holding an Open House Sunday, Feb. 17 from 1 to 4 pm. This fully renovated 1951 Charles Goodman-designed mid-century modern is conveniently located in Hammond Wood, a National Register of Historic Places-Designated neighborhood of 58 homes nestled in a tract of heavily wooded, rolling land.
The National Register in its designation said, “Hammond Wood conveys the best of Goodman’s architectural legacy, showcasing his insistence on experimentation, adaptation of European and American modern ideas, and close collaboration with builders. The neighborhood reflects Goodman’s contribution to Contemporary architecture through his ever-evolving floor plans; the use of new and used materials in combination; an abundance of technical innovations; an exuberance in the employment of the window wall; and a spare, yet elegant structural expressionism.”

The 2 bedroom/1 bath 882 square-foot home maintains its original footprint on the .16 acre flat lot. The one-level home features Goodman’s signature walls of windows, large end-wall brick fireplace and cathedral ceiling in the open living-dining room space.

The renovated galley kitchen has quartz countertops and stainless steel appliances. The kitchen, bathroom, roof, AC, windows and other updates, including Nest thermostat, were done within the past 7 years.

The bedroom closets feature custom wood doors by Cook Architecture.

The organic garden is planted with only local ecotype native plants from Chesapeake Natives and Herring Run nursery.

Featured in the May 1952 issue of Progressive Architecture, Hammond Wood is located just north of Kensington and just over a mile from the Read More >

Charles M. Goodman

Happy Birthday Charles Goodman

Charles M. Goodman, FAIA, was born on this day in 1906 in New York City. He died at the age of 85 on Oct. 29, 1992, in Alexandria, Va. Goodman is the leading residential modernist architect here in Washington.
Goodman was known for his work on the early iterations of National Airport, the Officers’ Club at Andrews Air Force Base and the residential communities of Hollin Hills in Alexandria, River Park in Southwest DC, Hickory Cluster in Reston, Rock Creek Woods in Silver Spring, among others.
Here are some homes designed by Goodman active on the market.
Happy Birthday Charles. Thanks for the design that still resonates today.

Tour Charles Goodman’s Highland Hills in Richmond

For five years beginning in 1953, Washington’s own modernist Charles M. Goodman served for as a consulting architect for Lafayette, Ind.-based National Homes, which was the country’s largest prefab home manufacturer. On Sept. 23, you can tour Highland Hills in Richmond, the only neighborhood in central Virginia exclusively consisting of mid-century homes. Located in Bon Air in Chesterfield County, the 80 or so homes in Highland Hills were developed in the mid-fifties by National Homes and featured the designs of Goodman. The tour is being organized by Modern Richmond. The event, which runs 12 pm to 4 pm, is free but a $20 donation is suggested. Reserve your free tickets here.

Rent a One-of-a-Kind Goodman Retreat

If you have always wanted to see what it is like to live in a Charles M. Goodman-designed home or you have relatives or friends looking for a stunning modern space to stay while here in DC, take a look at this Goodman transformed by architect Michael Cook and developer Steven Wheeler. The property is for rent via airbnb. (All photos by Ulf Wallin.)

The restored and expanded two bedroom/two bathroom mid-century modern home in Hammond Hill with ultra-gourmet kitchen and master bathroom spa suite is located in a quiet park-like setting just 6 miles to the Washington, D.C., border and 4.5 miles to the restaurants and shops of downtown Bethesda. The Wheaton Metro is just 1.5 miles away.

The house comfortably accommodates 4 adults. The office space can be arranged to accommodate 2 children or a 5th adult. The house, designed by Goodman, Washington’s foremost residential modernist architect in the 1950s through early 1970s, features recycled brick from Baltimore and Brazilian cherry wood flooring and is furnished with a beautiful collection of mid-century modern designs.
The state-of-the-art open modern kitchen with soaring ceilings features a center cooking island with seating for 8 with views of the gardens, Viking professional 6-burner range and convection oven, high-end Poggenpohl cabinets, Silestone countertops and Bosch dishwasher.

The master bedroom suite features a Queen bed, cable TV and contiguous connection with an opulent spa-like master bathroom including glass enclosed steam-spa bath with a 6 foot bench, a 6′-3″ sunken soaker tub, and regular Read More >

Hammond Wood: Our Next Goodman Project

Just closed today on this mid-century modern home by Charles Goodman in Hammond Wood. This two-level 3 bedroom/2 full bath home was featured in the May 1952 issue of Progressive Architecture (see below). Hammond Wood is a National Register of Historic Places-designated neighborhood just north of Kensington. Stay tuned for the renovation by Cook Architecture and Modern Capital. For those interested in potentially purchasing when the renovation is complete, please call Michael Shapiro at 301-503-6171 or email me at michael@moderncapitaldc.com.

The Philosophy of Charles Goodman

To mark the 10- year anniversary of Hollin Hills, residents published a small booklet celebrating their award-winning modernist community. In an interview column entitled “We Talk to Goodman,” the architect expounded on his design philosophy and what it is like to be an architect. It is interesting to read after writing so much about Goodman and now finally owning one myself. Here are some of Goodman’s reflections:

Architecture and community:
“Architecture reflects the social phenomenon. What we yearn for and need is the flowering of the individual. We deeply need more offbeat personalities, more people with unique interests, more people strong enough to stand unafraid and be themselves. We need them not just in houses but in communities where their influence can be felt. We need unity in diverse interests. The dignity of the individual can come about only by self-examination and creating a physical climate conducive to self-examination. This doesn’t mean conformity–trying to make yourself the same as others–just the opposite.”
Charles Goodman
Beauty:
“All the antennae of a true architect must be tuned to beauty. Believe me, beauty is a rare commodity wherever man has been. Man has an uncanny knack for fouling his environment. Then we appoint committees to try to see what can be done with the awful mess we have made of things. A committee never did anything yet.”
The Life of an Architect:
“Nobody tells a lawyer how to plead a case or a doctor how to stitch you up, but everybody tells an architect what to do. People who ought Read More >

Charles Goodman’s ‘Twin Homes’ in Arlington

When you think of neighborhoods designed by Charles Goodman’s in Virginia you think of Hollin Hills and Hickory Cluster townhomes in Reston. Goodman also designed the small 1951 South Arlington subdivision of High Point, which consists of 21 twin homes. (A twin home refers to two attached homes that share a common wall but with each owner responsible for his or her own lot, which is split right down the center of the structure.) High Point is located on 10th Place just south of Columbia Pike and is within the Virginia Heights Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

Here’s a good architectural description from the National Register submission written by a team of architectural historians at EHT Traceries, including my past client Patti Kuhn Babin:
“The houses are staggered along the sloping street by varying setbacks. Two stories in height, the dwellings are constructed of cinder block with a stretcher-bond brick veneer and have a shallow-pitched, side-gabled roof with prominent overhanging eaves. Although identical in form at the time of their construction, the houses vary by light-colored, red, and painted brick. An original one-story, two-bay “service entrance” with a flat roof projects from the main elevation of the majority of the dwellings.”

More from the submission: “The main elevation of each unit has a horizontal window opening with a one-light fixed window and a paired casement window on the first story and paired casement windows on the second story. Emblematic of Goodman’s style, Read More >

Charles Goodman-Designed Church Deemed Historic

The Charles Goodman-designed Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington has been added to the Virginia Landmarks Register, Preservation Arlington announced. The 1964 church is being recommended for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. “Carved out of its site’s sloping landscape, the two-story Sanctuary features pre-cast concrete construction, a prominent overhanging canopy roof, and wrapping clerestory windows,” the National Register submission says. “The building references traditional meeting halls and temple buildings in its form and has character-defining features of the Brutalist style in the Modern Movement. … Two complementary additions are appended to the original Sanctuary block. The first, completed in 1994, extends from the Sanctuary’s south elevation, and the second, completed in 2013 and known as the “Celebration Center,” is located at the southeast corner. While visually distinct from the original building, the additions complement the Sanctuary in their scale, roof plans, materials, and fenestration patterns.” (My pictures predate the latest addition.)
Read this interesting Dwell piece on why Unitarian Universalist congregations have been drawn to modern design for their churches.

Modernist Townhomes by Goodman, Smith

Charles Goodman and Chloethiel Woodard Smith both contributed to the design of two differnt modernist experiments in the DC area back in the 1960s. One was the massive urban renewal effort of Southwest DC and the other was Robert Simon’s idea of an urban village on fomer farmland in Reston. Here are listings for two townhomes: One by Goodman in Southwest and one by Smith in Reston. This townhouse by Goodman in River Park is listed for $449K and open this Sunday from 11 am to 1 pm. This towhouse in the Coleson Cluster, a collection of 47 brick, flat-roof units designed by Smith and Reston founder Simon, is listed for $529K.

Living in a Goodman Alcoa Care-free Home

During the past several years, I have written about a number of the two dozen Charles Goodman-designed Alcoa Care-free Homes that were built around the country, including the one in Richmond (pictured above) and the one in Miami. I just came across this piece by a woman who grew up in the Care-free home near Columbus, Ohio. Her bosses at Ohio Magazine asked her to write the piece when she interned at the magazine in 1992. She even includes images from inside the house in the late 1970s.
Here’s her lead for the piece, “Back to the Future”:
“It was the residential equivalent of a ’57 Cadillac — sleek, high-powered, brash and thoroughly American,” Eden Casteel wrote. “The first ‘Alcoa Care-Free Home,’ the Aluminum Company of America’s pioneer housing design, was built in 1957 near Lafayette, Indiana. It was a 1,900-sq.-ft. advertisement for aluminum building materials. There was aluminum in the sky-blue anodized roof, in the heavy gold-hued front door, in the textured iridescent purple siding, and in the Spanish-style grilles over the floor-to-ceiling windows. Inside, there were more Space Age attractions: a wall-hung refrigerator, a trim galley kitchen with interior walls that could be moved to create a different floor plan, toilet tanks hiding behind pastel-tiled bathroom walls, and linoleum squares that bordered the carpeting in each room. The walls of the living room and three identically sized bedrooms were finished in brushed aluminum paneling, intermixed with vinyl and cherry panels.”
While the author’s parents may not have hewed closely to Goodman’s original Read More >

Goodman Barrel-Roof Townhome in River Park

In the 1956 book “Aluminum in Modern Architecture,” published by Reynolds, Charles Goodman discussed how he was working on aluminum, rather than wood, to hold his walls of glass. “With glass, the only thing we’re using the surround for is to hold the glass in place. I don’t see any point in using wood for that surround. Why not use aluminum?” You can view Goodman’s work in the flesh in one of his barrel-roof townhomes in River Park in Southwest DC. It is listed for $499K. You can see images here. Goodman was picked to design River Park by Reynolds Metals Company, which developed the co-op in the 1960s to display its aluminum building products. Goodman also designed the Alcoa Care-free Home to highlight the material. Two dozen were built around the country.

My New Listing Under Contract, Open Cancelled

My new Goodman listing in Rock Creek Woods went under contract in two days so I have cancelled the open house scheduled for this coming Sunday. Thanks for all the positive comments on the property. Stay tuned for more mid-century modern and other contemporary homes I will be listing soon. Hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend.

New Goodman Hickory Cluster Website

While no homes are currently listed for sale in Charles Goodman’s Hickory Cluster in Reston (there is one rental), I wanted to make sure that everyone saw the new official community website created by the Hickory Cluster Association (HCA). It is a good resource for those thinking about buying one of the Goodman-designed townhomes. When Robert Simon started developing Reston as a modern planned community in the early 1960s, he asked Goodman to design the first set of homes–90 International-style townhomes nestled into the trees just across the street from Lake Anne.
An original brochure highlighted on the HCA’s site, describes the townhomes as the “The Goodman Houses” in cool mid-century script typeface. Here’s from the brochure:
“Charles M. Goodman Associates, A.I.A., is the prominent architect of the First Village hillside cluster. Groups of townhouses have been arranged around intricately paved terraces,which in turn are leveled into a wooded hilltop. The Goodman Houses overlook the Village Center and Lake Anne. Sharp changes in roofline, varying sizes, and contrasting textures accented by vivid colors contribute to a townhouse setting of great beauty. A variety of designs and facilities include 2, 3 and 4 bedrooms, rooftop terraces, balconies, playrooms, private studies, family rooms and recreation rooms. There is underground garage parking or carports for some models, large parking areas for others. Landscaped pedestrian paths, completely free of traffic, lead to shops in the Village Center, schools and recreation facilities. The Goodman Houses are an ideal application of contemporary townhouse design to a Read More >

Goodman Townhomes in DC, Reston

Hope everyone had a good summer. Not many new listings have hit the market during the “dog days” but we should see an increase in listings in the coming weeks. I will be listing a spectacular expanded Charles Goodman-designed home in Hollin Hills later this month. If you are looking for a Goodman townhome, here are couple listings. This barrel-roof unit in River Park in Southwest was just listed for $419K, while this foreclosure in Hickory Cluster in Reston is back on the market at $310K after being under contract.

Modern Snapshot: National Airport’s Historic Terminal A

Since a few pictures I posted on Facebook recently of Historic Terminal A at National Airport received a strong response, I thought I would expand on them here in a fuller post. Before striking out on his own to design modern homes, Charles Goodman was a government architect. He designed post offices and other federal buildings. In 1939, he was selected to be the government’s architect to help design National Airport. While Goodman would eventually resign amid bureaucratic meddling in his vision for the airport, elements of Goodman’s original design were retained, including the sweeping lobby of Historic Terminal A. The terminal, which opened in 1941, has a massive, slightly curving wall of windows perfect for viewing the planes taking off and landing. As part of the terminal’s restoration, the airport authority has opened the Exhibit Hall, which is located in a portion of the restored former dining room of the original terminal. Next time you are catching a flight, leave some extra time to view the exhibit, which has a good history of the building. One of the best pieces in the small exhibit is a 1939 model of the original building. The model had been placed in storage in Chicago for almost 60 years ago after the airport’s consulting architect, Howard Lovewell Cheney, gave a presentation in 1940. “The original terminal’s design represented a unique attempt to create a modern structure that integrated architectural references to the Colonial, Neoclassical, Streamline and Art Read More >

WashPost on 50 Years of Goodman’s River Park

I wanted to make sure everyone saw the Washington Post’s feature on Charles Goodman’s River Park in Southwest, which opened in 1962 and is celebrating its Golden (Aluminum?) Anniversary. Reporter Monica Hesse delves into the architecture along with the social impact of the community, interviewing long-time owners and newer residents attracted to Goodman’s unique designs. As part of Southwest Washington’s urban renewal efforts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Goodman’s firm designed River Park, a cooperative housing project of townhomes and an apartment block built by the Reynolds Aluminum Corporation as a way to showcase aluminum as a building material.
Here’s how Hesse kicks off her piece:
“The barrel-roof townhouses of River Park are Campbell’s soup cans, halved the long way, balanced on top of metal cubes two blocks from Southwest Washington’s Waterfront Metro station. They are called ‘houses’ — because people live in them, and really, what else could they be called? — but they are architectural punch lines, visual acid trips, the left-behind parts of the secret UFO that docked down by the waterfront half a century ago and then flew away before anyone caught it on camera. The barrel-roof townhouses of River Park were —
“’They were fantastic,’ says Arthuryne Taylor. In the 1960s, she had come to Washington from Tennessee, where the houses had things like shutters and shingles. ‘I had never seen anything like them. They were cosmopolitan. Nashville was country. This was cosmopolitan.’ She and her husband discovered the community through an open house. “’I said, Read More >

Two Charles Goodman Hickory Cluster Townhomes

With people away at the beach, it has been a bit quiet regarding new mid-century modern listings coming on the market. We’ll see if we see the same surge after Labor Day that we saw in the spring. Here are two Charles Goodman-designed townhomes in Hickory Cluster in Reston that have come on in recent weeks. Here’s a 3 bed/1.5 bath end unit that was listed three days ago for $372K. This 3 bed/2.5 bath has been on the market for several weeks at a listing price of $439K. When Robert Simon started developing Reston as a modern planned community in the early 1960s, he asked Goodman to design the first set of homes–90 International-style townhomes nestled into the trees just across the street from Lake Anne.

Mid-Century Modern Market Heating Up

During the past week, I have seen a major uptick in activity in the local mid-century market. Five of the new mid-century modern listings that came on the market this past week are already under contract, including this custom home by Charles Goodman (pictured above) on more than acre in Bethesda. Listed at $995K, it went under contract in four days. I’m seeing multiple offers and escalation clauses, so buyers need to be armed with pre-approval letters and ready to compete for houses they really want. This is a change from the past few years where homes would linger on the market for months. Today, even homes that need substantial work are going quickly. This is just a brief snapshot of the new spring market. We’ll see if this warming trend continues as the weather heats up.

‘Anatomy of a Neighborhood’: Rock Creek Woods

Can architecture create community? Mariann Seriff, a long-time creative director who is currently pursuing a master’s in integrated design, sought to answer that question in a two-part radio piece examining her own neighborhood: Charles Goodman’s Rock Creek Woods in Silver Spring. “The mid-century modern architecture of Rock Creek Woods plays a vital role in making it a thriving neighborhood,” says Seriff, who has lived in the neighborhood since 2001. “When architect Charles Goodman designed the homes in the 1950s, he had no way of knowing they would attract an eclectic group of individuals who would form a vibrant community that is still flourishing today.” Rock Creek Woods is a small, self-contained neighborhood with 74 homes and has only one road in and out, creating a secluded haven of modernist homes. The neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Listen to Seriff “Anatomy of a Neighborhood” Part I, which focuses on the architecture ( I’m interviewed for this piece), and Part II, which focuses on the real sense of community created during the past 50 years.

The Modern Architecture of the World’s Fairs

I just went back for my second tour of the National Building Museum’s Designing Tomorrow: America’s World’s Fairs of the 1930s. The exhibit is a first-of-its-kind highlighting the impact the fairs had on introducing modernism to the country. The exhibit is packed with photos, objects and information. I think multiple trips are required to absorb everything. One of the key focuses of the exhibit, which runs through July 10, is the various styles of modern corporate and residential architecture that were displayed at the fairs around the country. Home builders used rows of model homes to display the latest in home design, technology and furniture. Companies used architecture and design to promote their goods of the future. The government also was not to be outdone. D.C.’s very own Charles Goodman played a key role in promoting the United States, with the stripped classicism of his Federal Building for the New York World’s Fair. Before launching his modernist residential practice, Goodman worked as a government architect for the Public Buildings Administration. He helped design structures ranging from National Airport to post offices around the country. So make sure to check out the exhibit before July.

Charles Goodman: Hollin Hills In His Own Words

I came across an interesting piece about Hollin Hills from 1983. Written by then-Washington Post architecture critic Benjamin Forgey, it looks at the groundbreaking community by builder Robert Davenport and architect Charles Goodman before mid-century modernism was cool again. As part of the piece marking the neighborhood’s 30th anniversary, Forgey interviewed Goodman, who discussed his design philosphy for the community south of Alexandria. Here are some excerpts:
On the hilly topography that other builders, and lenders, were nervous about:
“‘It was the sort of land every builder would turn down,’ Goodman recalls, ‘but I felt it would make for ideal country living for urban people, and Bob Davenport did, too.’”
Davenport and Goodman did not get rid of the hills of Hollin Hills.

On his on-site pre-fab techniques:
“”The whole method was to break everything down to a system that would simplify construction and still give you great freedom of design,’ Goodman says. The results were relatively inexpensive starter homes–the initial model sold for $12,500 in 1949. Families flocked to them.”
“Goodman provided several basic designs that could be combined or altered, to a degree. The flat-roofed single-level house, with its ingenious floor plan (living, sleeping and eating spaces surrounding a central service core) and its stylistic relationship to Mies and Mondrian, was, [Goodman] says, ‘as far as I thought I could go’ in the direction of hard-edged Modernism.’”
On the siting and landscaping:
“The most innovative aspect of Hollin Hills was the siting of the houses and the overall landscape plan. It was this, more than anything else, that disturbed the county regulators Read More >

Mid-Century Modern Open House Picks

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. If you are looking for a break from your holiday shopping (please consider checking out Modern Capital’s sponsors), there are new listings that are might be worth seeing. Pictured above is a 1965 flat-roof mid-century modern in McLean with great screen block on the carport. It is listed for $840K. The house looks like the model by Phoenix Builders. I have highlighted similar homes by the builder in Mantua. If you are looking for something in DC, take a look at this 1 bed/1 bath condo in a 1952 building in Columbia Heights. If you are in Maryland, you can stop by this 1973 modern in Kensington.
I am also holding my Charles Goodman listing in Rock Creek Woods from 1 to 4 p.m. For those who have been watching this one or know people who may be interested, sellers are offering a major credit for window replacement if a ratified contract is reached this month. Contact me for more details.
Happy shopping for gifts or a new home.

The Goodman House: A Mid-Century Modern-Victorian Blend

If you did not go out to see Charles Goodman’s home in Alexandria last weekend, it is open again this Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. (I’m also doing an open house at my Goodman listing in Rock Creek Woods in Maryland if the asking price of $1.249 million for Goodman’s own home is too steep).

I’m glad I finally got a chance to visit the home after all these years of reading and writing about Goodman. The house is really an interesting marriage of the old and new.
The existing two story house behind the one-level modernist addition.
Where old house and new house meet.
While Goodman kept the existing Victorian farmhouse, he clad the structure in his signature T-1-11 siding to match the glass box addition. He also installed massive plate glass windows (not see in the picture below) in the farmhouse to give it a modern feel.
The original farmhouse clad in T-1-11 siding, a plywood that simulates tongue-and-groove siding.
The use of stone and wood ceilings is impressive and gives the house a warm feel. Except for a few touches like the old farmhouse doors, the transition from the modern addition to the original structure is relatively seamless.
The main highlight of the house is the large glass-walled modern addition that serves as the entrance and expansive living room. The space feels the most Goodmanesqe and you see the influence of Mies, whose work was an inspiration to Goodman. I wished that the original St. Charles cabinets were not painted over in black, Read More >

Goodman’s Mid-Century Modern Houston House to be Renovated

Charles Goodman's Houston House is getting a $10 million face-lift.
Charles Goodman is most well known for Hollin Hills and Hickory Cluster in Virgina, River Park in Southwest and other mid-century modern communities here in the D.C. area. Similar to his high-rise apartment block in River Park (see below), Goodman also designed the 1960s Houston House Apartment building in downtown Houston. The 31-story building (click for images), which sits on top of a multi-level parking garage, was one of the first downtown high-rises in the city at the time. Goodman’s work is set to get its first major face lift since opening in 1966, the Houston Chronicle reported. The paper (which attributes the building to the Kirksey architecture firm and not Goodman) says the owner will spend $10 million on work in the building. It sounds like some of the work will alter Goodman’s mid-century touches while other efforts will restore one of its hallmark vintage features, its dark exterior. The original exterior color was black, perhaps similar to River Park. It is now tan. The ninth-floor nightclub and its wood-paneled bar is being replaced with a fitness center, game room and business center. The lobby, which was renovated in the 1980s, will supposedly get a makeover with more mid-century style touches.
A view of Goodman's River Park apartment block in Southwest from one of his townhomes.

Cherry Blossoms and Modernism

If you want to enjoy the weather this weekend, see the cherry blossoms before they disappear and see some modern architecture for good measure, you may want to head to Rock Creek Woods in Silver Spring (map). The community by architect Charles Goodman and builders Herschel and Marvin Blumberg has dozens of Yoshino cherry trees. When the neighborhood was built, homeowners agreed to pay Montgomery County $10 per cherry tree planted. Nearly four dozen more tree were planted in 1998, while nearly three dozen were planted in 2001, according to the neighborhood’s website. Another place to see modernism and cherry trees without the crowds of the Tidal Basin is the U.S. National Arboretum. The arboretum has more than 2,000 trees, the largest collection of cherry blossoms outside the Tidal Basin. If you go, make sure to check out the Administration Building, with its zig-zag roof. The building was designed in the early 1960s by Albert G. Mumma Jr. of the architecture firm Deigert & Yerkes. Below are a few pictures from my quick walk through Rock Creek Woods. Have a good weekend.

FSBO: 1959 Rock Creek Woods Goodman

The owners of this 5-bedroom, 3-bath Charles Goodman in Rock Creek Woods are looking for interested buyers to make an offer on the 1959 home, which is located at 4007 Ingersol Dr. The 76-home community in Silver Spring by Goodman and builders Herschel and Marvin Blumberg is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a great place to view the Cherry blossoms. Here’s a recent piece in the Examiner about the mid-century modern community.

Three More New Listings in Hollin Hills

Listings are sprouting like spring flowers in Hollin Hills.
It’s that time of year. New listings are sprouting up in Hollin Hills like spring flowers. The mid-century modern community by Charles Goodman also is featured in the new issue of Modernism magazine in a piece by architect John Burns, FAIA, and landscape architect Dennis Carmichael, FASLA. The duo will discuss the history, growth, and influence of Hollin Hills during an upcoming National Building Museum program, “A Modernist Suburb.”
Now on to the new listings.
1950 3/2 – $599K – Nice landscaping on the nearly 1/2 acre lot.
1954 4/2 – $699k – A two-level with walls of glass upstairs and down.
1952 3/2 – $735K – Looks like a For Sale By Owner.

Exploring Hollin Hills; Two New Listings

The snow is disappearing. Temperatures are warming. Gardens will be blooming. With spring approaching, it is a good time to tour Hollin Hills, the award-winning a modernist development by architect Charles Goodman and developer Robert Davenport. There is plenty of upcoming opportunity to explore the 450-home community south of Alexandria, which Goodman and Davenport began in the late 1940s as one of the first post-war suburban developments in the D.C. area.
There is the biennial Hollin Hills Home and Garden Tour on May 1, which I wrote about here. And on April 28 at the National Building Museum, architect John Burns, FAIA, and landscape architect Dennis Carmichael, FASLA, will discuss the history, growth, and influence of Hollin Hills during the program, “A Modernist Suburb.” (Tip: Members of the NBM and the Civic Association of Hollin Hills can purchase discount tickets for the home tour at the event.)

If you can’t wait until April and May to get your fill of Hollin Hills, you can check out two new homes on the market. Both are open March 7 from 1 to 4 p.m. This expanded and updated 1952 Goodman pictured above is listed at $824K while this 1957 flat-roof Goodman is listed at $569K.

A Mid-Century ‘Revolution’ in Hollin Hills and Beyond

A flat-roof Goodman design in Hollin Hills.
Hollin Hills gets a little love in this blog post by the folks at Build, an architecture firm in Seattle. The post highlights “5 neighborhoods in the United States that share a common aesthetic, create an intentional environment and establish a sense of place.” In addition to Hollin Hills, designed and built by Charles Goodman and Robert Davenport, the post explores Denver’s Arapahoe Acres (you must check out this site), the first post-World War II neighborhood listed in the National Register of Historic Place, Hill Top in Washington state, Six Moon Hill in Lexington, Mass., and Krisana Park and Lynwood, both in Denver.

I just picked up a copy of the 1951 book, The American House Today, which features the designs explored in these ground breaking communities. “A quiet revolution has taken place in residential design in the last decade which deserves to be documented rather fully,” Katherine Morrow Ford and Thomas H. Creighton write in the intro to the book. “Revolution, not evolution, because the wrench has been violent, if usually polite. Not entirely a bloodless revolution either, because a good many architectural heads have fallen in the process and the cries of anguish that still rise from some parts of the profession ring through the crumbling colonnades.” Nice.The work of Goodman was part of this modern revolution in residential design and his Hollin Hills is included in the book’s chapter on subdivision houses. I have Read More >

Modern Snapshot: Charles Goodman’s Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington

Charles Goodman designed three mid-century modern churches in the area — one each in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. The Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington was the last of the three area churches, completed in 1964. An addition (see image below) to the church was added in 1994. While Goodman employed more concrete in this design a la the Brutalist style, he still managed to work in large expanses of glass to allow plenty of light into the sanctuary. Goodman also designed the 1957 Bethesda United Church of Christ that I highlighted here and the 1960s Christ Church of Washignton on Massachusetts Avenue in D.C.
Read this interesting Dwell piece on why Unitarian Universalist congregations have been drawn to modern design for their churches. View a photo gallery that includes other MCM Unitarian Universalist churches, including the one in Arlington and the Cedar Lane Unitarian Church in Bethesda, which I wrote about here.

Roundtable on Charles Goodman at River Park; Dec. 19

Architect Gregory K. Hunt, a leading authority on Charles Goodman, will lead a roundtable discussion this Saturday about Goodman’s River Park in Southwest. The free event (including breakfast refreshments) from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. will be held in the River Park South Common Room located here. Hunt, the founding dean of the School of Architecture at Marywood University and the former dean of the Catholic University School of Architecture, has been a long-time resident of Goodman’s Hollin Hills in Virginia. From what I have read about Goodman, he was influenced by Mies van de Rohe and had many books in his library of the master’s work. River Park’s apartment building and townhomes definitely evoke the urban renewal work of Mies in Lafayette Park in Detroit. With the problems Detroit is facing right now, you can pick up Mies-designed townhomes for $100K here and here.

New D.C. Metro Mid-Century Modern Flickr Pool

Flat-roof Goodman in Hollin Hills.

Check out a new Flickr pool dedicated to mid-century modern architecture here in the D.C. area. Join and share your own shots of your favorite area MCM homes and buildings. I added a few shots, including this one above of a flat-roof Goodman in Hollin Hills. I took it during the 2008 Hollin Hills Home and Garden Tour and saturated the color to give it that vintage look. Thanks to Karl Ericson for launching the pool. Check out the set he started on vintage Goodman ads here.

Charles Goodman’s River Park Townhomes

Here are a few shots of the townhomes in Charles Goodman’s River Park in Southwest. The black and white shots pay homage to the work of the the late Robert C. Lautman, who was dean of Washington’s architectural photographers and who regularly photographed the work of D.C.’s modern architects, including Goodman. (Lautman died in October at the age of 85. The National Building Museum hosted a memorial service tonight. View a slideshowof some of Lautman’s iconic work.)
If you’re interested in a barrel-roof Goodman townhome in River Park, which was commissioned by Reynolds Aluminum, there are two on the market. This one is listed at $389K and open this Sunday. This one is at $419K.

I still can’t get over these decidedly non-modern storm doors.

Vintage Goodman Advertisements

Local MCM fan and winner of Modern Capital’s recent contest Karl Ericson has put together a nice Flickr pool of vintage newspaper ads promoting homes and communities designed by Charles Goodman, including the one above heralding Rock Creek Woods. Thanks Karl.

Modern Snapshot: Fall in Charles Goodman’s Hammond Wood

A shot from a few days ago in Hammond Wood in Silver Spring.

Charles Goodman’s Oak Forest in Vienna

I finally found Oak Forest. It is the last of the nine Charles Goodman builder projects in the D.C. area that I had not yet seen or written about. I saw eight or so modest, one-level Goodmans with signature exterior brick fireplaces on Acorn Circle and Cedar Lane in Vienna, Va. A few other homes on Acorn may have been modified beyond recognition or replaced the original Goodmans. The one pictured above just went under contract. The 3 bedroom/1.5 bath home located here was listed at $385K. I would have taken more pictures but it was pouring. Next time.

Robert Lautman, Dean of D.C. Architectural Photographers, Dies at 85

A 1954 photo by Robert Lautman of Charles

Goodman’s renovated farmhouse in Alexandria.

(Courtesy of the National Building Museum)

Robert C. Lautman, the dean of Washington’s architectural photographers, died Oct. 20 of pancreatic cancer, the Washington Post reported. Lautman worked extensively with local modernist architects such as Charles Goodman and Hugh Newell Jacobsen. Earlier this year, Lautman reflected on his 60-year career at event hosted by the National Building Museum, which houses Lautman’s photographic archive. In 2007, Lautman received the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Gold Medal for Architectural Photography and is an honorary member of the AIA.

The Legacy of Charles Goodman

Charles Goodman

What would Charles Goodman be thinking about the resurgence in interest of his mostly modest mid-century homes? Would he see it as a reaction against the McMansionization of the past few years, with people wanting to live in a modern-style house rather than faux example from our colonial past? Or would he see it as something else?
Goodman died 17 years ago today at age 85 from emphysema. Here’s an excerpt from a piece by Benjamin Forgey, the former Washington Post architecture critic, who wrote this soon after Goodman’s death:

“When Virginia architect Charles Goodman died last month at 85 his legacy to the Washington area included more than the several thousand residential units he designed in the region — he left as well an optimistic vision of the possibilities of community life in an individualistic society.
Goodman was an architect of talent and probity. His houses, even for wealthier clients, were no-nonsense — he welcomed the opportunities money provided to use better woods or stones, perhaps, but for rich and middle-income client alike he designed houses that were sensible, economical and inventive. He would give you a hallway with a view of just that particular tree, or a porch that hovered just so in a glade, or a kitchen window perfectly sited to catch the winter sun. The Hollin Hills development (done with Robert Davenport, an adventurous builder) in the woods south of Alexandria is justly renowned for the way in which the Read More >

Rock Creek Wood’s Marks 50th Anniversary

Congratulations to the current and former residents of Rock Creek Woods, the Charles Goodman-designed community off Connecticut Avenue in Silver Spring for marking the community’s 50th anniversary with a Labor Day weekend celebration. The residents kicked off the festivities on Saturday with a reception at the neighborhood’s Good Shepherd Church to reminisce and socialize. This was followed by a 1960s themed pot luck dinner. After dinner, the residents enjoyed dessert and a slideshow focused on the history of the community.

An original marketing sign was on display at one of the homes on the tour.

On Sunday, residents (and this lucky blogger) enjoyed a Home and Garden Tour of 10 different residences in the 76-home community, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Place in 2004. Several of the homes hosted live music performances, while one hosted a wine tasting party. In addition to the activities to mark the occasion, members of the community created a book containing such items as original brochures and essays about the neighborhood by residents. Here’s to another 50 years to a great mid-century modern neighborhood, not to mention a great group of people.

Does this house look familiar? It is the onein the Modern Capital logo.

One of the signatures of Goodman’s Rock Creek Woods designs:large exterior chimneys as seen above and below.

Kuhn House: Original Goodman Plans, Images from Hollin Hills

An image of the Kuhn House from the 1950s.

When Craig Kuhn was preparing to put his parents Hollin Hills Goodman on the market, he came across a treasure trove of vintage images of the house, original plans by Goodman and the plans his father Howard, an architect, used to build a very Goodmanesqe addition to the house beginning in 1959. The house, which had fallen into disrepair, recently sold to a “flipper,” according to Craig, who said the home is expected to come back on the market soon. Craig said his parents’ home was filled with Danish modern furniture bought while they lived overseas during the 1950s and ’60s. You can now purchase some of the Kuhn furniture at Modernicus.

Howard Kuhn worked as an architect before World War II and was drafted into the Army Corps of Engineers during the war. After returning home, he started an engineering company that built custom Hollin Hills-like homes in the ’60s and ’70s, Craig said. The plans below (blue paper) were for a standard 3/1 Hollin Hills Goodman. Howard Kuhn modified Goodman’s plans to make a two bedroom and changed the kitchen layout, which included the installation of a GE wall-mounted refrigerator that just recently stopped working. I’ll post the listing when it goes back on the market so you can see what was done with the house, which is located here.Thanks to Craig for sharing this piece of Hollin Hills history with us.Read More >

Two Open Houses in Alexandria Area Sunday, August 2

Two open houses to note if you are out looking in the Alexandria area on Sunday:

This 1949 expanded Goodman in Hollin Hills I first posted here is open from 1 to 4 p.m.

This 1962 mid-century in Alexandria that I first posted here. This has dropped from $579K to $545K and is open from 1 to 3 p.m.

Charles Goodman Included in New Canaan’s Modern Home Study

Charles Goodman
Launched nearly two years ago, the “Modern Homes Survey: New Canaan Connecticut” is now available online. The survey catalogues 91 homes built between 1939 and 1979 and has bios on 31 architects who helped turn New Canaan into one of the meccas of modernism in the country.

D.C.’s very own Charles Goodman is included for his design of the Alcoa Care-Free Home, one of which was built in New Canaan. Unfortunately, the 1958 home looks like it has been altered beyond recognition.

The Allure of MCM Airport Terminals

Preservation magazine has a nice piece by Sudip Bose on the power of mid-century airport terminals, including two in our area: Eero Saarinen’s iconic terminal at Dulles and the historic Terminal A at National, early designs of which were done by local modernist Charles Goodman.
“To be sure, many of the new concourses in the world—from Hong Kong to Singapore, London to Indianapolis—are among the most exciting places on earth,” Bose writes. “And there’s no doubting the need for new spaces to accommodate blooming crowds and increased security demands. But no matter how glorious the design, no mega-terminal can recall the spirit, the romance of an earlier era the way the old airports do. Those terminals conveyed the very essence of air travel, symbolizing the splendors and possibilities of the era. They practically called out, “Come fly with me,” inspiring a profound sense of wonder.”
No wonder why he thinks they should preserved.

1959 Rock Creek Woods Goodman Open Again on Sunday

The house in Rock Creek Woods that my logo is based on is open again this Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. It’s listed at $599K

Crest Park Goodmans Highlighted in Post

Did you see the Post’s “Where We Live” column on Saturday? Homes by Charles Goodman got a shout out and picture in the piece about Hillandale in Silver Spring. Located in the Crest Park subdivision, the 25 homes built in the 1960s reflect Goodman’s designs seen earlier in Rock Creek Woods.
“The Goodman houses are situated not only at the most prominent corners of the development (such as Schindler and La Grande Drives,) but also at the choicest sites topographically, abutting woodlands and streambeds,” architectural historian Elizabeth Jo Lampl writes in her 2004 monograph on the architect’s subdivisions in Montgomery County. “One can only imagine Goodman insisting on these sites for some of his model houses.”
While I do not see any Goodmans for sale in the neighborhood, this MCM by Patterson & Worland is still on the market after nearly two years.

Lost: Charles Goodman’s 1957 Muriel Ferris House

When I first wrote about Charles Goodman’s 1957 Muriel Ferris House, I feared it would be torn down. A small MCM home on nearly 1.7 acres in an exclusive neighborhood in McLean. I can now report that the flat-roof house has been destroyed, as you can see from the picture above. I regret never going to take pictures before it was torn down. At the event with Robert Lautman the other night, I showed him the images of the rubble of the home he photographed more than 50 years ago. There is an image he took of the home in the Fall 1999 issue of Modernism magazine for those who have it.

Lautman Reflects on Career, Goodman

Robert C. Lautman, Washington’s dean of architectural photography who chronicled the work of local modern architects such as Charles Goodman, Hugh Newell Jacobsen and Arthur Keyes, reflected on his career last night at the National Building Museum. Still working after 60 years, Lautman discussed the joy his continuing career has brought him. Presenting a dual slideshow–one side highlighted some of his favorite and most arresting images, while the other had quotes discussing his craft and those he worked with such as Goodman and Jacobsen. (Jacobsen was at the event, but left before I could talk to him.) After the slideshow, NBM curator Chrysanthe Broikos led a discussion with the photographer.
Lautman, who received the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Gold Medal for Architectural Photography and is an honorary member of the AIA, described Goodman as a “great mentor” and perfectionist who would send back photographs he did not think were up to par. Lautman described one time he was with Goodman photographing one of the architect’s early works. Goodman, looking admiringly at his own work, said: “Goddamn that’s a beautiful house.”
“To get hooked up at the beginning of my career with one of the most interesting architects, with a kind of pilot modern architect in Washington, was just a stroke of sheer fortune,” Lautman said of Goodman.
Lautman said Goodman would have been “world famous” if he wasn’t such a stickler. Lautman recounted how he had shown some picture of Goodman’s work to editors of House Beautiful who were interested in featuring Read More >

NBM Event: Robert Lautman: Remembering a Lifetime of Architecture on Film

A 1954 photo by Robert Lautman of CharlesGoodman’s renovated farmhouse in Alexandria.
(Courtesy of the National Building Museum)

The National Building Museum is holding a discussion on Feb. 3 with Robert C. Lautman, Washington’s dean of architectural photography who chronicled the work of local modern architects such as Charles Goodman, Hugh Newell Jacobsen and Arthur Keyes. Goodman described Lautman’s work as having “…an effortless naturalness and clarity.”
In 2007, Lautman, who received the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Gold Medal for Architectural Photography and is an honorary member of the AIA, donated his photographic archives to the National Building Museum. In this special celebration of Lautman’s 60-year career, NBM curator Chrysanthe Broikos will hold a discussion with Lautman about his six decades of capturing architecture on film. The exhibition, Cityscapes Revealed: Highlights from the Collection, will be open prior to the program.
You can register for the program here.

Carderock Springs is Now Historic

Carderock Springs, the mid-century modern community in Bethesda built in the 1960s by pioneering developer Edmund Bennett and designed by Arthur Keyes, Francis Donald Lethbridge and David Condon, was named to the National Register of Historic Places in December after a four-year effort by residents and county officials. Charles Goodman’s Rock Creek Woods, Hammond Wood and five homes on Takoma Avenue are other the MCM communities in Montgomery County on the National Register. Read more about Carderock’s designation here.

Post Highlights Goodman’s Rock Creek Woods

The Washington Post highlights Charles Goodman’s Rock Creek Woods in its “Where We Live” column, with writer Andrea Rouda saying that “outstanding architecture doesn’t have to be wildly expensive. … Every resident lives in a work of art, but the average selling price is about $600,000.”
Goodman, whose architecture was heavily influenced by Mies van Der Rohe and Walter Gropius, took great care in siting each of the 76 homes in the Silver Spring neighborhood located here, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
“Like Frank Lloyd Wright before him, Goodman believed strongly that a house should enhance its natural setting without destroying it,” Rouda writes. “Because he insisted on siting each home to take advantage of the rocky topography, the houses all front on slightly different angles, giving them the flavor of tree houses scattered in a forest. The land is hilly and rocky, so each house has a lower level that is partially underground at or near the front, but fully above ground with a patio door and floor-to-ceiling windows at the side or back.”
One of the distinctive features of Goodman’s homes in Rock Creek Woods are the funky color exterior hardboard, or Masonite panels. Elizabeth Jo Lampl, in her research supporting the neighborhood’s effort to be listed on the National Register, writes that Goodman’s firm “developed a color chart to guide the exterior staining and painting of the house and its trim. … Goodman specified that the vertical wall panels, flush Read More >

Redeveloping Reston

The Washignton Post ran an interesting piece on Saturday about the impact of planned redevelopment and construction of three Metro station in Reston, founded by developer Robert Simon in 1964 as the country’s first modern planned community.
“Reston –which famously pioneered the kind of walkable, environmentally friendly, mixed-use suburban neighborhood that is all the rage these days — is on the cusp of its own transformation,” writes Sandhya Somashekhar. “And some residents say they fear it could lose the delicate balance that made it a model.”
Pulitzer Prize winning architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable, in a 1965 front-page article in the New York Times, described Reston as “an attractive cross between an updated Georgetown and an Italian harbor town like Portofino.” Indeed, the village center was designed by James Rossant (who studied under Walter Gropius at Harvard University Graduate School of Design) to emulate the Italian coastal town. The village center (which has looked somewhat forlorn when I have been there) is slated to see new development, including more housing and stores.
The Post says that Simon, 94, supports change in Reston, but reports that “some residents say they fear that Lake Anne will be the first domino to fall in a chain reaction that would turn Reston into a traffic-clogged Manhattan. ‘We are not doing design that is in the character or quality of the original Reston,’ said John Lovaas, who has lived in Reston since 1975. He said he favors adding shops and residences to Lake Read More >

A Tour of Southwest

More than 50 years ago, Southwest D.C. underwent a massive transformation, representing the largest urban renewal project in U.S. history. The project covered 113 blocks, more than 450 acres and led to the relocation of more than 20,000 residents. Amid new development in the area, the question is how should the mid-century modern architecture of the original renewal effort be protected and preserved. On Oct. 4, the D.C. Preservation League and DOCOMOMO held “Southwest DC: Renewal at Risk,” a walking tour of the key projects from the 1950s and ’60s. Eric Jenkins, an architect, associate professor at Catholic University’s School of Architecture and Planning and River Park resident, led the two-hour tour of the area, which he described like the “Lower East Side up until the 1950s.” Jenkins said roughly 25 to 30 percent of the mostly working-class people came back to Southwest after the massive renewal effort.
In his AIA Guide to the Architecture of Washington, D.C., G. Martin Moeller Jr. writes that while many urban renewal projects have “come to symbolize indiscriminate destruction of neighborhoods (squalid though they may have been) in favor of drab, soulless superblocks … much of the redevelopment in the Southwest quadrant was of unusually high quality, avoiding the pitfalls that plagued many such projects elsewhere. Notwithstanding the sensitive social issues surrounding the genesis of such endeavors, several of the housing developments in Southwest are among the best works of large-scale urban architecture of their era.”
These are the very projects the tour focused Read More >

Southwest Parade of Homes; 9/28

If you are thinking about buying a home in the MCM enclave of Southwest D.C., head to the Southwest Parade of Homes this Sunday. More than 20 homes will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. You will find listings for properties designed by Charles Goodman (River Park), Chloethiel Woodard Smith (Capitol Park, Harbour Square, Potomac Place) and Keyes, Lethbridge and Condon (Tiber Island, Carrollsburg condos).

The World of Windows

Alexa Yablonski has an interesting piece in the Post‘s Fall Home & Design Issue about how windows were incorporated into various architectural styles over the years, culminating with the liberal use of glass in modern architecture as the price of the material declined. “[I]t wasn’t until the 20th century that the ribbon window (a series of horizontal windows separated only by mullions) and the glass curtain wall (essentially, one large window that envelopes an entire house or skyscraper) became possible — and went on to become hallmarks of modern architecture,” Yablonski writes.
Yablonski highlights Charles Goodman’s aluminum-and-glass barrel-vault townhomes in River Park as an example of how glass was used in local mid-century architecture. Although she quotes one resident as saying the unique vault design has some drawbacks. “It’s hot as hell. And bright. You have to get up early — there’s no choice,” says Max Robitaille. Although shades fall on the wrong side of the modernist manifesto, how about installing blackout shades to fit the space if you want to sleep in later? What do River Park residents have to say about that?

MCM Townhomes in Reston by Goodman, Sauer

Townhomes by Charles Goodman in Hickory Cluster in Reston, Virginia

I came across an interesting article (scroll down a bit after you hit the link) from 1966 on the new phenomenon of suburban townhomes by then-Washington Post architecture critic Wolf Von Eckardt. In his article, Von Eckardt writes how developers repackaged the old row house concept of the cities into the modern townhomes of the suburbs. He hailed this move not only for the modern architecture, which he thought was more compelling than most suburban homes, but for their “green” attributes (he did not describe these as green, but that is essentially what he was saying 40 years before it was hip): townhouses minimize suburban sprawl by using less land, they take less resources to build, etc.
“When the row house became a town house, a number of creative, modern architects came to the rescue,” Von Eckhardt wrote. “They have contributed little to our suburban housing, partly because it doesn’t pay them and partly because the builders feel they can along without them. But for the town house the builders have sought professional help.” Von Eckardt highlighted the work of prominent architects in the new modern suburban town of Reston, including Charles Goodman, Chloethiel Woodard Smith and Louis Sauer, who was schooled at the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology founded by Bauhaus master Lazlo Moholy-Nagy.
Below are a few homes for sale, one by Goodman and two by Sauer.
1965 2/1.5 Hickory Cluster Townhome by Charles Goodman – $239,999
1968 Read More >

Modern Snapshot: Goodman National Homes Pre-Fab in Annanwood

This picture is of one of the homes in Annanwood, the National Homes Charles Goodman pre-fab community in Annandale that I discussed in this earlier post. This is one house in the small community that looks relatively unchanged from the front. Unfortunately, several homes in the neighborhood have added Greco-Roman-style columns on the carport. I can’t even begin to imagine what the thought process is like leading up to such a decision.

Modern Snapshot: Charles Goodman’s Bethesda United Church of Christ

Charles Goodman designed the Bethesda United Church of Christ at the corner of Fernwood Road and Democracy Boulevard in 1957. The sanctuary is an octagonal room with a soaring wood-beamed ceiling. The church, on its web site, says clear windows were used in the sanctuary rather than stained glass “to make sure that we could see the world around us, and that the world could see us as well.” A very modern idea, which fit well with Charles Goodman’s design philosophy and use of vast expanses of glass. Goodman also designed two other churches in the area. In 1951, he designed the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ, Latter Day Saints in D.C, and in 1963, the Unitarian Church of Arlington (now the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington.)

Moran’s Modern Oasis

Now I don’t want to get political here, especially how this election looks to be shaping up. However, I thought you might be interested in this Connection article on Rep. Jim Moran’s Charles Goodman home in McLean—no matter what side of the aisle your are on. The house’s previous owner was Najeeb Halaby, father of Queen Noor, who was the fourth wife and widow of King Hussein of Jordan. Looks like the home, which sits on 2.5 acres on Chain Bridge Road overlooking the Potomac, could be on the market at some point. The story says Moran and his wife, LuAnn Bennett, are “considering a move to Old Town in Alexandria, where Bennett’s oldest son lives. Moran said he has always thought of Alexandria as ‘his home.’”

Carderock’s Bid for the National Register of Historic Places

The Gazette takes a look at Carderock Spring’s effort launched fours years ago to be placed on the National Register of Historic places. “In the 1960s, Bethesda’s Carderock Springs neighborhood was lauded with national attention in the architecture world because of its contemporary design and incorporation of homes into the natural landscape,” Bradford Pearson writes. “It is now in the final stages of completing the approval process for being named to the National Parks Services’ Register of Historic Places.” The community was built by developer Edmund Bennett and the architectural team of Keyes, Lethbridge & Condon, AIA.
Pearson notes that “if approved, the neighborhood would join other county neighborhoods, including the Garrett Park and Kensington historic districts, on the historic register.” Correct, but he fails to mention the three other modern Montgomery County communities already on the register: Charles Goodman’s Rock Creek Woods, Hammond Wood and his five Takoma Avenue homes in Takoma Park.

City Paper Blogs About River Park Status

Following up on an item I did about River Park, the City Paper’s Angela Valdez writes a short update, saying Charles Goodman’s contribution to urban renewal in Southwest during the ’60s is safe for now.

Two Hickory Cluster Goodman Townhomes

Here are listings for two Hickory Cluster Townhomes by Charles Goodman in Reston:
1965 3/1.5 – $339K – An end unit carriage home (see pictures below) on Maple Ridge Road.

3/1.5 – $310K – This is one is a FSBO and is open today (June 7) from 1 to 3 p.m. Not sure of the exact year.
Check out this picture of the Hickory Cluster townhomes being built in 1964.

Price Drop: Two Goodmans in Rock Creek Woods

These two 1959 Charles Goodmans in Rock Creek Woods in Silver Spring have had their prices cut. The 76-home community, built by Herschel and Marvin Blumberg, entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
This 3/3 is down to $610K from $622K. Here’s the address.
This 6/3 home looks like one of Charles Goodman’s larger designs. It’s dropped from $679K to $645K. Here’s the address.

Modern Snapshot: Eames Chairs in National Airport’s Historic Terminal A

Before striking out on his own to design modern homes, Charles Goodman was a government architect. He designed post offices and other federal buildings. In 1939, he was selected to be the government’s architect to help design National Airport. While Goodman would eventually resign amid bureaucratic meddling in his vision for the airport, elements of Goodman design were retained, including the sweeping lobby of Historic Terminal A, as it is called. The terminal, which opened in 1941, has a massive, slightly curving wall of windows perfect for viewing the planes taking off and landing. The terminal is currently undergoing renovations “to restore the terminal to its 1941 design and architecture,” according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. I took this quick shot of the vintage Eames chairs as my family and I were rushing to catch a recent flight to Florida.

Care-Free in Hollin Hills

“Our goal is to endow the home with a personality … delightful to be in, pleasant to live in, worthy of pleasure and pride in possession.”
–Charles M. Goodman, A.I.A, Alcoa Care-free Home brochure
When I recently wrote about this Charles Goodman Alcoa Care-free house in Minnesota, a reader rightly noted that there is one of the models in Hollin Hills. After the House and Garden Tour on Saturday, I swung by 7801 Elba Rd. to see how our local Care-free stacked up to the one up north. Unfortunately, from the look of the outside, the house (which is not for sale) cannot match the pristine condition of the one in Minnesota.

1961 Hollin Hills Goodman – 579K; Open 4/27

Here’s a listing for a 3/2 Goodman in located in Hollin Hills. Some of the paint colors and kitchen floor are a little too bold, but those are easy to fix. The house is open April 27 from 1 to 4 p.m.

Modern Snapshot: Charles Goodman’s Whittier Woods School

I’m launching a new feature, Modern Snapshot, which will highlight mid-century modern buildings in our area that are not only still standing, but still being used on a daily basis–a school, church, library or some other type of space. If you have suggestions, ideas or submissions (with pictures), please send here.
The first building I’m featuring is the Whittier Woods School located on Whittier Boulevard in Bethesda. Attributed to Charles Goodman, the 1950s-era school, now the Kenwood Park Children’s Center at Whittier Woods Center, is brick with lots of glass and examples of colored exterior panels Goodman often incorporated into his designs. While the building has been expanded, it appears that the original structure was retained with the new section simply attached to the existing building. Achitectural historian Elizabeth Jo Lampl, in her writings on Goodman, says the school was originally called Kenwood Park School. I found a reference to the school as Whittier Woods from the early 1960s. The letters spelling out the school’s name, which appear to be original, indicate that the name was changed when that cool, very MCM typeface was still being used.

Price Drops: Custom McLean Goodman, Lake Barcroft and Lake Normandy Estates

Here are some updates on three homes I previously featured:
Endangered McLean Goodman: The small custom 1957 Charles Goodman I posted last month that I fear could be torn down because its sits on 1.7 acres in McLean has dropped $100K. Again, the images in the listing mostly shows the land and no interior photos of the house.

Contemporary in Lake Normandy Estates; Open 4/6: This 1965 split-foyer contemporary with tons of glass has dropped more than $50K. It’s open today from 1 to 4 p.m. The 4/3 home is located in Potomac. The listing has plenty of images.
Flat-Roof Mid-Century in Lake Barcroft: I first posted this 1959 MCM in June 2007. The house (pictured below) is back on the market for $755K, or almost $100K less than the original listing price. The house is located here in Lake Bar croft in Falls Church.

Register Today: Annual Hollin Hills House and Garden Tour

Would you rather see Charles Goodman’s designs up close and personal rather than on your computer screen? Beyond the occasional open house, now is your chance. Get your tickets to the annual Hollin House and Garden Tour, which will be held April 26 from 12 to 6 p.m. Tickets are $20. The tour starts at Fort Hunt Road at Paul Spring Road rain or shine. Here’s the registration form. Call (703) 768-1662 for more information.
A free pre-tour lecture open to the public, “Hollin Hills: Modern Becomes Historic,” will be held from 11:00 a.m. to noon at Hollin Meadows Elementary School. Architectural historian John Burns will lead a discussion on the original design types and the evolution of architecture over the past 50 years. Landscape architect Dennis Carmichael will discuss the common area landscape of Hollin Hills as well as its contemporary garden types.

Update: River Park Not Endangered

In response to the anonymous post I received the other day claiming there was a memo circulating detailing an effort to sell River Park to developers to build a parking garage for the new baseball stadium, sources within River Park said that suggestion is erroneous and that there is “no plan or proposal to sell of demolish River Park.” They said the memo, which was “not in any way circulated, endorsed, or drafted by the Board or Management of River Park,” was distributed by one resident who proposed “nothing more than to look into whether River Park should explore development of its ‘excess land’ (referring primarily to our giant parking lot that abuts Delaware Avenue), not whether River Park should sell itself to developers. The member’s idea was to ask whether there was a way to capitalize on this parking lot.”

Southwest: Charles Goodman’s River Park High-Rise

As part of the urban renewal efforts in Southwest in the 1960s, Charles Goodman designed River Park, a mix of 134 townhomes and a 384-unit high-rise complex, which is located on Delaware Avenue. Sponsored by Reynolds Metals, Goodman featured aluminum prominently in his designs. The River Park co-op web site has a listing of all the units for sale. Looks like there are currently 20 high-rise units on the market. I’m highlighting a couple of the apartments for sale whose listings have good images, especially of the unique aluminum decorative panels Goodman used in the exterior design.
1 bedroom/1 bath – 185,500 – Good images of the aluminum screens.
1 bedroom/1 bath – $210K – Capitol view from this one.
Here are images of another major apartment building designed by Goodman. The 35-story Houston House was built in Texas in 1963.

Southwest D.C.: A Haven of Modernism

As Southwest D.C. goes through another period of urban renewal with the revitalization of the Waterside Mall (the new area will be called the Waterfront) and the new baseball stadium, the area continues to represent one of the region’s largest concentration of mid-century modern dwellings, which were built during the first urban renewal of the 1950s and ’60s. The Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA), created by Congress in 1945, considered two proposals for the area, according to a history by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“The first, proposed by city planner Elbert Peets, called for rehabilitation of buildings and some new construction, with little long-term displacement of current residents and businesses. The second, by two of Washington’s leading modernist architects Chloethiel Woodard Smith and Louis Justement, called for demolishing the old neighborhood completely in favor of creating a modernist Utopia following the most avant-garde socially responsible architectural ideas and ideals.
“Rebuilding in a variety of architectural typologies from high-rise apartment buildings to row houses, all in extensive landscape settings would, they argued, provide better conditions for some of the former residents, but primarily would attract higher income professionals back from the suburbs. In the end, the RLA, with the approval of the District of Columbia Commissioners and the newly-reorganized National Capital Planning Commission, favored a plan based on the Smith-Justement model. Decried by many for decades as socially irresponsible because the neighborhood’s cohesion was broken and historically important buildings were lost, Southwest’s extensive Modernist landscape was again appreciated at the beginning Read More >

Price Drops on Hollin Hills Goodman Homes; One Open House Today

These three Charles Goodman-designed homes in Hollin Hills that I originally posted in September have all had their prices reduced.

1953 4/2 – $799k – This Goodman (top picture) has been expanded to fit in the with original design, according to the listing. The price has dropped from $825K. Here’s the address.

1968 4/3 – $799K – This one has a granite and stainless steel kitchen, if that’s your thing. Th eprice dropped from $825K. Located here. Open 12/2 from 1 to 4 p.m.

1956 4/2 – $669K – Looks like this one (second picture above) has the original blue kitchen cabinets and appliances. Dropped from $719K. Located here.

Charles Goodman’s Alcoa Care-Free Homes

While D.C. architect Charles Goodman designed more than 1,000 homes in our area, his modern home designs also dot other cities across the country. These include the Alcoa Care-Free Home, which Goodman designed in 1957 based on feedback from the 1956 Women’s Congress on Housing. With Alcoa backing the project (Reynolds sponsored River Park in D.C.), Goodman used aluminum in various areas of the house, including the roof, exterior wall panels and framing for sliding glass doors. Forty of the homes were eventually built in 15 states.
Are you interested? I found one for sale in Perrysburg, Ohio, for $199,000. See the pictures above. Here’s the listing if you are looking for Goodman architecture priced below his homes in this area. Maybe I’ll buy it and start Modern Toledo.
If you don’t plan on moving, you can read about a couple that lives in one of the homes in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Hollin Hills Featured in Examiner

Today’s Examiner real estate section has a feature on Hollin Hills. Entitled “Not your father’s Virginia,” the piece does a good job describing the community by Charles Goodman and Robert Davenport. Author Katie Wilmeth curiously does not even mention the term mid-century modern and says the community is “so unique” that the homeowners are working to have the neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). No mention in the story that Goodman’s Rock Creek Woods, Hammond Woods in Silver Spring and five homes in Takoma Park are already listed on the NRHP.

Old House Journal: Modern for the Masses Article Highlights D.C.

A 2005 Old House Journal piece about post-war modern housing highlights D.C. as an area that has a number of such developments, including Hollin Hills and Holmes Run Acres. Here’s the excerpt:
“Near Alexandria, Virginia, just south of Washington, D.C., is another successful Soft Modern development, the woody suburb of Hollin Hills. Built by developer Robert Davenport, with houses designed by architect Charles Goodman, Hollin Hills grew to include 450 houses spread over 225 acres. The project benefited enormously from the landscaping advice supplied to early owners by landscape architect Lou Bernard Voight. After Voight’s death, another noted landscape architect, Dan Kiley, took over the landscape planning for Hollin Hills. Similar developments can be found all around Washington. One of the best, Holmes Run Acres in Fairfax County, was designed by the Washington architectural firm of Nicholas Satterlee and Donald Lethbridge.”

ArchitectureDC on I.M. Pei, Neutra and Goodman Homes in D.C.

When I was looking for information on the D.C. “Case Study House,” I came across this Summer 2003 issue of ArchitectureDC, a publication of the Washington chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Not only does it have a short item on that house, but an interesting article (beginning on page 7 of the issue) on the 1962 I.M Pei-designed Slayton House located in Cleveland Park. The magazine also has short items (page 14) on the 1968 Brown House by Richard Neutra in the Van Ness area and one on Charles Goodman’s 1960s aluminum-infused River Park townhomes, which are located on 4th St., SW, between N and O streets.

Slideshow of Several Charles Goodman Designed Homes

Here’s slideshow of several Charles Goodman-designed homes.
It is posted on the Hollin Hills Talks blog, which is run by the House in the Woods Club, a group of Hollin Hills residents “who are interested in maintaining the architecture, design, community and integrity of Hollin Hills.”

Hollin Hills Homeowners’ Blog

Here’s a blog written by some homeowners in Hollin Hills. It covers the latest goings on in the mid-century modern community.

Interview with Owners of Hollin Hills Goodman

Check out this MetroWeekly interview with architect Ray Goodrow and high-school teacher Paul Newhouse about their Hollin Hills Goodman. I’m not really sure why the headline describes the home as a “mid-century Georgian,” but the article includes great interior images of the home and the couple’s mid-century modern furniture collection. Take a peek inside.

1965 Goodman Townhome Near Lake Anne Village in Reston

When Robert Simon started developing Reston as a modern planned community in the early 1960s, he asked Charles Goodman to design the first set of homes. Goodman designed a number of the townhome clusters, which have become known as Hickory Cluster, and high-rise apartment buildings. This 2 bedroom/1.5 bath Goodman-designed townhome is located near Lake Anne Village. Check out these amazing Hickory Cluster interior images from the Reston Historic Trust. Can you say Eames, Nelson, Saarinen? You have permission to drool.