Hollin Hills Virginia

Charles Wagner-designed mid-century modern in Moyaone Reserve.

Demand for Mid-Century Modern Homes Strong

UrbanTurf writes about the continuing demand for mid-century modern homes in the Washington area despite Mad Men being off the air for the past five years.
“Mad Men concluded its television run in 2015 and it seemed like people’s infatuation with mid-century modern design went with it,” writes Nena Perry-Brown. “However, interest in the DC area’s mid-century housing market remains high.”
Read the full article here and explore some of the mid-century modern neighborhoods in the Washington, D.C. area.

Hollin Hills sign

Docomomo DC Virtual Tour of Hollin Hills – Oct. 10

With the biennial Hollin Hills House and Garden Tour postponed from this past spring until next year, you can get a fix of the mid-century modern neighborhood during Docomomo DC’s Virtual Tour Day on October 10 at 2 pm. The event will feature an introduction to the neighborhood, designed by architect Charles Goodman for developer Robert Davenport and constructed between 1949 and 1971. Participants will also view video tours of the ALCOA “Care-Free” Home—one of only 24 built nationwide and currently undergoing renovation. Another tour will explore a two-story atrium house constructed of prefabricated panels. Docomomo DC Board member John Burns, FAIA, also will discuss Goodman’s other work in the Washington area. This event provides AIA credit (1 CEU). You can register for the event here.
Docomomo US/DC is dedicated to increasing public awareness, appreciation and protection of Modern architecture, landscapes, neighborhoods and sites in Washington D.C. and surrounding areas in Maryland and Virginia. Through education, public programs, documentation and advocacy, Docomomo US/DC works to ensure that the rich legacy of the Modern Movement in the greater Washington, DC area is preserved for future generations. The chapter partners with local and regional organizations, universities and governmental entities to advance its mission.

Washingtonian Top Agent

Washingtonian Magazine Top Agent Recognition

I am honored to be recognized once again as a Washingtonian Magazine Top Agent. Thank you to all of my clients, family and friends who have supported Modern Capital for the past 14 years. Please reach out if you are thinking of buying or selling a mid-century modern home. Happy to meet and discuss today’s modern real estate market.

Eames lounge chair

Furnishing a Mid-Century Modern Home: Inspiration & Sourcing

A guest post on sourcing mid-century modern furniture from our partner, ATTIC.
Nothing completes a beautiful mid-century home like furniture and decor drawn from the same aesthetic. The simple, sleek lines of MCM furniture pair up perfectly with the modern, open and airy feel that make mid-century homes the gems that they are. The following post provides some inspiration, whether you’re just starting or continuing to furnish your home. We’ll focus on two spaces: dining rooms and living rooms.

We’re also going to introduce you to ATTIC, a one-of-kind resource that will help you find the best mid-century furniture from stores of the DC and Baltimore regions. After all, who wants to buy a “forever” piece of furniture without ever seeing or touching it? ATTIC makes that process so much easier. ATTIC is now available in cities throughout the country, but is owned and operated by a small team based right here in Washington, D.C. Its mission is simple — to make it easier for consumers to shop from small, local businesses.

Dinner is Served, In Style
Whether it’s with family or friends, the importance of meal time transcends culture. As such, dining rooms and breakfast nooks are often visual focal points in modern homes. And with pieces like those pictured here, it’s no wonder why. Rectangular, round, “boat-shaped”…small, grand, or expandable…mid-century dining tables come in a vast array of options. Likewise, some of the most famous furniture designs in history are those for mid-century dining chairs.

Rosewood Dining Table
Modern Mobler

Walnut Dining Set
Peg Leg Vintage

Teak Read More >

Hollin Hills sign

Hollin Hills Event: ‘Efficient Modernism’; March 4

Friends of Hollin Hills, a new 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing the Charles M. Goodman-designed Hollin Hills Historic District, is holding its first event this Sunday, March 4, from 4 to 6 pm. The panel of local architects and contractors will discuss questions related to “Efficient Modernism,” such as how to insulate mid-century modern homes and whether single pane windows be replaced. The event will be held at Hollin Hall, Mount Vernon Unitarian Church. The event will start with wine and cheese from 4 to 5 pm and the panel will be held 5-6 pm. Please RSVP for planning purposes by emailing friendsofhollinhills@gmail.com.

Hollin Hills sign

Curbed: Hollin Hills is a Mid-Century Neighborhood ‘to Know’

The national real estate site Curbed highlights Hollin Hills as one of seven mid-century modern neighborhoods modern architecture fans should know about. Writer Patrick Sisson’s piece looks at seven suburban modernist developments that rose during the booming post-war years.
“After years of sacrifice and shortage, and buoyed by the purchasing power of newly returned GIs, America was in a buying mood,” Sisson writes. “This spirit of optimism, and the desire for modern design to complement a contemporary lifestyle, set the stage for the growth of midcentury modern suburbs and developments. These clusters of contemporary homes, built on the outskirts of newly booming suburbs and metro areas, show how developers across the country cashed in on homebuyers hungry for contemporary style.”
On Hollin Hills, he writes: “The vision of Robert C. Davenport, a New Deal-era Department of Agriculture employee-turned-postwar Virginia builder, this tucked-away enclave offered a rare vision of modernism in the greater Beltway region, set just 10 miles from D.C. Davenport oversaw the transformation of a hilly, 326-acre plot of winding creeks and steep lots near Alexandria, Virginia, into a modern subdivision, with glass-enclosed homes designed by architect Charles Goodman and landscapes shaped in part by noted designer Dan Kiley, who focused on privacy and retaining the lush woodlands.”
The award-winning Fairfax County neighborhood has been long been recognized as one of the groundbreaking modernist suburban communities to be developed post-World War II. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the neighborhood just south of Old Town Alexandria includes nearly Read More >

Roberta Flack Lived in this Hollin Hills Goodman

One of only five custom homes in Hollin Hills designed by Charles Goodman, this newly listed property used to be the home of legendary singer Roberta Flack. (Check out this other Roberta Flack-related news.) The 4 bedroom/3 bath 2,500 square feet home has a stunning two-level living room overlooking the pool, slate and stone patio, koi pond and private half acre lot. The house is listed at $869K and open this Sunday from 1 to 4 pm.

Preservation Magazine Recaps Hollin Hills Tour

If you were not able to make it out to the recent Hollin Hills House and Garden Tour, Preservation magazine managing editor Meghan Drueding has a brief recap. On a beautiful spring day, more than 900 visitors toured through the National Register-designated mid-century modern community built by Robert Davenport and architect Charles Goodman. Take a look and get ready for the next tour in 2016.

Hollin Hills Named to National Register; 2014 Tour April May 3

Completing a decade-long process, Hollin Hillswas named to the National Register of Historic Places on Sept. 30. The National Park Service announced the decision on Oct. 18.”Hollin Hills Historic District is a harmonious, well-designed Modern Movement neighborhood of innovative, moderately priced houses set within a natural landscape,” says the nominating submission, which includes 468 buildings, sites and structures as contributing resources. “The foundation of the neighborhood’s success was the collaborative interpretation of the traditional large-scale merchant building practices by developer/builder Robert C. Davenport and architect Charles M. Goodman.”

On Goodman’s designs, the nomination says: “A product of the Modern Movement, the buildings were created from standardized plans with prefabricated modular elements and window walls that unite the interior with the outdoors. One of the most identifiable facets of the houses is the contiguous series of floor-to-ceiling, 3-foot-wide window modules, which are free of traditional ornamentation. As architect Charles M. Goodman experimented with his house designs and trimless modular windows, the window areas were enlarged, often grouped to extend the full length of an elevation while carrying the weight of the roof.”The Virginia Department of Historic Resources had previously approved Hollin Hills as a Virginia landmark historic district. The award-winning Fairfax County neighborhood has been long been recognized as one of the ground-breaking modernist suburban communities to be developed post-World War II. Goodman’s Rock Creek Woods, Hammond Wood and five homes in Takoma Park are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Speaking of Hollin Hills, mark your calendars for the biennial Hollin Hills House & Read More >

Hollin Hills Gets Historic Nod

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources has approved Hollin Hills as a Virginia landmark historic district. The award-winning Fairfax County neighborhood has been long been recognized as one of the groundbreaking modernist suburban communities to be developed post-World War II. The Department’s State Review Board also voted last month to unanimously to forward the nomination to the National Park Service for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The designation opens up potential tax credits for rehabilitation work on the neighborhoods nearly 450 mid-century modern homes, mostly designed by Charles Goodman. Goodman’s Rock Creek Woods, Hammond Wood and five homes in Takoma Park are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Roger Lewis Explores Hollin Hills, Goodman Price Drop

Roger K. Lewis, professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Maryland, explores Hollin Hills in his latest Washington Post column. He writes that the Charles Goodman-designed neighborhood has stayed consistent with the original vision of the neighborhood while allowing for change, namely the expansion or updating of the more modest homes built mostly in the 1950s and ’60s. “Over the decades, the original Hollin Hills houses proved too small for evolving tastes and lifestyles,” Lewis writes. “Consequently, owners enlarged and modified homes. With design review committee approval, new rooms, porches, decks and accessory structures were added. Kitchens and bathrooms were remodeled, cabinetry and finish hardware redone, mechanical and electrical systems upgraded, roofing membranes replaced, high-performance windows installed. Yet original home exteriors facing streets remain essentially unchanged.”
The house pictured above is a good example of what Lewis describes. Featured on the recent Hollin Hills House and Garden Tour, the exterior keeps the mid-century feel while the interior has been turned into an ultra-modern escape with Asian touches.
If you are looking in Hollin Hills, my listing has been reduced to $649K and will be open June 3 from 1 to 4 p.m.

Corcoran to Host Panel on Hollin Hills

The Interior Design Department of The Corcoran Gallery of Art, College of Art + Design will host a program entitled, “A Community of Vision: Hollin Hills, Modern Then and Now” on Friday, April 27, the night before the 2012 Hollin Hills House and Garden Tour. (Note: Tickets for the tour are now only available for purchase on the day of the event for $25; students with valid ID are $10. A limited run of the above poster by artist and Hollin Hills resident Gergana Genova will be available for purchase as well.)
The program, which will begin at 6:00 p.m. at the Corcoran Gallery, will feature: Michael Sorkin, architect, author, critic and native of Hollin Hills (sorkinstudio.com); landscape architect Dennis Carmichael, FASLA, Principal, Parker-Rodriguez; and Heidi Nasstrom Evans, Ph.D., Corcoran College of Art + Design with a special interest in American 20th Century visual culture. The speakers will address the history and influence of the architecture and landscape design of Hollin Hills. The panel will be moderated by Lisa Lipinski, Ph.D., Interim Chair of Arts and Humanities, Corcoran College of Art +Humanities. Tickets may be purchased at door: $10 general admission; $8 for students with valid student ID. The program qualifies for 1 CEU credit.

Vintage Mid-Century Modern in Forest Hills and Other New Listings

With spring approaching, more listings are coming on the market, including a number of mid-century modern homes. This untouched (the kitchen has starburst Formica) home in the Forest Hills neighborhood of D.C. is listed for $889K. The 3 bedroom/3 bath 1962 home with pool is being sold “as-is.” The soaring roof line of the living room and the stone exterior evokes the organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright rather the straight, spare lines of Mies.

Here are a few other new listings. All are from 1961. One is a mid-century in the trees of Mohican Hills in Glen Echo Heights listed at $899K. This listing is for a Charles Goodman-designed home in Hollin Hills. It is listed for $724K. And this listing is for a Phoenix Builders’ flat-roof mid-century in Mantua Hills in Fairfax. It is on a half acre with a pool and listed for $675K. Looking forward to see what other listings “bloom” as the weather warms.

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 >

Old House Online Examines Hollin Hills’ Modernism

It has been quiet in Hollin Hills during the past few months. The last new listing came on the market 75 days ago. While Hollin Hills is hibernating for the winter, here’s a new piece from Old House Online about the neighborhood by Charles Goodman and Robert Davenport. Thanks to my friends at the Takoma Avenue Historic District for posting. (Yes, there are five Goodmans in Takoma Park; they are in the National Register of Historic Places like Rock Creek Woods and Hammond Wood. ) The residents of Hollin Hills have been working on securing the neighborhood’s own historic designation.

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.

2010 Hollin Hills House and Garden Tour – May 1

One of the homes featured on this year’s tour. (Photo by Chris McNamara, cmc-photo.net)

Mark your calendars and get your tickets for the 2010 Hollin Hills House and Garden Tour, the biennial opportunity to see the designs of modernist architect Charles Goodman up close and personal. (Here’s my post from the 2008 tour.) Selected homes and gardens will be open for a self-guided tour from noon to 6 p.m. on May 1, rain or shine. Informational lectures on the architecture, landscape and design of the groundbreaking mid-century modern community will be held at 11 a.m. prior to the tour at Hollin Meadows Elementary School at 2310 Nordok Place.

Just a few days before the tour on April 28, the National Building Museum (NBM) will host a program at 6:30 p.m. entitled “Modernist Suburbia” featuring residents John Burns, FAIA, and landscape architect Dennis Carmichael, FASLA, who will discuss Hollin Hills’ history, growth and influence. NBM curator Chrysanthe Broikos will moderate the program. Ticket information will be available at the museum’s web site beginning in March.

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 >

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.

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.

Hollin Hills, Holmes Run Acres Via Flickr

Here are two nice Flikr groups showcasing Hollin Hills and Holmes Run Acres to join–or just to view.

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.

Hollin Hills: Hot, Hilly and History

Nearly 700 people hiked, biked or drove through Hollin Hills yesterday to view nine homes and gardens as part of the 2008 Hollin Hills House and Garden Tour. The day began with a lecture and Q & A session with Hollin Hills residents Dennis Carmichael, a landscape architect, and John Burns, an architectural historian, who briefed the audience about the history of the community’s architecture and landscape design. The homes in Hollin Hills “are not huge, but they live big,” Carmichael said of the Charles Goodman-designed homes with open spaces and walls of glass that allow the blending of inside and outside space.
Burns discussed the history of the relationship of Goodman and Hollin Hills developer Robert Davenport, who built the nearby cooperative community of Tauxemont in the 1940s. Goodman was brought in by a number of Tauxemont residents to help expand the basic cinder bloc, one-story side-gabled roofed homes that were originally designed to make it easy to incorporate additions. After this experience, the two teamed up to develop Hollin Hills, designing the homes, which were built with early prefabrication techniques, to fit with the natural surroundings, a radical idea at the time. Landscape architects Lou Bernard Voigt, Dan Kiley and Eric Paepcke were responsible for the original landscape designs.
It was interesting to see how the different homes have been altered and expanded, although I would have liked to compare these homes with others that are still in their original form. It also was interesting (and a little suprising) Read More >

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.”

Wallpaper Magazine on Hollin Hills

The March issue of Wallpaper magazine has a piece on Hollin Hills by American design and architecture journalist Jennifer Kabat. She grew up in the Charles Goodman-designed community in Alexandria, Virginia.
Check out the link for a preview of the article and photos by photographer Juliana Sohn. Thanks to reader Erik for the tip.

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.