The subdivision comprising the Arlington Forest Historic District, a commuter suburb of Washington D.C., reveals the innovative trends for suburban planning and house designs of the World War II era advocated by the Federal Housing Administration. Begun in 1939, completed in 1946, Arlington Forest incorporated curvilinear streets and cul-de-sacs, ample lots, community parklands, and a neighborhood shopping center. Homeowners were enjoined to restrictive covenants. The Arlington Forest community was developed by Meadowbrook, Inc., a leading mid-20th-century builder in the Washington, D.C., area, under the direction of Monroe Warren. Meadowbrook collaborated with locally prominent architect Robert O. Scholz to design orderly rows of modest-sized, two-story, brick homes with minimal Colonial Revival detailing, differentiated by alternating roof shapes, placement of main entrances and porches, the mixed use of brick and weatherboard, and dissimilar fenestration. In 1948, the last section of the Arlington County subdivision, Broyhill’s Addition, was completed by another well-known regional builder, M.T. Broyhill & Sons. M.T. Broyhill & Sons teamed up with local architect J. Raymond Mims, to create homes in the Arlington Forest Historic District compatible to those of Meadowbrook in materials, form, and architectural style.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia