Portions of the historic
earthen works at Fort Ethan Allen |
Fort Ethan Allen
History
Fort Ethan Allen is one of two County-owned Civil War
forts constructed as part of the Defenses of Washington.
The fort was built during a period of several weeks in 1861
and was occupied through 1865. The site has changed greatly
over the years, as homes were constructed over portions
of the earthworks, as well as two successive school buildings,
playgrounds, and other recreational features. Nevertheless,
the remnants of Fort Ethan Allen's original breastworks,
gun platforms, bombproof shelter, two magazines, guardhouse
and fort well represent the largest group of Civil War earthworks
at a single location under control of the County. It became
a County-designated historic district in 1978.
Threat
The remains of Fort Ethan Allen are endangered due to the
inappropriate siting of an off-leash dog exercise area located
within the heart of the fort's historic district. Had the
siting of this dog run been reviewed by the County's Historical
Affairs and Landmark Review Board, it likely would not have
been located where it is today. The construction of the
fence surrounding the dog exercise area has damaged fragile
below-ground archaeological resources, and additional physical
improvements needed to bring the dog exercise into compliance
with the County's standards would cause even more damage.
Also, intensive use of the area by the dogs has destroyed
the fort's turf. Finally, there is no comprehensive plan
for the fort's interpretation and maintenance. The fate
of Fort Ethan Allen remains in the hands of the County Manager,
who has postponed a final decision on the relocation of
the dog exercise area for over a year.
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Destruction of the
GlenElg garden apartments in 2001 -- replaced by townhouses
of greater density and scale
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Twentieth-Century Garden
Apartments
History
Arlington County has one of the country's most important
collections of twentieth-century garden apartments. These
modest, low-rise, rental apartments were built in response
to the acute housing shortage created by the expanding New
Deal federal bureaucracy and exacerbated by the metropolitan
area's mobilization for World War II. Arlington was a laboratory
for early rental housing experiments, due in part to its
close proximity to federal agencies such as the Federal
Housing Administration. After the success of the early large-scale
FHA mortgage-insured ventures of Buckingham, Colonial Village,
and Westover in the late 1930s, local developers followed
suit, constructing both single buildings and complexes of
multiple buildings throughout the County.
Threat
The major threat to these complexes is loss by demolition
in order to redevelop the land at a higher density to achieve
greater profitability. These complexes have an incredibly
low density; i.e. their ratio of land coverage by buildings
is much lower than that of more modern high-rise apartments.
The resulting green space at these complexes makes them
attractive to developers who wish to cover all green space
with leasable space. Also, the square footage of the rental
apartments in these complexes is quite small by today's
standards, making them unattractive to families. As a result,
we continue to lose these twentieth-century resources at
an alarming rate. In the past few years, several garden
apartments have been demolished, including Arna Valley in
South Arlington, Pollard Gardens on Wilson Boulevard, Twin
Oaks in Rosslyn, and the GlenElg on Lee Highway, and a small,
unnamed apartment building in the 3400 block of Wilson Boulevard-all
for higher-density development. Other garden apartments
at risk include the Erdo Community and an adjacent four-building
complex on Wilson Boulevard near Virginia Square and Wakefield
Manor on Route 50.
Historic image of Swanson
Middle School |
Public School Buildings
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Numerous buildings located throughout
the County
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First placed on "Arlington's Most Endangered
List" in 2001; Listed again in 2002
History
The Arlington County Public School system has a proud
history dating back to the years following the Civil War.
In 1870, the County, then known as Alexandria County,
separated politically from Alexandria City and established
its first public school system. It appears that the County's
first public school, the Columbia School on Columbia Pike
at Walter Reed Drive, opened in 1871. The system continued
to grow and expand to meet the need of the County's students,
and major construction campaigns for school buildings
occurred in the 1920s and 1950s. Arlington County's oldest
extant public school building, the 1895 Hume School on
South Arlington Ridge Road, is no longer in the Arlington
County School system's inventory; it is now the home of
the Arlington Historical Society.
The addition
to the front of Barrett Elementary School (above)
entirely changed its appearance, while the rear addition
at H.B. Woodlawn (below) is more symphathetic to the
original building.
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Threat
There are many threats to older buildings in the inventory
of the County's public school system. The fluctuating
school population means that surplus buildings can be
removed from the inventory, and given over to new uses
such as community or adult-education centers, only to
be needed again when the population increases. It can
be less expensive to build new school buildings than to
upgrade older school buildings to current education, technology,
and construction standards. As a result, older schools
like Barcroft and Drew Elementary Schools have been demolished
in recent years and replaced with new buildings. Also,
school buildings are threatened by gradual and often insensitive
additions that do not mesh with the spirit and fabric
of the original buildings. Although we expect buildings
to change over time, additions should not overwhelm or
be out of character with the original school building.
The front addition to Barrett Elementary School on North
George Mason Drive entirely changed the appearance of
the older more sedate structure; while the rear addition
at H.B. Woodlawn on Vacation Lane is much more sympathetic
in massing and materials to the older building.
This year, the Arlington Heritage Alliance testified
numerous times before the Arlington County School Board
to advocate the construction of an addition that would
be sympathetic to both the site and setting of the historic
Swanson Middle School. Located at the intersection of
Washington Boulevard and Patrick Henry Drive and constructed
in 1939, the school building has become a local landmark
because of its prominent location and elegant Colonial
Revival architecture. Swanson also bears distinction as
the oldest operating middle school in the Commonwealth
of Virginia. Although the school has changed over the
years as numerous additions were constructed to both its'
sides and rear, the core of the historic building remains
remarkably intact. Architects hired by Arlington Public
Schools have designed a massive addition that is to be
constructed on the school's front lawn immediately adjacent
to the historic core. Members of the Alliance's Board
of Directors continue to advocate for an alternative design
that would be more sympathetic to this important school's
site and setting.
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Historic low-scale
commercial building in Clarendon
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Low-Scale Commercial Buildings
Along the Wilson Boulevard Corridor
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Numerous buildings located on Wilson
Boulevard
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First placed on "Arlington's Most Endangered
List" in 2002
History
Wilson Boulevard is one of Arlington County's oldest roads
and has long been home to many commercial establishments.
Housed in low-scale structures dating primarily from the
twentieth century, these buildings have, and continue
to support a variety of necessary local businesses.
Threat
The portion of Wilson Boulevard that runs through the
center of Clarendon was greatly altered in the 1970s and
1980s due to large-scale demolition for the Clarendon
Metro station. Subsequent construction of high-rise buildings
has also changed the area's predominantly low-scale character.
Though Clarendon has recreated itself in recent years
as a thriving restaurant district, many outstanding examples
of low-scale twentieth-century commercial architecture
have been lost. There exists great potential to repeat
this pattern along Wilson Boulevard in Virginia Square,
where both commercial and residential buildings are being
demolished at a rapid rate to make way for new higher-density
development.
There are three potential National Register-eligible
historic districts surrounding the Virginia Square Metro
station area-the Cherrydale Neighborhood Historic District,
the Clarendon Commercial District, the Ashton Heights
Historic District. We are pleased that the Lyon Park Neighborhood
District was just listed in the National Register of Historic
Places this May. The low-scale, primarily commercial buildings
along the Wilson Boulevard corridor near Virginia Square
serve as gateways and transitions to the adjoining historic
districts in Ashton Heights Lyon Park, and as such are
worthy of protection. In this commercial strip, numerous
twentieth-century architectural styles are represented,
including Colonial Revival, Art Deco, and Streamlined
Moderne. The buildings are also important because of their
height, scale, relationship to the street, and also their
value to the local neighborhoods.
Historic Residential Neighborhood
Scale and Character
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Present in all of Arlington's unique
neighborhoods
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First placed on "Arlington's Most Endangered
List" in 2002
History
For many, the strongest case for the need for historic
preservation in Arlington County can be made by looking
at its' neighborhoods. The county possesses a unique collection
of individual neighborhoods, each with its own singular
history, building forms, architectural styles, and landscape
features. These historic neighborhoods make Arlington
a special and desirable place to live.
Threat
Although the county has recognized the value of its neighborhoods
by creating the Neighborhood Conservation Area Program
and also by instituting an annual Neighborhood Day, the
fact remains that the physical fabric of these neighborhoods
is threatened by a convergence of social values and economic
factors. First, because of the eras in which they were
developed, many houses in these historic neighborhoods
are quite modest in size. Since modern living often requires
larger living spaces, the simple fact that these houses
are small puts them at risk. Second, these modest houses
are often on large lots, and land in Arlington County
is both valuable and at a premium.
These two factors can combine to produce a number of
results. Small houses on large lots can be torn down and
replaced with ones that are much larger and do not fit
in with the scale and character of the rest of the neighborhood.
These larger houses have derisively been termed "McMansions"
by some critics. In the past five years or so, several
small houses along Arlington Ridge Road in South Arlington
have been replaced by much larger ones. In addition, large
lots containing small houses can be subdivided for pipestem
developments. The form of these newer developments does
not easily blend in neighborhoods that have been laid
out along a more standard grid or suburban lot pattern.
Another threat to historic residential neighborhood scale
and character is inappropriate infill. When many neighborhoods
in Arlington were developed, people were required to purchase
two lots on which to construct one house. In numerous
cases this additional property was never built on, and
today the county building codes allow for new development
on this valuable open space. Again, because people today
desire larger houses, the resulting infill houses are
often much larger than the ones they replaced. It can
be visually jarring to see a three-story modern house
in the middle of a row of modest bungalows. Also, if care
is not taken to fit the new house into the architectural
style and character of the neighborhood, a wonderful historic
residential streetscape can be forever altered.
Please call Laura Bobeczko, Chairman, Arlington
Heritage Alliance (703) 241-0626 if you have any questions
or if you require any additional information or photographs
of the properties.
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