Hollin Hills House & Garden Tour
April 3012:00-6:00p
Registration and ticket pick up will take place from 11:00a-4:00p at Hollin Meadows Elementary School, 2310 Nordok Place, Alexandria, VA 22306.
The community of Hollin Hills, an award-winning mid-century modern neighborhood in Alexandria, is hosting this self-guided walking tour which showcases stunning examples of mid-century modern architecture and landscape.
Hollin Hills consists of 468 homes, primarily designed by Charles M. Goodman, FAIA and constructed between 1949 and 1972. It has a high degree of integrity and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an historic district. Published in Life magazine and numerous other periodicals, the community was selected as one of the ten buildings in America’s Future for the AIA centennial exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in 1957.
In the mid-twentieth century, it was uncommon for a developer to commission an architect to develop designs for an entire neighborhood. Goodman accepted that challenge and ultimately became known as “the housing architect,” and was elevated to Fellowship in part because of his housing work. Robert Davenport, the developer, had a difficult parcel to develop, being hilly, heavily wooded and crossed by several stream beds. In conjunction with landscape architects Bernard Voight, Eric Paepke and Dan Kiley, they developed a continuous curvilinear street pattern, following the contours of the land, sited the houses to fit in with the landscape without extensive regarding and oriented the houses irregularly to take advantage of the sun and topography. The stream beds became parks with walking trails.
3 HSW LUs.
Tickets may be purchased in advance online for $25 and $30 on the day of the tour. Ticket information is available here.