everything you ever wanted to know about hollin hills
(in eighteen mostly serious questions)
Photo:Robert C. Lautman, National Building Museum
so … what is hollin hills?
Hollin Hills is a neighborhood of more than 450 homes in Alexandria, Virginia, renowned for its innovative mid-century modern architecture and landscape design. Built between 1946 and 1971, Hollin Hills is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is considered one of the most significant mid-century communities in the United States.
and what makes hollin hills so unusual?
Hollin Hills was designed to be “a new and unique community” where modernist architecture would enhance the lives of its residents, embodying the ideals of openness, community, individuality, and integration with the natural world.
Calling Hollin Hills “an architectural laboratory,” developer Robert Davenport and architect Charles Goodman came up with a bold new approach to housing. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls would open up the houses and bring the outdoors in, “open-plan” layouts would create flexible living space, and the clean, unadorned lines and low-slope roofs of the houses would create the impression of houses floating serenely in the trees.
Rather than being laid out on a grid, houses were individually sited to fit the wooded hillsides — to sit in, rather than on, the land. Fences and other barriers between properties were discouraged, in order to unify the community and create a flowing, park-like setting. And with more than 30 acres of parks running through it, Hollin Hills almost feels more rural than suburban — yet is only 20 minutes from downtown Washington, DC.
Over the years, Hollin Hills has won numerous awards for excellence in design, and, despite many additions and renovations to the houses, remains remarkably stylistically intact. It’s modernism at its most graceful — maybe at its best.
is hollin hills historically significant?
Yes, it is. Hollin Hills was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013, in recognition of the significance both of its architecture and its community planning and development efforts. The status reflects “the creativity of Robert C. Davenport's financing and the inventiveness of Charles Goodman's modem house designs,” according to the National Park Service. In March 2022, Hollin Hills was designated an Historic Overlay District by Fairfax County, adding a powerful level of protection for the unique architecture of this community.
was this architectural style completely new?
Houses with walls of glass, open floor plans, clean lines, asymmetrical geometric forms and flat or low-pitched roofs— all sited with sensitivity to the landscape — had been part of modernist thinking for some time. But they tended to be expensive, custom-designed projects, such as Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House outside Chicago, or Philip Johnson’s Glass House in Connecticut.
What Davenport and Goodman accomplished was to adapt the ideas of both the clean-edged “International Style” and Frank Lloyd Wright’s more romantic “Prairie Style” to create housing that was a pleasure to live in, easy to build in large numbers, and affordable to young families. Known as “merchant-builder housing,” some of the earliest houses sold for under $10,000.
Charles Goodman, architect
how was hollin hills built?
Developer Robert Davenport bought the original 225-acre tract — consisting of woods and farmland without roads or public utilities — in 1946, and hired Charles Goodman to design the houses. The neighborhood was expanded in 1956 with the purchase of another 101 contiguous acres (the so-called “new” Hollin Hills).
The first house was completed in November 1949, and the last in 1971; most were designed by Goodman according to eight basic plans, and share a stylistic consistency without being cookie-cutter replicas of each other. For a fascinating account of the early days of Hollin Hills, please read Marion Tiger’s essay.
how did they make them so affordable?
Partly by not offering many frills — bedrooms were small, closet space was lacking, windows were single-pane glass and insulation was minimal — but also by implementing new construction ideas. Components of the houses were built in the shop and assembled on site, windows were designed to be made with simplified carpentry, and unusual, inexpensive materials were used for such things as floors.
In the years before he designed Hollin Hills, Goodman had devised a system of modular construction that, says architect Gregory Hunt, “eased the building process, simplified expansion, and produced an unpretentious, straightforward aesthetic based on repetitive building components.”
These innovative approaches served him well in Hollin Hills — and had a lasting impact on American architecture in the postwar years.
Robert Davenport in the Hollin Hills office, 1960s
can i visit hollin hills?
Of course! Come stroll through the neighborhood anytime. Here’s a map.
But to experience Hollin Hills in more depth, join us for our biennial House + Garden Tour, when about a dozen residents open their homes to the public. The latest tour took place on May 4, 2024.
what about the landscape?
The idea that landscape and architecture should fit together seamlessly — unifying the inside and outside worlds — was central to Hollin Hills from the beginning. Not only were the houses sited on the hillsides to fit the natural topography, enhance views and improve exposure to the sun, but individual gardens flowed into each other with few if any barriers. Grading was kept to a minimum, and mature trees preserved.
“l have tried to tie one lot into the other to make the community look as if there were no individual lots, but a beautiful park,” said Lou Bernard "Barney" Voigt, the original landscape architect for Hollin Hills, who was followed by the legendary Daniel Kiley and later Erik Paepcke. (Read more about them here.)
While it’s unlikely that any of the private gardens from the 1950s and 1960s still exist in their original form (though some residents are trying to reconstruct them from the original plans), the ideals of openness and connectivity remain strong. Each lot runs between one-third and one-half acre, allowing for ample green space between houses.
Over 30 acres of diverse parkland also weave through the community, adding to the verdant atmosphere.
why so many parks?
Soon after establishing Hollin Hills, developer Robert Davenport set aside 13 acres of land to be used as parks, which would be owned and managed by the Civic Association of Hollin Hills. That land has since grown to over 30 acres (in seven separate parks), providing a recreational setting for residents and a rich, diverse habitat for animal life, from deer and foxes to migratory birds.
was it designed to be a “utopian” community?
Both Davenport and Goodman were idealists, who set out to establish a community that would govern itself along democratic lines with a spirit of active volunteerism. Goodman believed that architecture could help foster such a community — as well as what he called “the flowering of the individual” — with houses that provided privacy but also a sense of connectedness with each other, woven together in a natural landscape.
“The setting that people live in can create the climate for provocative living — living as dignified human beings,” he told an interviewer in 1984. “In a community of this kind there should never appear intolerance, intellectual or otherwise. Tolerance, of course, is a civilized quality. I’m interested in civilized architecture.”
Can modernist architecture really create a better world? Scholars differ, as they say. But as the late architecture critic Michael Sorkin, who grew up in Hollin Hills, once wrote: “Hollin Hills is one of the truly happy experiments in modernity, a place that — because of the unique conjunction of style and time — remains the kind of community so many modernists dreamed of, a beautiful place of social activism, love of nature, and potluck picnics.”
are all the houses designed by goodman?
The vast majority are, but Goodman stopped working on Hollin Hills in about 1961. There are several Goodman custom designs, a number of houses by Robert Davenport in “new” Hollin Hills (including three “atrium” houses), and about eight houses by other architects, all of them in the modernist style and quite beautiful.
where did hollin hills get its name?
Davenport named Hollin Hills after Hollin Hall, an 18th Century plantation owned by George Mason, one of the country’s founding fathers. Part of the plantation is now the site of the nearby Mount Vernon Unitarian Church.
Many of the street names are tied to Davenport himself. There’s Davenport Street (of course) as well as Martha's Road (named for his mother), Rebecca Drive (his daughter), and Recard Lane and Nemeth Court (family names). Elba Road and Nordock Place were named for Davenport's prize bulls (because why not).
Other names — Stafford Road, Glasgow Road, Bedford Lane, Drury Lane, Pickwick Lane and Rippon Road — sounded English, and were selected to complement the Hollin Hills name. Beechwood Road was named for the trees along the street, and Daphne Lane for the flower. Popkins Lane takes its name from the farm that used to extend onto that hill.
is it true that roberta flack lived in hollin hills?
She did indeed. The renowned singer (“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”) lived on Marthas Road in the 1970s, and later the poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron (“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”) lived in the same house.
Hollin Hills has long attracted a creative and eclectic community, with a rich assortment of architects, writers, diplomats, entrepreneurs, artists, lawyers, musicians — innovative people in all fields. Historian David McCullough, potter Solveig Cox, artist Kathleen Spagnolo, attorney Philip Jay Hirschkop (who argued the landmark Loving v. Virginia case, ending the enforcement of state bans on interracial marriage) are only a few of the remarkable people who have lived here. Read more here.
what’s the community like now?
Hollin Hillers take great pride in the community and its unique architectural heritage. There’s a long tradition of volunteerism going back to 1950, and the volunteer Civic Association of Hollin Hills manages a wide range of community affairs, from neighborhood get-togethers, to maintaining the parks, to hosting the biennial House + Garden Tour.
Hollin Hillers gather together regularly for social events including an annual 4th of July picnic, Oktoberfest and a Winter Potluck, and socialize at the pool and tennis clubs. The seven parks that run through the community provide spaces for both get-togethers and quiet reflection, and are maintained by community volunteers.
There’s also a community newsletter that goes out to all residents, and a lively online forum that lets residents share ideas and information.
what role does hollin hills play in the world’s great literature?
Hollin Hills does not play a role in the world’s great literature. However, Hollin Hills houses have been featured in numerous architecture and design books, including Atomic Ranch by Michelle Gringeri-Brown and Classic Modern by Deborah K. Dietsch, as well as articles in Wallpaper, Dwell, Granta, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications.
An essential source of information about the history, culture and architecture of Hollin Hills is the 1999 book, Hollin Hills: Community of Vision. Fans of light murder mysteries may also enjoy “Mulch” by Ann Ripley, set in the fictitious Washington DC suburb of “Sylvan Valley” — which is suspiciously similar to Hollin Hills.
who was the first hollin hiller?
“The question of who was the first in Hollin Hills is moot,” according to a 1984 community history. “The first two houses built were the Babb house and Nelles house on opposing corners of Rippon Road and Drury Lane. The Babbs' daughter, Barbara Wade, recalls that Nelles was first; the Ames family up Rippon Road was second; and Babbs third.”
thank you!
You are most welcome. Please contact us for any more information about Hollin Hills.
Visitors on the House + Garden Tour
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The entrance at Fort Hunt Road
An integrated landscape
Wildlife abounds in the parks
A design by Tom Kerns
Not actually Sue Randall
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Mimus Polyglottos
Roberta Flack
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George Mason
The classic 1999 book Hollin Hills: Community of Vision, is available from the Civic Association.
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The Fourth of July picnic
Early houses built on hilltop pastures
An early house on Rebecca Drive
No frills for Hollin Hills
The first house in Hollin Hills
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An early “Unit Type 2” house
