the lautman collection:
photographs of hollin hills in the 1950’s

©Robert Lautman Photography, National Building Museum

The archives of architectural photographer Robert C. Lautman — who documented the growth of modernist architecture in the Washington, DC area, including Hollin Hills — are held at the National Building Museum, and run to some 30,000 prints, transparencies, and negatives. The National Building Museum has kindly digitized these photographs from their Hollin Hills collection for us, and made them available for this website. For any reference, the credit line for any of these photos is: ©Robert Lautman Photography, National Building Museum.


hollin hills houses: groupings


hollin hills houses: unit type one

hollin hills houses: unit type two



 hollin hills houses: unit type 2 (butterfly)

Though undated, these photographs of a Unit 2 Butterfly house on Martha’s Road may have been taken in 1953, when the house served as a showcase for furniture designs by Florence Knoll. The house was featured on the 1953 Hollin Hills House and Garden Tour.


 hollin hills houses: unit type 3

 hollin hills houses: unit type 4

 hollin hills houses: unit type 5 (and variations)

 hollin hills houses: unit type 6 (“butterfly”) 1952

 hollin hills houses: the customline

 hollin hills houses: then and now