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Dwellings

ALCOVA (1860)

3435 South 8th Street

The oldest part of this house may date from 1836 when John M. Young, a Washington wheelwright and carriage maker, purchased the farm from Thomas Hodges, planted a large orchard, and used the place as a summer home. In 1915, the farm was acquired by former Virginia State Senator Joseph Cloyd Byars, who several years later expanded the house. Senator Byars named the house Alcova for Alexandria County, Va. (renamed Arlington County in 1920). Byars also developed in this area one of Arlington’s early sub-divisions which he called Alcova Heights.

ARLINGTON HOUSE

Arlington National Cemetery

This property is on the National Register of Historic Places.

JOHN BALL HOUSE
(also known as BALL-SELLERS HOUSE) (1760)

5620 South 3rd Street

John Ball House

In 1742, John Ball received a 166-acre land grant from Lord Fairfax and became one of the first settlers in this area. The oldest portion of the present house is a one-and-a-half 18th century log cabin that was probably built by John Ball. In 1772. six years after Ball’s death, the property was acquired by William Carlin, once George Washington’s tailor. The Carlin family was associated with this area for over a century there after the two-story portion of the house was added about 1885. In 1975, Mrs. Marian Sellers, the last private owner, donated this structure to the Arlington Historical Society.

This building is a designated Arlington County Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

BIRCHWOOD

4572 North 26th Street

Caleb Birch, a farmer and constable, built a log house here around 1800 on land granted to his grandfather, James Robertson, by Lord Fairfax in 1724. The original house burned and was rebuilt about 1836. A second log cabin was added ten years later. The two cabins, although separate, had a common roof, forming what was known as a “dog trot’ house. Later, President Theodore Roosevelt rode horseback in this area with his friend and White House physician, Rear Admiral Presley M. Rixey, on whose estate Birchwood stood. Rixey’s valet, Richard Wallace, lived at Birchwood, and Roosevelt visited Wallace here. In 1936, Birchwood was reconstructed using the original logs.

Calvert Manor

CALVERT MANOR (1948)

1925-1927 North Calvert Street (1948)

Calvert Manor is significant for its historic architectural quality. The 1948 Calvert manor is one of several distinctive apartment buildings designed by Mihran Mesrobian (1889-1975). Born in Turkey, Mesrobian was trained at the French-based Academie des Beaux Arts in Istanbul. His early projects include the Sheraton-Carlton Hotel, the Hay-Adams Hotel, Wardman Towers, and Sedgewick Gardens in 1920s and 30s Washington, DC. Between 1940 and 1950, Mesrobian designed more than a dozen apartment buildings in the expanding suburbs of Northern Virginia. Calvert Manor was built and owned by Mesrobian. the moderately symmetrical and classically organized design is enhanced by Moderne-style detail. There are occuli, raised brick courses, glass block windows, steel-hooded entries, and ornamental concrete panels. The interior public spaces feature finely designed metal stairs in the main public entrance areas. (Information from Notes on Virginia, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Fall 1998, Number 42.)

This property is on the National Register of Historic Places.

MARY CARLIN HOUSE

5512 North Carlin Springs Road

This home incorporates the original log house built about 1800 by William Carlin. It is one of the earliest structures remaining in Arlington. At one time, Carlin had been a tailor in Alexandria whose clients included George Washington. Mr. Carlin’s granddaughter, Mary Alexander Carlin, a school teacher, was born in this house and lived here until her death in 1905. Hers was the last burial in the Ball-Carlin Cemetery adjacent to the Glencarlyn Library.

GEORGE CROSSMAN HOUSE (1892)

2501 North Underwood Street

This building is a designated Arlington County Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

DAWSON-BAILEY HOUSE

In the Dawson Terrace Playground (North Taft Street at North 21st Road)

This house is probably the oldest structure in Arlington County, but its exact age is unknown. This land was first patented in 1696; a house at this site is shown on a survey of 1785. Thomas Dawson enlarged the present house by adding the east end in 1859. He left the place to his daughter. Bessie Lola, who married W.C. Bailey. She lived here for 94 years and died in 1955.

CHARLES RICHARD DREW HOUSE

2505 South 1st Street

This property is on the National Register of Historic Places.

EASTMAN-FENWICK HOUSE (1876)

6733 Lee Highway

GLEBE OF FAIRFAX PARISH (1820)

4527 North 17th Street

The glebe was a 500-acre farm provided for the rector of Fairfax Parish, which included both Christ Church, Alexandria, and the Falls Church. The Glebe House, built in 1775, stood here. It burned in 1808 and was rebuilt in 1820, as a hunting lodge; the octagon wing was added about 1850. Distinguished persons who have occupied the house include the Rev. Bryan Fairfax (8th Lord Fairfax), John Peter Van Ness (Mayor of Washington), Clarke Mills (sculptor), Caleb Cushing (first U.S. Minister to China), and Frank Ball (state senator).

This building is a designated Arlington County Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

GLENMORE (1906)

3440 North Roberts Lane

Glenmore was built c. 1906 as a summer and weekend retreat for the William F. Roberts family. It was designed by Washington, DC, architect Appleton P. Clark. The original log construction and wood shingles have since been covered with stucco. The home's site was selected for its magnificent panoramic views of the Potomac at a time when Arlington was rural and undeveloped. Glenmore is a designated Arlington County Landmark.

HARRY GRAY HOUSE (1881)

1005 South Quinn Street

Harry W. Gray was born into slavery at Arlington House, where he learned to work with brick and stone. He built this two-story red brick townhouse in 1881 on an original ten acre homestead. The design was based on homes he had seen in Washington, DC. It is a rare example of an early townhouse form built in Arlington. The Harry W. Gray House is a designated Arlington County Landmark.

PROSPECT HILL

Arlington Ridge Road south of South Nash Street

The mansion which formerly stood here was built in 1841 by James Roach, a prosperous contractor who supplied most of the brick and stone used in the construction of the Aqueduct Bridge and Alexandria Canal (under construction 1833-1843) and the Alexandria, Loudoun, and Hampshire Railroad (under construction 1853-1859). His property, which extended to Roach’s Run, was ruined and vandalized during the construction of Fort Runyon and Fort Albany in 1861. His mansion was demolished in 1965.

JOHN SAEGMULLER HOUSE

5101 North Little Falls Road

This property is on the National Register of Historic Places.