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Holmes Run Acres

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Coordinates: 38°51′00″N 77°12′30″W / 38.85000°N 77.20833°W / 38.85000; -77.20833
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Holmes Run Acres Historic District
Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Sites
Holmes Run Acres is located in Northern Virginia
Holmes Run Acres
Holmes Run Acres is located in Virginia
Holmes Run Acres
Holmes Run Acres is located in the United States
Holmes Run Acres
Nearest cityFalls Church, Virginia
Coordinates38°51′00″N 77°12′30″W / 38.85000°N 77.20833°W / 38.85000; -77.20833
Area140 acres (57 ha)
Built1951 - 1960
ArchitectFrancis Donald Lethbridge, Nicholas Satterlee, et al.
Architectural styleMid-Century modern / Modern Movement
NRHP reference No.07000230[1]
VLR No.029-5183
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMarch 22, 2007
Designated VLRDecember 6, 2006[2]
Designated FCIHSSeptember 12, 1972

Holmes Run Acres is a community of 355 houses in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. Nearly all of the neighborhood is within the Holmes Run Acres Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The first Fairfax County subdivision designed by architects Nicholas Satterlee and Francis D. Lethbridge, Holmes Run Acres influenced the architecture and site planning at nearby Pine Spring and elsewhere, including the Potomac Overlook and Carderock Springs historic districts in Montgomery County, Maryland.[3]

Holmes Run Acres also includes Woodburn Elementary School, the Holmes Run Acres Recreation Association community pool, and Luria Park, a 4.2-acre (17,000 m2) Fairfax County park that has been planned and maintained jointly by the county and local residents since the 1950s.

History

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Holmes Run Acres was developed by brothers Gerald and Eli Luria, who offered the public "a unique opportunity to own a contemporary style home" in the Holmes Run stream valley.[4] Eli Luria, who attended art school at the Corcoran School and UCLA, cited his introduction to Francis D. Lethbridge, and a 1939 speech by Frank Lloyd Wright, as the Lurias' inspiration to build modern homes.[5] Architect Lethbridge cited Harvard architecture professor Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus movement as influences.[6]

Holmes Run Acres houses were "individually positioned with regard to street, neighbors, terrain, [and] climate factors." Despite designing only a few basic house types—a cost-saving measure dictated by the builders—Satterlee and Lethbridge "attained [variety] by shifting the position of houses on the lots, putting carports in different positions... and by varying the street patterns." Meticulous site planning, including the architects' subdivision of the land into irregularly-sized and shaped lots, was "an important factor in the general attractiveness of Holmes Run Acres."[7]

Homes in Holmes Run Acres were constructed in three phases between 1951 and 1960:

  • Luria Brothers Development - approximately 260 homes during 1951–52. Architects: Nicholas Satterlee and Francis D. Lethbridge
  • Gaddy & Gaddy Construction Company - 71 homes during 1954–55. Architects: Nicholas Satterlee and Francis D. Lethbridge
  • Andre Bodor - 15 units during 1957–60[8]

The Luria brothers built their homes west of Executive Avenue, Gaddy built homes east of Executive Avenue, and Bodor built homes at the connection of Surrey Lane and Gallows Road.

The Southwest Research Institute's Housing Research Foundation awarded Holmes Run Acres its seal of approval in July 1951, praising the "frank expression of [exposed] post-and-beam construction" and the architects' consideration for the orientation and privacy of each home.[9] In 1952 the foundation's merit award jurors, including Philip Johnson and Douglas Haskell, cited Homes Run Acres for an honorable mention—with first place awarded to builder Joseph Eichler, and California architects Anshen & Allen and Jones & Emmons, for their work on four pioneer Eichler subdivisions.[10]

In the early 1950s Holmes Run Acres Civic Association organized construction of the first community swimming pool in Fairfax County and, in cooperation with the Fairfax County Park Authority, turned a dump site into Luria Park, the first neighborhood park in the county.[11]

Woodburn School opened in 1953, with Holmes Run Acres residents responsible for preservation of trees and construction of the original playground and tennis courts at Woodburn.[12][13] A year later, in the wake of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling, the membership of the Woodburn PTA "stepped forward as the first school organization in [Fairfax] county to express formal approval of [school] integration."[14]

Historic designation

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Holmes Run Acres was listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register in December 2006, and on the National Register of Historic Places in March 2007.[1][15] Holmes Run Acres is the first Mid-Century modern community in Virginia to be designated as a landmark/historic place.

The listed district is 140-acre (57 ha) that included, in 2007, 291 contributing buildings, three contributing sites, and one other contributing structure.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved March 12, 2013.
  3. ^ Gournay, Isabelle; Sies, Mary Corbin (2004). Subdivisions built by Edmund Bennett and designed by Keyes, Lethbridge & Condon (Report). University of Maryland. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  4. ^ Purvis, John. "HRA Builders and the Differences Among Our Homes". Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  5. ^ Martin, Christopher T. Tract-House Modern: A Study of Housing Design and Consumption in the Washington Suburbs, 1946-1960 (Thesis). Washington, D.C.: George Washington University. p. 146. OCLC 44651486.
  6. ^ Conroy, Sarah Booth (December 8, 1974). "From the Folks Who Brought Us Contemporary Architecture". Washington Post. p. H3.
  7. ^ "Builder-architect teamwork pays off: Step from colonial to contemporary takes the Lurias of Washington into a faster market". Architectural Forum. New York: TIME, Inc. August 1951. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  8. ^ "Real Estate Dwelling Data". Department of Tax Administration, Fairfax County, Virginia. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Fairfax Homes 'Tailored to Sites' Win Institute Award". Washington Post. July 15, 1951.
  10. ^ "Honors and Awards". Interiors. New York: Whitney Publications. July 1952. p. 9. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  11. ^ Virginia House Resolution No. 6, HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 6, "Commending the Holmes Run Acres Civic Association", May 4, 2001
  12. ^ "Volunteers Give Woodburn School Park Playground". Washington Post. May 17, 1953. p. 6L.
  13. ^ "Neighbors Join Forces To Build Playground". Washington Post. November 24, 1959. p. B4.
  14. ^ "Fairfax Asks Local Option On School Integration". Washington Post. October 22, 1954. p. 27.
  15. ^ Straight, Susan (July 28, 2007). "Modern Pride in Historic Holmes Run Acres". Washington Post. Retrieved September 22, 2008.

Further reading

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