Dwellings

 

ALCOVA (1860) Map
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 Map

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 Map
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 (1948) Map
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.

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