Best and worst - neighborhoods with significant infill housing construction

[Anonymous]

The worst in my opinion: the gigantic, blue house off of Sycamore Street in North Arlington/East Falls Church area.

Best: there are a couple streets in Cherrydale that are more and more gorgeous with the new construction really well done.

[Anonymous]

The Cresthaven neighborhood in Silver Spring. There are some insane monstrosities right next to very modest 60s split levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Cresthaven neighborhood in Silver Spring. There are some insane monstrosities right next to very modest 60s split levels.

Sounds good to me get rid of the old non effeciant

[Anonymous]

PP, did you know that building new buildings is way more wasteful than taking old buildings an refurbishing them?

[Anonymous]

The best that I've seen in terms of the quality of in-fill homes and their relationship to neighboring properties is probably Franklin Park in McLean. I don't live there (wanted to buy there, but spouse wasn't crazy about the winding roads).

[Anonymous]

East Bethesda is full of properties where they tore down a small house and built a McMansion. I guess that's infill if you're using it to mean replacing a house plus a yard with a bigger house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The worst in my opinion: the gigantic, blue house off of Sycamore Street in North Arlington/East Falls Church area.

Best: there are a couple streets in Cherrydale that are more and more gorgeous with the new construction really well done.

Wasn't there a washington post article about this one? i remember seeing interior pictures on franklymls.com and it looked ridiculous inside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The worst in my opinion: the gigantic, blue house off of Sycamore Street in North Arlington/East Falls Church area.

Best: there are a couple streets in Cherrydale that are more and more gorgeous with the new construction really well done.

What is the cross street for the blue house. For the life of me, I cannot picture which one you are talking about.

What about the huge new (year old maybe) Victorian at Columbia and Cherry? That house is gigantic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The worst in my opinion: the gigantic, blue house off of Sycamore Street in North Arlington/East Falls Church area.

Best: there are a couple streets in Cherrydale that are more and more gorgeous with the new construction really well done.

I don't think it's necessarily the new houses in Cherrydale that are so different from other new houses being built around N. Arlington, but they seem to fit better because many of the older houses in Cherrydale are already bungalows/craftsmen style to begin with. Some of the other Arlington neighborhoods (Overlee, Country Club) have mostly ranches built in the 50s-60s, so putting in a large craftsman style house next to that style house doesn't fit as well IMO.

[Anonymous]

an "infill" is not the same thing as a teardown.

Filling in means exactly that -- you put a house into a space where there isn't a house to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Lyon Village is the worst. It was built as a "village" of modest homes and dense streets. The McMansions have completely destroyed the scale there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, did you know that building new buildings is way more wasteful than taking old buildings an refurbishing them?

Polishing a turd is usually a bigger waste. It's easier to tear down and put up an energy efficient, sealed house than to fix up an old one.

[Anonymous]

Country Club doesn't have that many ranches - it has mostly colonials and cape cods, with the occasional ranch or split-level. It's got some tear-downs/new builds that are mostly pretty well done, but rear and side bump-outs are more common. (I live here and have explored the neighborhood pretty extensively.) There are some pretty ridiculously large estate-looking homes off of Rock Spring park, one of them next to a tiny old rambler. That does look weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lyon Village is the worst. It was built as a "village" of modest homes and dense streets. The McMansions have completely destroyed the scale there.

I agree. I bought a house in LV in 2008 and I am so pissed at what is being done to our neighborhood and how the h*ll the homeowner's association isn't doing something!

They just mow down a house and then build a frickin' gigantic 7 bedroom McMansion on a postage stamp lot. There is one looming in my backyard.

This used to be a gorgeous neighborhood. There were a few tasteful additions/renovations but just in the last year it has gotten horrible with several 6k sq foot ridiculous looking monstrosities. I think the neigborhood has gotten so flooded with $$$$$ (these new homes are going for aroudn $2million and the median price is now $1.3 million) that nothing is being done to preserve or put limits on construction. I have never lived in an area like this. I came from a very historic DC neighborhood where you couldn't even change the paint color of your shutters without a two year assessment process.

I think this neighborhood has the absolute best location in the entire DC region in terms of walkability, nightlife, public schools, proximity to DC, fun families, tons of kids, etc. which is the reason I'm here (and I guess why all of these others are too). However, I am worried about where this is going. Stop f*cking with the neighborhood..please!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Country Club doesn't have that many ranches - it has mostly colonials and cape cods, with the occasional ranch or split-level. It's got some tear-downs/new builds that are mostly pretty well done, but rear and side bump-outs are more common. (I live here and have explored the neighborhood pretty extensively.) There are some pretty ridiculously large estate-looking homes off of Rock Spring park, one of them next to a tiny old rambler. That does look weird.

PP who said Country Club and I guess was wrong...what is the neighborhood off Lee Highway near Overlee Pool? Like John Marshall Drive area? That is the area I am talking about with lots of ranch style houses and then big craftsmen homes. We actually looked at a ranch on John Marshall when we bought in 2006 - the house was well maintained, but tiny!