Anonymous wrote:Kalorama
Chevy Chase
Wesley heights
Spring Valley

MD:
Potomac

In VA:
McLean
Great Falls
The SE quadrant of Old Town
Belle Haven
Rosemont
The small portion of N. Arlington that borders McLean

This is a good list for the 1980s, but a lot has changed since then.

Kalorama
Chevy Chase
Wesley heights
Spring Valley

MD:
Potomac

In VA:
McLean
Great Falls
The SE quadrant of Old Town
Belle Haven
Rosemont
The small portion of N. Arlington that borders McLean

Kenwood in Bethesda, the Chevy chases, Georgetown, Kalomora, river road of Potomac, Mclean along Georgetown pike

Little to no yard, most prestigious: Kalorama. Period. A couple houses here and there in Georgetown, a half a block or so here and there in Georgetown, but not Georgetown overall. If condos are your thing, west end is actually full of very, very wealthy and prominent people, but it isn’t so much a “neighborhood,” so it just gets a passing mention.

Actual yard, most prestigious: Kent. Chevy Chase Village (less so Chevy Chase). Portions of Wesley Heights—some pockets below cathedral, a couple of areas on the numbered streets rather than the cut-throughs. The more private portions of Woodland/Normanstone Terrace, but that’s a step down because a lot of the houses are pretty isolated. A few areas of the Palisades (below MacArthur), like some of the beautiful homes right on the river. Sherier Street, while family friendly and appealing, is crawling in traffic, as are a lot of the streets close by.

Also-rans, but don’t get included: Spring Valley (beautiful homes, beautiful yards, munitions everywhere and construction to “fix” is everywhere—sorry, can’t be on the most prestigious list when tons of people won’t put their families there. They go to Kent, if they can find one of the few houses available there). Cleveland Park (some nice homes, some ok yards, but overall a mixed feel. Primary problem—traffic, traffic, traffic. Every street is a cut-through, hence all the speedbumps). Dupont has some nice streets and some nice houses but isn’t consistent enough to make the list. Anything right off Wisconsin or between Wisconsin and Connecticut—sorry. Cut-through neighborhoods.

Also not included: anything outside of DC. You can have another thread for “prestigious in maryland” or “virginia.” But if you’re outside the DC line, you are not in a prestigious washington neighborhood.

Montgomery County

Anonymous wrote:Ashburn

Nope

McLean

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown - still the home of some of the most expensive properties in town.

I love Georgetown and even lived there for a couple of years, but it's just not that convenient.

And Kalorama is and especially CCDC or other parts of NWDC? A lot of the areas mentioned here with old mansions are not very convenient or particularly close to everything or even metro. At least Georgetown has its own retail/business strips vs residential parts of NWDC, where you could be a mile away from anything to walk to except residential homes.

Walk ability does not equal “prestige”

Kalorama and Georgetown always had been and will have the prestige you are looking for as far as urban areas are concerned, ditto for Dupont although it's more of a newcomer as it used to be run down before. But when it comes to SFH areas of prestige you'd have to open up to the suburbs, as that's where you will find truly sprawling multimillion dollar mansions and estates. When it comes to suburban or residential neighborhoods, there are many in DC area. When it comes to urban areas, the older ones that had been associated with prestige are Georgetown and Kalorama, you could add Dupont to it if you want. These days there are more urban areas of prestige, where price per square ft. is similar. Same is happening to the suburbs where some parts of Arlington are getting more of that reputation due to higher cost per Sq.Ft because of better urban development and metro access people find desirable. Mclean had always been considered more tony than Arlington, but mainly due to large estates and huge lots that can accommodate the homes of the rich. I'd say when it comes to regular SFH areas closer to DC N.Arlington and Mclean are about the same in terms of prestige. Then there is also Potomac, Bethesda and CCMD. I consider NWDC to be residential, but it also had some level of prestige, around Observatory and CCDC parts. These days you would add parts like AU park and Tenleytown too, which weren't associated with prestige before.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown - still the home of some of the most expensive properties in town.

I love Georgetown and even lived there for a couple of years, but it's just not that convenient.

And Kalorama is and especially CCDC or other parts of NWDC? A lot of the areas mentioned here with old mansions are not very convenient or particularly close to everything or even metro. At least Georgetown has its own retail/business strips vs residential parts of NWDC, where you could be a mile away from anything to walk to except residential homes.

yes- if you are driving, it is much faster to go N-S to/from downtown than E-W. Kalorama & Woodley Park are super convenient to downtown--much more so than Georgetown. Even CCDC is much quicker than you'd think with the lane changes on CT Ave that give you four lanes.

Why would anyone drive DT from Georgetown? You can bike or scooter there, or just walk to GWU metro, which isn't that far and get there quick. Or take an uber. I walked from East Village Georgetown too DT, it's under 3 miles away and NBD. And if you plug the directions from NWDC vs. Georgetown to DTDC it still will be faster even if by 5 min from Georgetown. How is it possibly less convenient than residential NWDC?

Anonymous wrote:Culmore hands down.

Culmore hands down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown - still the home of some of the most expensive properties in town.

I love Georgetown and even lived there for a couple of years, but it's just not that convenient.

And Kalorama is and especially CCDC or other parts of NWDC? A lot of the areas mentioned here with old mansions are not very convenient or particularly close to everything or even metro. At least Georgetown has its own retail/business strips vs residential parts of NWDC, where you could be a mile away from anything to walk to except residential homes.

yes- if you are driving, it is much faster to go N-S to/from downtown than E-W. Kalorama & Woodley Park are super convenient to downtown--much more so than Georgetown. Even CCDC is much quicker than you'd think with the lane changes on CT Ave that give you four lanes.

Potomac

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people have mostly nailed the list. But I also think that in a generation, far fewer people will care about Potomac, McLean, or Spring Valley because they are isolated. Large parts of Arlington will have been rebuilt to a wealthier standard, which will have in effect taken their place. Capitol Hill will be at least as prestigious as the better parts of Georgetown are now. Kalorama and Woodland-Normanstone will still be the very wealthiest areas.

I agree with the general principle of this post, although not necessarily all the specific forecasts. Neighborhoods continue to change and one generation can have differing preferences than others. Look at the U ST/14th ST neighborhood now vs. 20 years ago. It's become prestigious for certain subsets who want a more urban environment. It's very different from W-N or CC and the buyers are looking for different things.

McLean, or at least the portion inside the Beltway, is hardly isolated, when it’s sitting between Tysons and DC and benefiting from proximity to so many jobs. It also has multiple privates and top publics. The prices reflect that. And Spring Valley is hardly isolated, either.

Potomac is in a different position, and you can see how the prices there, at least in comparative terms, have drifted down.

TBF, the nice parts of McLean are mostly north of 123. The parts down near Arlington are priced similar to North Arlington, and are as desirable.

Kenwood in Bethesda.