Linking the Glover Park Community
in Washington, DC
Glover Park Real Estate
History
At the time of the Civil War, much of Glover Park was farmland and woods. The Union Army maintained a training camp and signal station here due to the altitude and views of the surrounding land. Accelerated development of what is now Glover Park began in the late 1800’s with the introduction of a streetcar line through “north Georgetown” on Wisconsin Avenue up to what is now Tenleytown. Commerce built up around this streetcar line spurred development of single family residences, and then the first major residential development in the neighborhood – what is now Hall Place just off Wisconsin Ave – at the turn of the century. Around 1910 the Hall Place row houses were constructed (without garages as most people still did not have cars) and marketed as convenient to the streetcars. These houses retailed for about $5,000.
Roughly half of what is now considered the Glover Park neighborhood was part of Georgetown prior to the involvement of Charles Carroll Glover, a wealthy businessman and president of Riggs Bank. Mr. Glover made a habit of accumulating land, and in 1907 bought most of the western section of modern-day Glover Park at auction. It seems he enjoyed accumulating rather than developing, and his land west of Tunlaw Road did not experience major development for nearly another 20 years, until the involvement of real estate developer Benjamin Gruver, who built most of the row houses in the neighborhood from the 1920’s through the 1930’s. They were advertised with the modern amenities of heat, light, and garages and retailed for about $9,000-$10,000.
Glover Park experienced another surge of development in the 1940’s with a flood of federal government workers moving to the city for the war effort. The western end of the neighborhood was developed with affordable 4-8 unit garden style apartments, as well as some larger buildings in the 1950’s as DC’s population continued to grow and people sought convenient and affordable housing outside Georgetown.
The “condo craze” of the late 70’s and early 80’s brought a number of conversions and renovations of the older apartment buildings, including 4114 Davis Place, Georgetown North and 4000 Tunlaw; as well as some new construction such as The Sheffield condo at 2320 Wisconsin Avenue. The incredible bull market of the mid-2000’s helped to drive further conversion and renovation of some of the smaller old buildings as well as a few larger projects such as The Archbold at 2725 39th Street.
Today, as we experience another bull market and real estate renaissance in DC, developers and homeowners are seeking new and creative ways to take advantage of record-high real estate values. One such method growing in popularity, importance and concern is the “pop-up” – building additional floors to the maximum height the new zoning laws and building code will allow. Stay tuned as this trend takes hold and changes the landscape…..
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Chris Jones is a top Realtor with Long & Foster/Christie’s International Real Estate in Georgetown and has been representing buyers and sellers in Glover Park for 16 years. Chris lives in Glover Park, has been active in the community over many years and is a proud Stoddert Elementary School parent. Contact Chris for a consultation or just to chat about buying or selling:
Christopher Jones, Realtor
Long & Foster Real Estate
Christie's International
1680 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Cell: 202-441-7008
