In March 2003, my wife and I moved to the Beverley Hills neighborhood in northwest Alexandria [map], leaving a townhome where we had lived since August ’98 in the Old Town area of Alexandria [map]. The house we moved into was built in 1939 as part of a later phase of the neighborhood, which was established a year or two prior.
Most of the homes in Beverley Hills (one of the planners was named Beverley) were of rather small and basic design, with expansions being added as new owners came and old owners went over the years. Our home saw five expansions between 1939 and today (thought it’s still of only moderate square footage).
Well, a few years ago one of our neighbors mentioned that she had located a 1930s brochure promoting the under-construction Beverley Hills neighborhood. Being one who is intrigued by the histories of things, I asked if I might scan the item to archive and share. The result is the PDF document you see here (click the photo to link over). The illustrations and the language within are certainly from a different time.
While the street my family and I live on cannot be seen in the included aerial photo — it hadn’t been laid yet — the area shown does happen to be the part of the neighborhood we first stumbled into and found so appealing in searching Alexandria for a larger home than our Old Town dwelling.
I was thrilled to find this little piece of history that hits so…close to home.
Related Links:
- “Beverly Hills: A Community True To Its ’30s Roots” – The Washington Post, 1992, by Sue Anne Pressley
Related update: Two torn newspaper comic strips from the 1930s found inside of our kitchen wall in Beverley Hills during a water repair back in 2012. I imagine these are a construction worker’s lunchtime reading, accidentally left behind and walled in.
May 2, 2018 at 12:05 pm
Thanks for posting this. I live nearby, not really in BH, on Crestwood. Very interesting!
May 2, 2018 at 2:45 pm
Thank you SO much for sharing! I live on Beverley(; I am a Realtor and I would like to share this with all of my clients who have bought homes in the neighborhood. I have parts of it printed out. But not like this! Awesome!
Laurel Conger
May 3, 2018 at 2:06 am
Thank you for posting this! I grew up in BH in the 60s and 70s and really enjoyed reading about its start.
May 3, 2018 at 2:22 am
Hi. I grew up on Cameron Mills and my POP used to walk to Russell and Braddock to get a bus into Washington. Do you know where the house pictured on the brochure is located? We considered it a mansion when I was young. My parents home was the same plan as one on Chalfonte, next to Gilden, just reversed. If my memory serves me correctly, this information was included in a North Ridge publication. Thanks for bringing a very pleasant memory back. and BTW my initials are in the sidewalk between Beverly and Allison…