{"nrhp_refnum":"80004170","name":"Colonial Village","other_names":["Colonial Village Apartment Complex"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Wilson Blvd., Lee Hwy., N. Veitch St. and Queens Lane","address_restricted":false,"city":"Arlington","county":"Arlington County","state":"VA","lat":38.894347760000045,"lon":-77.0829009504488,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-12-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Landscape Architecture","Economics","Politics/Government","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Colonial Village is a garden apartment complex in Arlington, Virginia, between Lee Highway and Wilson Boulevard. It was built in four phases from 1935 to 1940 and designed by architect Harvey Warwick for developer Gustave Ring.","why_significant":"It was the first FHA-insured, large-scale rental housing project in the United States and served as a model for later FHA projects. Its design combined superblock planning, landscaped courtyards, an interior greenbelt and staggered building setbacks for light and ventilation. It was also the first multifamily rental housing in Arlington County.","narrative":"Colonial Village is a garden apartment complex in Arlington, Virginia, built in four phases between 1935 and 1940 on the site of a former golf course. Washington architect Harvey Warwick designed the brick Colonial Revival buildings for developer Gustave Ring. Roughly 1,055 apartments sit in two- and three-story buildings that cover only 18 percent of the land, with the rest given to courtyards, footpaths and wooded greenbelts containing a small brook. Buildings are staggered rather than set in rows, which gave apartments more light and air, and cars were kept apart from pedestrian paths. The complex was the first large-scale rental housing project insured by the Federal Housing Administration, and its success persuaded investors that rental housing could be a sound investment during the Depression. Later projects, including Parkfairfax, McLean Gardens and Fairlington, borrowed its planning ideas. It was also the first multifamily rental housing in Arlington County. The buildings remain in residential use and in good condition.","period_of_significance":"1935-1940","architect_builder":"Gustave Ring, Harvey Warwick, Frances Koenig","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Structures described as original and in good to excellent condition with only minor exterior alterations; in use as multi-family residential housing.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.96721-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/4/6796/41679604/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/80004170.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004170/5d33ea5d03-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004170/5d33ea5d03-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Farragutful","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colonial_Village_(Arlington,_Virginia)_01.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Farragutful</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colonial_Village_(Arlington,_Virginia)_01.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679604","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Village_(Arlington,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712201"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/arlington-county/colonial-village-80004170/"}