Foxhall Village: Just a short walk away

Standing outside his Foxhall Village home, Pete Ross looked up and happened to see a stone crest with three longhorn heads on the brick front facing Surrey Lane.

“I’ve lived here since 1974, and I’ve never noticed that before!” he said, shocked and excited.

Welcome to Washington’s Foxhall Village, where no two homes are exactly alike. Built in the late 1920s by developer Harry Boss, the 300 Tudor-style houses each have their own quirks, and that sense of uniqueness is one of many things residents here love about their neighborhood.

Houses vary between two and three stories. The Foxhall Community Citizens Association puts it this way: “Some have marble fireplaces, and some don’t have fireplaces at all. Most of the houses have screened-in back porches. Fluted molding gives a little something extra to each home. And certain features are a trademark of the neighborhood: leaded-style windows, curved chimney pots, stone globes on the pediments and stone crests, called medallions, affixed to the brick facades.” A few years ago the village became a historic district, which ensures its homes will preserve their historic character.

“This is home for us,” said Ross, who bought the house attached to his in 1988 and knocked out the wall to make one residence where he and his wife have raised five children.

“Look out the window,” he said, pointing to the green grass, shrubs and trees that give the area an almost rural feel. “We are a less than a mile from downtown. There is no place as close to downtown anything like this.”

One mile, in fact, is the magic number when it comes to Foxhall Village. Glover-Archbold Park, shops and dining along Wisconsin Avenue in Glover Park or MacArthur Boulevard in the Palisades all are within walking distance. In fact, residents can walk or ride their bikes through the park and under a tunnel where they’ll wind up on the other side of the C&O Canal toe path.

Located in Washington’s Ward 3, the enclave is essentially triangular in shape, defined by Glover-Archbold Park, Foxhall Road and Reservoir Road. Virtually all of the neighborhood is residential, with the exception of a dry cleaner, nail salon, dentist and Jettie’s — which is renowned for its sandwiches, salads and ice cream.

Over its nearly century of existence, the community has undergone several demographic changes.

“When I was in elementary school, there were lots of kids here,” said Bill Brown, a member of the third generation of his family to live in the house his grandfather bought in 1926. “A lot of people fled to the suburbs in the Carter administration, but since then the families with young kids have started coming back.”

The community now boasts a nice mix of residents including retirees, empty nesters, young families and Georgetown University students who rent. The public schools that serve the neighborhood are Key Elementary, Hardy Middle and Woodrow Wilson High.

The citizens association, which also serves people in the communities neighboring Foxhall Village, hosts several activities throughout the year, including a Halloween parade, holiday house decorating contest, annual potluck dinner and yard sale.

“My husband and I were going to come back and stay for just two years,” said Hulit Taylor, who in 2002 moved back into the house her parents bought in 1952. “The longer I’m here, the more I really don’t want to move. We’re a mile from anything you want.”

All that walking pays off, suggests Ross, who has a theory on the effect of Foxhall’s ideal, mile-to-anywhere location.

“Maybe that’s why we all keep our weight down,” he said. “We’re a pretty healthy group of people.”