More details about the HISTORY of Arlington Village
Much of Arlington County was farm land as WWI came to an end. Arlington Village was a 53 acre tract known as the Buckley and Graham tracts that was sold to developer Gustave Ring in 1939 for $362,500. He developed it into an award winning apartment complex with the help of architect, Harvey Warwick. Together they brought to life a community situated on a sloping site along a major commuter route, Columbia Pike. Along with an associated shopping center along the Pike, this complex was a complete community in itself.
Built using FHA-insured mortgage funds, Arlington Village still benefits today from government restrictions on placed on large scale FHA funded projects of land use restricted to 20-25%. This is why Arlington Village is spread out and provides such a bucolic setting. Arlington Village Apartments operated as a rental property until 1979 when the Arlington Village Associates and the Holladay Corporation began conversion of 60 townhouses into Arlington Village Housing Cooperative Association and the remaining 595 townhouses into Arlington Village Townhouse Condominium. Some of the land that was a part of Arlington Village was sold off to become Fairway Villages and some land on Cleveland Street eventually became a County park. The shopping center along the Pike also was sold. Therefore, Arlington Village Townhouse Condominium sits on 42 acres of the original tract.
Gustave Ring retained ownership of Arlington Village Apartments until 1950 when it was sold to the New York Life Insurance Company for $4,000,000. They added a pool. Two tennis courts and several off-street parking lots were added during the Holladay Corp. conversion. Today, the Olympic-size pool and tennis courts add to the community feel that glues Arlington Village together as a complete neighborhood.