Where We Live
In Parkwood, a Lemonade-Stand Feel
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, July 5, 2008; Page F01
Parkwood, a neighborhood of 1940s and 1950s houses where Kensington meets Bethesda, has benefited greatly from what has been built around it over the decades.
The houses, for the most part, are not imposing: brick ramblers and Cape Cods, with a few Colonials mixed in. Many had main floors of less than 1,000 square feet when they were built, though most have finished basements.
But the things that make the neighborhood stand out, its residents say, are its access to parkland (it is bordered by a branch of Rock Creek Park that has a paved biking-walking trail); its superior schools; and how it's just a hop, skip and jump south to the Capital Beltway.
Maryann Dillon, secretary of the Parkwood Residents Association, moved to Parkwood from North Kensington 4 1/2 years ago.
"We moved there for the schools," she said, adding, "The access to the park -- it cannot be overstated."
There are 783 houses in Parkwood, most built from 1948 to 1953.
When Holger Griebl moved to the neighborhood from Alexandria 15 years ago, "We felt out of place because everybody was close to 80, it seemed like," he said.
There are still many original owners in the suburb, but residents said that in the past 10 years, there has been a generational shift.
Danielle Sultan bought a house in Parkwood 13 years ago. "At the time, I was a single mom. I was able to find a home that was close, in a great neighborhood, with proximity to other main areas -- and this was more affordable than Bethesda."
Since she arrived, there has been a lot of turnover to young families. "It's a nice balance," she said.
Homeowners without children also find Parkwood attractive.
Ann Mahoney, Griebl's next-door-neighbor, moved from the District 10 years ago. She shopped in the District and Bethesda before choosing her $245,000 house in Parkwood. At the time, she worked at the National Institutes of Health, about 2 1/2 miles away.
That commute was about 10 minutes, but she later took a job at the Rockville campus of the Department of Health and Human Services. That drive is 20 to 25 minutes, and she said she's afraid it could soon get longer.
"The traffic around here is going to be horrendous when they do the integration of Walter Reed and the Naval Hospital," she said, noting there are about 17,000 employees at the NIH. The Naval Medical Center has about 4,500 and will be adding 2,500 after the closing of Walter Reed.
Gerald Sharp, another single Parkwood resident, is one of those NIH employees. "Wisconsin [Avenue] is already so congested. To think it could get worse is kind of amazing," he said.
Mahoney's house is about 1,600 square feet and had been renovated before she moved in to make more usable space upstairs. That's where she has her bedroom and office. She uses the two main-floor bedrooms as guest bedrooms.
But she said she dislikes the trend of teardowns -- there have been about 25 since 2001 -- and huge second-floor additions. Kathy Byars, a real estate agent with W.C. & A.N. Miller and a Parkwood resident for more than 35 years, said there have been four to five times as many major additions as there have been teardowns.
"It's become McMansion land," Mahoney said, adding that the new houses are too big for their yards. "I like to be outside. Everything is focused inwards as opposed to in and out."
However, the new houses are more likely to have front porches -- the older houses mostly have stoops.
Griebl is about to start a major addition of his own to accommodate his children, ages 7 and 3. Including the basement, his house is about 1,700 square feet, he said. With the addition, it will be 2,500 square feet. "It won't just be a big apartment anymore with a nice basement," he said.
Vicki Leonardo, who moved from Silver Spring to Parkwood more than 10 years ago, said she chose it for the school district -- her children are 11, 8 and 7. She said she loves how downtown Kensington has parades for the major holidays and that kids ride decorated bikes in the parades.
Her family also added on to their house, making a galley kitchen larger and adding a bedroom and a two-car garage.
Sultan's family moved into a house with a second-floor bump-out six years ago. "You can't stand in the way of progress," she said.
But Dillon said she feels that the trend of teardowns "violates the overall fabric of the neighborhood."
She said: "Some teardowns are very appropriate, attractive. Everybody likes the Arts and Crafts style. Some are monstrosities."
Byars said the trend will slow with the housing downturn. Although developers are still buying, she said, there will be fewer teardowns done without a buyer in place before construction begins. "The ones that are under construction, they bought them a while ago."
Although neighbors disagree about the desirability of new houses replacing the ramblers, they remain, well, neighborly.
"The people are warm and friendly," Sultan said. "They look out for each other."
Dillon said, "Any time I go out [to work] in my lawn, I spend half my time talking to my neighbors, which is great."
"It's definitely the type of neighborhood where you have lemonade stands," Byars said.
John Wilson and his partner, Mike Bromley, bought a house in Parkwood last April for $691,000. Including the basement, it has 1,900 square feet. That's less than half the size of the house they sold in Germantown, which was on two acres.
"It was like two hours to mow the yard," Wilson said. "This is very quick maintenance."
Bromley's commute lengthened -- he works in Rockville -- but they're pleased with the neighborhood. "We wanted an established, safe area," Wilson said. They looked only in Parkwood and the neighborhood just to the east because they wanted to be by Rock Creek Park's bike trail.
"This is really kind of a dream neighborhood. It has that 1950s feel to it," Wilson said. "We lucked out."
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