|
Real Estate
Highlights History
Adjacent
Neighborhoods
Search for Homes in
AU Park If you have questions about the following data or want more information, contact us at 202-965-3715. If you would like to be included in periodic e-mail updates on this or other neighborhoods, send your name and e-mail address to info@hananhomes.com. As of September 30, 2008, 15 single-family homes were for sale in American University Park with eight homes under contract. In the third quarter of 2008, 28 homes sold. In the first half of 2008, 49 single-family homes sold in AU Park. In 2007, there were 88 sales, while 83 homes sold in 2006. The average sale price in the first half of 2008 was $898,069. This compares to $904,238 and $824,862 in 2007 and 2006, respectively. The average list price was $901,565 in the first half of 2008, $902,940 in 2007, and $825,815 in 2006. Listed below are the sales by price range.
Sidewalks on most of the streets and their well established trees exemplify AU Park. The majority of the homes are red brick Colonials, followed closely by Cape Cods and bungalows. In recent years, additions to the homes in American University Park have become commonplace. There have been clusters of two, three and four homes built by developers, but largely the 60- to 70-year-old single-family homes with about an eighth-acre of land retain the neighborhood's original character. Although the neighborhood is named after American University, AU, with the exception of its Law School and the Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Arts Center, is actually located in Spring Valley. It is a neighborhood of children who ride their bicycles on the sidewalks and play basketball on the streets. Off of Massachusetts, just west of 45th Street is the Friendship Recreation Center. The beautiful space surrounding the center accommodates fields for soccer and other outdoor sports and a playground known as Turtle Park. The Tenley-Friendship Library is located in AU Park. Janney Public Elementary School and St. Anne's Academy are within the neighborhood's boundaries. National Presbyterian School and the high school campus of Georgetown Day School are also located within AU Park. Going west on Massachusetts Avenue is the Spring Valley Shopping Center and another shopping area across the road in Spring Valley. There are also stores on Wisconsin Avenue, including the old Sears/Hechinger Building which houses Best Buy and the Container store on the spot where the Tennally tavern stood. Like its neighbors, much of American University Park is on land that in 1713 was granted by Lord Baltimore to Thomas Addison and James Stoddert (see history of Chevy Chase). Its eastern section is the site of an important crossroad (today's River Road and Wisconsin Avenue) of the past. Wisconsin Avenue was first used by Native Americans as a trail from the Potomac River. Early English settlers, then tobacco farmers, made use of the route, and in 1755 it became the first military road in Colonial America when General Edward Braddock led an expedition against the French at Fort Duquesne on the newly constructed extension beyond Cumberland. River Road was constructed by Jacob Funk (see history of Foggy Bottom) in 1779 to accommodate travelers from Georgetown to Harpers Ferry. In 1790, John Tennally built a tavern just south of the intersection. A year later the area was incorporated into the city of Washington. The village that grew up around the Tennally tavern had a toll gate, tollhouse, inn, and a police substation. A large estate named Dumblane was built in the area in the 1830s. Street cars brought development to the area, and before the turn of the century simple frame cottages were being built. The residents were usually of English or German heritage along with some Irish and Italian families. Churches were built to accommodate those settling in the area. Mt. Zion Methodist Church was founded in 1840, St. Ann's Roman Catholic in 1867 by Georgetown Jesuits, and St. Columba's Episcopal in 1874 as a mission for St. Albans. Before 1920 the area was known as Tennallytown. By the 1920s, AU Park had water mains and sewers. Part of the neighborhood spread into Maryland. After World War I, developments such as Cleveland Park, Chevy Chase, University Park, and Friendship began to erase what was decreed Tenleytown and the name Friendship was given to the local post office. The switch from streetcars -- the Tenleytown-Friendship line in 1960 was the last overhead trolley in the city -- to automobiles had a significant effect on the area as automobiles became the main source of transportation. The American University Park Citizens Association was organized in 1927. One of its first endeavors was to stop a change in zoning to allow the building of townhouses. It also fought another zoning law that would permit houses with less than 40-foot frontages. The Methodist Church bought a large portion of what is today's AU Park in order to sell property to their clergy for retirement homes. The church sold parts of the property to developers in the 1930s. Within the next decade, W.C. and A.N. Miller and other developers had built homes on most lots. By the 1930s, over 2,300 residents lived in AU Park.
Tenleytown
Historical Society Map of American University Park
To discover more
about current listings
Call or e-mail us at |
 |
|
|||
 |
||||
Website Design by Tim and Jean Hanan
Copyright 2008 Tim and Jean Hanan