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Spring Valley 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, 17 single-family homes were for sale in Spring Valley. With only one of those houses under $1 million, 7 were between $1 million and under $2 million, another 7 between $2 million and under $3 million, and one for $6.7 million and one for $8.5 million. Two went under contract which were listed at $1,299,900 and $1,595,000. In the third quarter of 2008, three homes sold ranging from $1,895,000 to $5,860,000. In the first half of 2008, 17 single-family homes sold in Spring Valley. In 2007, there were 39 sales, while 27 homes sold in 2006. The average sale price in the first half of 2008 was $1,460,524. This compares to $1,805,439 and $1,703,637 in 2007 and 2006, respectively. The average list price was $1,532,247 in the first half of 2008, $1,839,897 in 2007, and $1,753,296 in 2006. Listed below are the sales by price range.
Spring Valley homes are a product of the several phases of construction over more than 50 years by the Miller Company. The latest phase of homes was completed in 2002. Most houses are brick with Colonial style being the most predominant. There are also Cape Cods and a few ramblers. Houses, particularly the earlier models, have individual touches to make them distinct. The older sections have more property and sloping or sweeping front lawns, while the newer homes are generally a bit larger but on smaller lots. The newer sections have restricted parking. On the western edge of the Spring Valley neighborhood are large houses of Colonial or Georgian style, many of stone, some with curving driveways leading to their set-back locations nestled in a woods-like setting. The curving streets of Spring Valley and the stately homes combine to give the neighborhood a feel of elegant suburban life. Because some streets dead-end on one block and continue on the next, Spring Valley is not treated as a throughway neighborhood. Although it doesn't seem that way, the neighborhood is bookended. On the east side are the over 80 acres of American University and the Wesley Theological Seminary. On the west is Sibley Memorial Hospital and its many facilities and the Dalecarlia Reservoir Grounds. On Massachusetts Avenue is one of the most popular shopping areas in the Northwest. Garfinckels, a high-end department store with its flagship store on F Street, had a store in Spring Valley. The building is now occupied by a Crate and Barrel and Starbucks. There is also the Ski Center and several other shops, markets and a bank. The eastern and northeastern sections of Spring Valley were part of the 1713 patent granted by Lord Baltimore to Thomas Addison and James Stoddert. (see history of Cleveland Park). When the property was split in half, Addison gave his southern portion to his daughter and her husband, William Murdock, as a wedding gift. Their son, John, built a house in 1760 at the location of today's AU campus. It was the first documented house on the Friendship patent but unfortunately was razed in 1918. The southern portion of Spring Valley was part of the Whitehaven patent of 1689 (see history of Palisades). The southern and western sections of the neighborhood became part of the interest in summer houses for intown residents. At the site of the Dalecarlia Reservoir grounds was a hotel and gambling casino. Near this location on 52nd Street, a famous estate was built. Its fame came from two of its owners, Pearl Mesta, who was known as the "Hostess with the Mostest" and President Lyndon Johnson when he was the Vice President. Today it is the Algerian Embassy. American University was founded in 1893 but was moved to its current location in the 1920s. It is the only university incorporated by the US Congress. Bishop John Fletcher Hurst and his Methodist Episcopal Church founded the university. During the first World War, the university donated itself to the Army which turned it into a training and testing ground for its Gas and Flame Division. Chemical weapons were detonated during research and training operations and chemical agents and other hazardous waste were buried in the area. In the mid 1920s, the W.C. and A.N. Miller Company began planning for Spring Valley (see history of Wesley Heights.) Their plan called for curvilinear streets that would meander throughout the community's natural contours. Lots were to be irregularly shaped. Electric lines were placed underground and an attempt was made to save as many of the original trees as possible. The Millers billed Spring Valley as the "Garden of Homes." In the mid 1990s the Army recovered munitions and poison-gas shells, and in 2000 contaminated soil was found on the AU campus. After 12 years of removal and testing and fears of diseases linked to the toxins in the neighborhood, a comprehensive health report issued in March 2005 by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry concluded that "most people in Spring Valley have not and will not experience adverse health effects" because the exposure levels to the explosives, chemical agents and their residue "are not high enough."
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