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Takoma 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, seven single-family homes were for sale in Takoma Park, and four were under contract. In the third quarter of 2008, one home sold. In the first half of 2008, seven single-family homes sold in Takoma Park. In 2007, there were 23 sales, while 17 homes sold in 2006. The average sale price in the first half of 2008 was $343,147. This compares to $384,302 and $367,702 in 2007 and 2006, respectively. The average list price was $348,127 in the first half of 2008, $393,252 in 2007, and $369,694 in 2006. Listed below are the sales by price range.
Very few of the larger homes built by Benjamin Franklin Gilbert (see History) remain on the DC side of Takoma Park, and most of these are located in Brightwood. The houses that were built from 1900 until 1940 were bungalows and so-called bungaloids which were like bungalows but with second stories. Many were designed in the style of 19th-century British Colonial homes in India with verandas and broad overhanging gables. There are also a few ramblers and Victorians in the area. Many of the multi-unit residences are being reverted to single-family homes. Several new condominiums were opened in Takoma Park in the first half of the decade. While Takoma Park is not yet one of the city's communities that is bursting with revitalization and development, it seemed inevitable that it would be next. Downtown Takoma Park in Maryland is already being revitalized and is just blocks away from the DC neighborhood. The business district is at Carroll and Cedar Streets and is a designated historic district and development is subject to approval by the DC Historic Preservation Review Board. In 2005 it was the recipient of a $275,000 renovation including landscaping, benches and improved sidewalks. Takoma Park, in addition to what its adjacent neighbors offer, has its own resources. For instance, New Hampshire Avenue provides a quick ride to the Beltway from Takoma Park. The Takoma Park Library is on Cedar Street, the Takoma School Recreation Center is on Piney Branch Road, and a post office and the Takoma Park Metro station are in the neighborhood. The area around the Metro station is scheduled for retail and residential development. A CVS in the neighborhood will be joined in the future by a large supermarket. In 1863, Benjamin Franklin Gilbert paid $6,500 for 90 acres of land in Washington and Montgomery County. He chose the site because the Metropolitan branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ran through it, the elevation was high and free from the fear of malaria, two natural springs provided an adequate supply of excellent water, and the abundance of trees guaranteed cooler temperatures than the city. He named it Takoma after the Indian word tacoma meaning, "high up, near heaven" and added park to emphasize its rural nature. Gilbert thought the DC and Maryland sections of the neighborhood would always be part of Takoma Park, but, in 1890, the latter became a Maryland municipality. Lots were relatively inexpensive at 1.5 cents to 5 cents per square foot. Houses cost between $1,000 and $5,000 although some described as villas cost between $10,000 and $15,000. While the houses were designed individually, they usually had wide, wrapping porches and were two-story wood-framed shingle detached homes. The styles included Queen Anne, Stick, Shingle, and Colonial Revival although most were a combination of designs. Fifteen trains a day traveled back and forth from downtown Washington to Takoma Park. In addition to the homes clustered around the station were a drugstore, livery stable, blacksmith shop, and grocery store. The Takoma Hall had its own library, meeting room, billiards and bowling. By 1888 Gilbert had purchased more than 1,000 acres. In 1892, he constructed the North Takoma Hotel with its own train depot. He convinced R. C. Flower, a Boston physician, to purchase land and build a sanitarium. The Seventh Day Adventists eventually bought 50 acres of Flower's property and built what is now the Washington Adventist Hospital. By 1889 the Takoma Park Citizens' Association of Maryland and DC was formed and its first order of business was to persuade the DC government in 1901 to build the Takoma Park Elementary School, which was attended by children from both districts until the 1950s. A filtration plant and pump station were finally built in Sligo Creek. Streetcar lines fueled growth for what was considered a middle- to upper-class neighborhood, but the economic panic of 1893 slowed progress significantly. Gilbert was forced to sell his mansion, and by 1900 no single developer was in control and new smaller subdivisions with reduced lots were filled with less expensive bungalows. A public library was built in 1911 with Congressional funds and a donation from Andrew Carnegie. Between 1920 and 1940 the population tripled, new roads, including East-West Highway, were built and old ones widened, and the line between the two municipalities became more significant as citizens on both sides wanted more amenities. Like other neighborhoods in the city, the Depression and WWII required additional housing which meant dividing homes into apartments. The building boom hit in the 1950s and by the 1960s as blacks began to move in, so did block busting, the practice of panicking white resident to sell their homes. The formation of Neighbors Inc. by Takoma Park and Brightwood citizens and the Save Takoma Park Committee helped solve problems of integration, highway development through the community, and zoning issues over expansion when the Takoma Park Metro station was planned. Gilbert's subdivision in the District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
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