Original Springfield Model Homes

Here follows an excerpt from the book "Post WW-2 History of Springfield, Virginia and The Crestwood Construction Corp." as written by Robyn Carter:

13 Was A Lucky Number For Model Homes:
Crestwood began clearing the land in September of 1951 and broke ground in early December for the first of thirteen model homes, which are located in the block surrounded by Backlick Road, Amherst Avenue, and the south side of Essex avenue, starting with 6110 Backlick Road, followed in order by 6108, 6106, 6104, 6102 and 6100.

Outside of the (historically unfortunate) loss of a unique one-of-a-kind home known as "The Rockbridge", the original model houses stand much as they did when literally thousands of area residents swarmed in to see and purchase homes. For an aerial photo of the model homes and descriptions of the designs offered, refer to the images from the "Practical Builder" magazine of August 1952.

Getting the Buyers Interested:
No sooner than the footers were dug and the foundations put in for the model homes, the public was innvited to put on their rubber boots and come out and see the beginnings of the long anticipated Springfield Community. Area residents looked forward to the availability of the new homes with much interest thanks to newspaper articles over the previous five years talking about this coming modern miracle to solve the housing crunch. Now that the building had begun, it amounted to an event more than a construction site.

An article from January 1952 said ... "Visitors today at Springfield, Va., will be treated to the novel sight of a giant community in the first visible throes of development. The sprawling 2300-acre tract of woods and fields that will eventually contain over 5000 homes, four schools, a huge shopping center, parks and possible an industry or two is just stirring. Today there are only nine homes in various stages of construction - part of a 13-house group that will serve as models for the entire project - but the owners and developers are anxious that potential buyers see the groundwork." (From the Washington Post)

By August of '52, it was estimated that 1,000 visitors per week were visiting the site. In a marketing strategy, all the model homes as well as all of the streets were initially named for Virginia Counties (save for the already named Backlick or "Back Lick" Road as it was more commonly referred to at that time.) as a less than subtle tie in to state inspired pride.

So great was the Crestwood's Springfield development that the company joined in what amounted to a cross marketing campaign and worked with both the (now-defunct) Woodward & Lothrop department store chain, and local furniture retailer, Barnes & Kimel Co. to cross advertise the homes along with the furnishings provided for the model homes and vice versa.

Adding to this growing interest, a nationally published magazine known as "Living for Young Homemakers" sent a representative out during the summer of 1952 to do a six-page photo story on the growing community as well as the suburban growth of the DC area in general.

Captured in their August '52 issue was "Community In The Making" which included views of the interior of one of the Chesterfield model homes as well as scenes showing the construction in the back yards of one of the first sections, which encompassed the area bounded by Backlick Road to the east, Amherst Avenue to the west, Essex Avenue to the south and Floyd Avenue to the north.

The Crestwood's Springfield homes were enormously favored by buyers and it was reported that the houses were selling at an average of one per day during the peak years of the mid-1950s. The first house deeded to an individual was a "Chesterfield" model ($17,950) at 6010 Backlick Road, to a Mr. William P. Horton on June 30, 1952. Mr. Hildeen stated that at any one time, the company had 200 homes in various stages of production, with the total of over 1,500 houses being completed at the end of the initial run of the Crestwood's Springfield development in 1955.