Hollin Hills Architecture Scavenger Hunt
Get out and enjoy the Spring weather while learning a bit about our neighborhood’s architecture! See if you can find examples of the following features that make the Hollin Hills Historic District so distinctive. If you like, help us educate the public by taking a photo of each. You can send or share your collection to friendsofhollinhills@gmail.com, or you can also upload them to a public Google Drive folder here. We will use your photos on Instagram and Facebook to educate the public about our unique neighborhood!
If you have young children participating, you can modify the items to make them simpler – some suggestions are provided in [brackets]. A printable pdf is linked at the bottom of this page.
Enjoy!
1. Charles Goodman and Robert Davenport, Hollin Hills’ architect and developer, envisioned a subdivision in which the houses were naturally sited, to take advantage of the wooded, rolling terrain, rather than sited consistently flat and parallel to the street. In choosing the site and orientation for each house, careful attention was paid not only to the slope of each lot, but also optimizing privacy, views, and solar orientation. See if you can find examples of the following that demonstrate this concept:
2. Perhaps the most innovative and distinctive feature of Hollin Hills houses is the “Hollin Hills Window”. Floor to ceiling window modules that were 3 feet, 1 inch wide became an essential element of Goodman’s designs. The module units could be repeated in varying multiples to create large glass window-wall areas. Goodman further innovated the modules by designing ventilating windows at the floor level, preserving uninterrupted views at eye level and allowing outside air to enter low and be exhausted high through attic exhaust fans.
3. One of the distinctive features of the Hollin Hills development is that each house was sold with an individual landscape plan and consultation with a landscape architect. Lou Bernard Voigt, the neighborhood’s first landscape architect, envisioned a seamless merger of neighboring properties in a park-like setting. Successor landscape architects Dan Kiley and Eric Paepcke continued this vision, which largely endures today.
4. The first model house built in Hollin Hills in 1949 was a Unit House No. 2. This unit was a simple one-story rectangle, approximately 25’ by 46’, designed for flat sites, with a low pitch gabled roof, a long row of window modules, and a large masonry fireplace element on one end (usually the end closer to the street). At only 1,050 square feet, this unit was small by today’s standards. Many of the original unit houses have been added on to.
5. In keeping with principles of modern architecture, houses in Hollin Hills have low sloped roofs that allow the houses to blend into the surrounding landscape. The first few basic models that Goodman designed used low pitch gabled roofs. By 1952 he began experimenting with other roof types. One of the most inventive designs was Unit 5A, a one story, 31’ by 37’ flat roofed house of 1,100 square feet with 3 bedrooms and a raised roof section over a central mechanical core, with windows allowing natural light into the interior bathroom and hallways.
6. Goodman designed two models with butterfly roofs. The first was essentially a Unit House No. 2 with an inverted roof slope and a slightly more sculptural fireplace element. The second was a new, 2 story, 2,100 square foot design responding to increasing demand for larger houses, with a low sloped butterfly shape along the length rather than width of the house.
7. As time went on, Goodman began designing slightly larger unit types and began using more common names for the units. The Main Line and Custom Line models were introduced in the mid to late 1950s. Similar to the earlier model 7L, the Main Line was a 26’ by 54’ rectangle of 1,385 square feet, with a lower-pitched gabled roof and sculptural fireplace element. The most significant difference between the Main Line and earlier models was the low sloped cathedral ceilings, made possible by changing the roof framing to a dropped beam and rafters. From the outside this can be recognized by the triangular windows directly below the roof on the two shorter ends of the house.
8. Over the years, residents have found many creative ways to add on to the original unit houses while trying to remain consistent with Goodman’s original designs.
If you have young children participating, you can modify the items to make them simpler – some suggestions are provided in [brackets]. A printable pdf is linked at the bottom of this page.
Enjoy!
1. Charles Goodman and Robert Davenport, Hollin Hills’ architect and developer, envisioned a subdivision in which the houses were naturally sited, to take advantage of the wooded, rolling terrain, rather than sited consistently flat and parallel to the street. In choosing the site and orientation for each house, careful attention was paid not only to the slope of each lot, but also optimizing privacy, views, and solar orientation. See if you can find examples of the following that demonstrate this concept:
- House sited at an angle to the street [kiddie-corner to street]
- House sited on an uphill slope, above the grade of the street [up on a hill]
- House sited on a downhill slope, below the grade of the street [down a hill]
2. Perhaps the most innovative and distinctive feature of Hollin Hills houses is the “Hollin Hills Window”. Floor to ceiling window modules that were 3 feet, 1 inch wide became an essential element of Goodman’s designs. The module units could be repeated in varying multiples to create large glass window-wall areas. Goodman further innovated the modules by designing ventilating windows at the floor level, preserving uninterrupted views at eye level and allowing outside air to enter low and be exhausted high through attic exhaust fans.
- Find a house that still has the original casement lower ventilating units, which have a vertical frame down the middle (later models used out-swinging awning windows) [bottom windows have lines down the middle]
- Take a photo of the longest row of windows in your own house (Kids - get parents' permission first!)
- Take a photo of the shortest row of windows in your own house (Kids - get parents' permission first!)
3. One of the distinctive features of the Hollin Hills development is that each house was sold with an individual landscape plan and consultation with a landscape architect. Lou Bernard Voigt, the neighborhood’s first landscape architect, envisioned a seamless merger of neighboring properties in a park-like setting. Successor landscape architects Dan Kiley and Eric Paepcke continued this vision, which largely endures today.
- Find a series of neighboring houses with no fences or other clear delineation of property lines [neighbor houses with no fence]
4. The first model house built in Hollin Hills in 1949 was a Unit House No. 2. This unit was a simple one-story rectangle, approximately 25’ by 46’, designed for flat sites, with a low pitch gabled roof, a long row of window modules, and a large masonry fireplace element on one end (usually the end closer to the street). At only 1,050 square feet, this unit was small by today’s standards. Many of the original unit houses have been added on to.
- Find an original Unit House No. 2, without any additions [shaped like a tent with a big chimney]
- Find a Unit House No. 2 with one or more additions [shaped like a tent plus other shapes]
- Find the first model house, built on Drury Lane
5. In keeping with principles of modern architecture, houses in Hollin Hills have low sloped roofs that allow the houses to blend into the surrounding landscape. The first few basic models that Goodman designed used low pitch gabled roofs. By 1952 he began experimenting with other roof types. One of the most inventive designs was Unit 5A, a one story, 31’ by 37’ flat roofed house of 1,100 square feet with 3 bedrooms and a raised roof section over a central mechanical core, with windows allowing natural light into the interior bathroom and hallways.
- Find a Unit House No. 5A [shaped like a box, with a smaller box on top]
- Find a Unit House No. 5B, a two-story version built on sloped lots, with a cinderblock lower level [large box on top of medium box, with a small box on the very top]
6. Goodman designed two models with butterfly roofs. The first was essentially a Unit House No. 2 with an inverted roof slope and a slightly more sculptural fireplace element. The second was a new, 2 story, 2,100 square foot design responding to increasing demand for larger houses, with a low sloped butterfly shape along the length rather than width of the house.
- Find a Unit House No. 2 (Butterfly) [small butterfly or V shape on the short ends]
- Find a Unit House No. 6 [large butterfly or V shape along the long sides]
7. As time went on, Goodman began designing slightly larger unit types and began using more common names for the units. The Main Line and Custom Line models were introduced in the mid to late 1950s. Similar to the earlier model 7L, the Main Line was a 26’ by 54’ rectangle of 1,385 square feet, with a lower-pitched gabled roof and sculptural fireplace element. The most significant difference between the Main Line and earlier models was the low sloped cathedral ceilings, made possible by changing the roof framing to a dropped beam and rafters. From the outside this can be recognized by the triangular windows directly below the roof on the two shorter ends of the house.
- Find a Main Line house [triangle windows]
8. Over the years, residents have found many creative ways to add on to the original unit houses while trying to remain consistent with Goodman’s original designs.
- Find an addition with a “shed” roof – a single slope roof [part of house has a roof that looks like a ramp up to the sky]
- Find an addition that uses cantilevering [part of the house looks like it’s floating in the air]
- Find a carport
| hh_architecture_scavenger_hunt.pdf |