CPHD
Our Neighborhoods - Waverly Hills
Location
Waverly Hills occupies the area bounded by Interstate 66, Lee Highway, Glebe Road, and Utah Street. Both Glebe Road and Lee Highway are old roads dating to the late colonial period. The lower part (the area south of 19th Street) grew in the period between World Wars I and II, while the area north of 19th Street was developed in the years immediately after World War II. The neighborhood is largely a mixture of modest brick and frame colonials, Cape Cods, and one-story bungalows, although several townhouse developments and garden apartment complexes have appeared over the last 40 years. The oldest and most significant building in Waverly Hills is the Glebe House, originally built in 1770.
History
Throughout most of the 17th century all of Northern Virginia remained Indian territory until the restoration of King Charles II to the English throne in 1660. The majority of Waverly Hills was included in a land grant to James Brechin, rector of St. Peter's Parish in New Kent County in 1716. Brechin never lived on his Arlington holding and upon his death in 1721, Daniel Jennings, the surveyor of Fairfax County (in which Arlington was then included), purchased the land. A small portion in the northwest corner of the Waverly Hills area, was part of a grant in 1731 to James Robertson, a large landholder in what is present-day Arlington.
Neighborhood Landmarks
The Glebe House, a major landmark of Arlington County, located in the Waverly Hills neighborhood, was established as a 500 acre farm and provided for the rector of Fairfax Parish, which included both Christ Church, Alexandria and the Falls Church. The Glebe House, built in 1775, burned in 1808 and was rebuilt in 1820 as a hunting lodge. Subdivision of the Glebe lands began in 1846. The octagon wing was added about 1850. A hand carved teakwood eagle sits atop the octagon wing.
