The Gosnell Firm:
Clarence W. Gosnell, Inc. built Westgrove, and its firm the Monroe Development Corporation sold the homes. Clarence W. Gosnell (1901-1959), a native Washingtonian founded the company in 1924. The third generation of the family runs the firm Gosnell Properties today (https://gosnell.com/). As you can read on their website and see from their images below, Clarence W. Gosnell senior began building storefronts, apartments, and homes to meet the demand for affordable housing in Washington D.C.
He was joined in the business by his two sons, John “Jack” Gude Gosnell,
and younger son Clarence William “Bud” Gosnell, Jr., who led the team that built Westgrove and lived on Quander Road so he could oversee its construction, and later Waynewood.
After World War II, the demand for homes was high and newly available Veteran and other government supported home loans incentivized development in Northern Virginia. Gosnell Inc. acquired land in Alexandria (see Bucknell Syndicate). Over the next two decades, the Gosnell firm created 7 subdivisions in Alexandria, with over 2,000 homes built, as summarized below.
Subdivision Year Est. # of Homes/Type Starting Price From
Jefferson Manor 1947 550 duplexes $8,750
Beacon Manor 1950 80 duplexes $9,300
Bucknell Manor 1951 600 duplexes & Cape Cods $11,100
Marlan Park 1954 40 single-family $22,000
Westgrove 1954 136 single-family $27,750
Waynewood 1957 753 single-family $22,000-$30,000
Riverside Gardens 1963 219 single-family $23,750
The Gosnell firm began with two-floor, two bedroom duplexes, that targeted first-time, Veteran homebuyers who could add features like a basement. Beacon Manor and Marlan Park duplexes were contiguous with the larger Bucknell Manor. It was in Bucknell Manor that the Gosnell firm began diversifying available home styles, giving each one its own name. It seems that new models were often built at the end of construction in one subdivision, only to be frequently built in the next community. The Swarthmore model is a perfect example, debuting in Marlan Park, becoming the most common model in Westgrove. In each subdivision, the starting home prices quickly grew during subsequent years of construction. The map below depicts the vast number of acres populated with the more than 2,000 homes built by the Gosnell firm in Alexandria from 1947-1967.
Jefferson Manor was the first Alexandria subdivision established in 1947 by the Gosnell firm. 550 semi-detached, duplex homes were built near the Huntington Metro station.
The Evening Star ad, 5 April 1947
The Evening Star ad, 26 August 1948
In 1950, Gosnell began developing 80 semi-detached, duplex homes in Beacon Manor, located around what ultimately became Bucknell Manor Park.
The Evening Star ad, 18 Nov 1950
The Evening Star ad, 12 May 1951
Construction on Bucknell Manor subdivision consisted of about 600 duplex and detached Cape-Cod style starter homes, with the first one open for showing in December, 1951. Click HERE to read more about the manor in The Washington Post.
The Evening Star ad, 19 January 1952
The Evening Star ad, 13 July 1953
Marlan Park was a later, small sub-set of the Bucknell Manor subdivision, with 48 individually styled homes at the western end of Quander Road, Rollins Drive, and on Fort Hunt Road, just across the street from the future Westgrove subdivision.
The Evening Standard ad, 27 November 1954
The Westgrove subdivision consisting of 136 homes located between Fort Hunt Road and the now George Washington Parkway (Mount Vernon Boulevard then) was built from 1954 to 1957 on 60 acres overlooking the Potomac River. The Gosnell firm was targeting a more upscale buyer, as reflected in their advertising;
“Westgrove…the location worthy of your next home.The Gosnell firm has created Westgrove for those families who are growing, improving their positions, and have enough equity in their present home to afford the home they really want and need.”
“The old and the new…Westgrove on Mount Vernon Parkway overlooking the Potomac. Plan a visit this weekend to one of the area’s most beautiful residential communities. Westgrove is but twenty minutes from D.C. The Gosnell firm has captured much of the grace and charm of the old Virginia homes, and have kept the same location and view that prompted our first President to build his famous home in this area.”
The Evening Standard ad, 1 December 1956
Waynewood The Gosnell firm began building the Waynewood subdivision in 1957 on a 300-acre track two miles south of Westgrove on the George Washington Parkway. Many of the Westgrove home models were built as well as new designs by architect Richard H. Gomersall. A total of 753 homes were constructed.
The Washington Post-Times Herald ad 7 September 1957
Riverside Gardens was the last subdivision in Northern Virginia built by the Gosnell firm from 1963-1967. A total of 219 homes were built on wooded lots near INOVA Mount Vernon Hospital.
The Evening Star ad, 20 July 1963
The Evening Standard ad, 15 June 1963