In our enthusiasm for Chestnut Hill's rich inventory of large and impressive houses, we may overlook the extraordinary breadth of other housing options in the Northwest. From double houses to triple houses to quadruple houses to row houses to groups of houses arranged in picturesque "courts" and, finally, apartment buildings, our area offers many different options and price points.

This diverse housing landscape didn't emerge by accident. It reflects more than three centuries of thoughtful development, social reform, and architectural innovation that transformed Chestnut Hill from a rural outpost into one of Philadelphia's most distinctive neighborhoods – one that has long embraced housing diversity as key to community vitality.

Back in the earliest days of European settlement of the “German Township” (now Germantown, Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill), houses were built in different sizes and configurations.  In most cases, only the grandest stone houses from that early period have survived: Grumblethorpe, the Johnson House, Robertson’s, Cresheim Cottage (home of Jansen restaurant), Shoes by Blain, the Detweiler House (which may be engulfed by an apartment building), and a few others scattered along Germantown Avenue. But there were many others.

Adjacent to those bigger houses were clustered many more modest structures of all types and purposes. Typically only those built of stone have survived, leaving only a scattered record of the accumulation of such related support buildings. One of the best surviving assemblages is the Stagecrafters Theater complex.

These early buildings tell a fascinating story about historical living arrangements. By modern standards, they would have been considered multifamily housing – typically housing multiple family generations, servants, and sometimes enslaved people. They also usually contained various types of businesses, some run by family members and others by tenants, long before modern restrictive zoning codes emerged.

The 19th century brought significant changes to land use patterns, as residential buildings mostly moved away from the busy commercial strip along Germantown Avenue. This shift was strongly influenced by two important "influencers" of the period: architect Alexander Jackson Davis and landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing. Together, they pioneered the suburban ideal of the single-family Victorian villa surrounded by a decorative garden.

This new vision of domestic life was promoted relentlessly by publications like Godey's Lady's Book (first published in Philadelphia in 1830), which presented it as both healthful and virtuous for the growing middle class – a class made possible by the very factories they were trying to escape.

The arrival of the Reading Railroad's commuter line to Chestnut Hill in 1854 transformed this vision into reality. The nearby streets of Norwood, Summit, Prospect, Stenton and Bethlehem Pike were soon dotted with large single-family villas, many housing families supported by husbands who commuted to professional or managerial jobs in Center City. Like their earlier counterparts, these homes typically housed servants in multifamily arrangements, as viewers of "The Gilded Age" might recognize.

This pattern of rail-accessible suburban development spread across the nation. The first such intentionally planned suburban community is believed to have been Llewellyn Park in northern New Jersey, designed by Alexander Jackson Davis himself. It was also one of America's first "gated" communities. The concept proved irresistible, spawning Garden City on Long Island, Roland Park and Guilford outside Baltimore, Druid Hills outside Atlanta, Riverside outside Chicago, and a cluster of towns west of Boston, among many others.

Back in Chestnut Hill, the growing community needed more than just grand villas. Servants, shopkeepers, and artisans required housing within walking distance of their work. The 19th century saw the construction of many smaller single, twin, or row houses on the side streets off the Avenue, primarily – though not exclusively – on the East side.

The post-Civil War era ushered in a new chapter with Henry Howard Houston's real estate development along the future Chestnut Hill West train line. Even before the line opened in 1885, Houston applied the real estate development expertise he initially gained in Germantown to the streets near the future Saint Martin's station. His careful market research had revealed an opportunity for "bridge" housing – homes larger than the East side row houses but smaller than the earlier villas – to serve Philadelphia's expanding middle-class workforce.

The resulting groups of "twin" houses along Willow Grove, Springfield, Moreland, and Mermaid on the west side of the railroad tracks showcased evolving architectural styles. The earliest homes featured classic French Second Empire design – some were modified with Eastlake details, while others adopted the more updated Shingle or Colonial Revival styles. Houston also developed larger single-family houses in the then-fashionable Queen Anne style along Saint Martin's Lane and Seminole Avenue. His model house, the beautifully preserved Saveur House at 8205 Seminole Avenue, still stands as testament to this period.

When Henry Howard Houston died in 1895, the development of his extensive land holdings in Chestnut Hill and Roxborough passed to his son Samuel Houston and son-in-law Dr. George Woodward. Their era coincided with evolving thoughts about suburban development. Urban planners, concerned about the impact of congested and polluted industrial urban life, were seeking more comprehensive solutions. In 1898, English urban planner Ebenezer Howard published "To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform" (re-published in 1902 as "Garden Cities of To-Morrow"), advocating for planned suburban cities that incorporated a broader range of housing options and services.

Dr. Woodward, who had given up his medical practice, immersed himself in public health and Philadelphia politics. Appointed to the Board of Health in 1897, he championed water filtration to combat typhoid outbreaks. His interest in public health soon led him to focus on improving worker housing, both for health and moral benefits. His wife, Gertrude Houston Woodward, shared these social reform interests through her work with the Episcopal Church.

Woodward's involvement with the Octavia Hill Association – inspired by English reformer and Socialist Octavia Hill (1838-1912) – deepened his commitment to providing housing and services for poor and working-class people. He adapted the principles of the utopian Garden City movement to housing development in Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy in the early decades of the 20th Century.

Working with a carefully selected trio of architects – Edmund Gilchrist, Robert McGoodwin, and Louis Duhring – Dr. Woodward studied the latest real estate trends and styles from both the East Coast and England. His first worker housing projects, launched around 1910 along the first block of East Benezet Street, included both twins and the innovative "quad" houses designed by Louis Duhring. These quad houses offered four attached residences, with service functions clustered in the middle and public rooms overlooking private gardens. 

The design, which blended Colonial Revival and Tudor styles, proved so successful that Woodward replicated it in Mount Airy's Lincoln Drive and on Stenton Avenue in Wyndmoor. Interestingly, Frank Lloyd Wright later used a similar quad format for his remarkable "Suntop" Houses in Ardmore (1939), though whether he drew inspiration from Woodward's designs remains a matter of speculation. 

Woodward's architectural innovation continued with an unusual cluster of three large attached houses in the French Normal style at 300-306 West Willow Grove Avenue (1913), which many passersby still don't recognize as attached homes.

Likely drawing inspiration from the grouped housing "courts" at Ebenezer Howard's model garden city of Letchworth and from Hampsted Garden Suburb (both north of London), Dr. Woodward collaborated with his architects to create similar "courts" in Chestnut Hill. Edmund Gilchrist designed Linden Court (1915), while Louis Duhring created Half Moon Court (1917), Roanoke Court (1921), and Winston Court (1925). These courts continued Houston's tradition of providing comfortable clusters of houses for middle-income tenants, filling the gap between worker row houses and larger single-family homes near Wissahickon Park.

While Houston and Woodward primarily focused on other housing types, they did construct one group of low-rise 'garden' apartments at 220 West Evergreen Avenue in 1924. Designed by Robert McGoodwin in a simplified Collegiate Gothic style, this building was situated across from the railroad tracks and, according to oral history, likely served people of more modest means, including servants working in nearby grand houses. Another notable example, though not developed by the Houston or Woodward families, is the Highland Court Apartments at 212 West Highland Avenue.

Throughout the 1920s, other developers were actively constructing both garden apartment buildings and high-rises across the Northwest. McCallum Street, just off Lincoln Drive, features two particularly handsome examples, with similar buildings scattered nearby. These structures continue to offer a range of rental, condominium and cooperative units at relatively modest prices compared to single-family houses, while maintaining their original quality construction.

The crown jewel of these developments is the Alden Park complex, straddling the border of East Falls and Germantown. Built in the 1920s on 38 acres of the former Justus C. Strawbridge estate, this complex features multiple high-rise buildings designed by Edwin Rorke in Jacobean Revival style. As Philadelphia's first cooperative housing complex, its largest units boasted fireplaces and multiple bedrooms, targeting buyers who sought single-family home comfort with Jazz Age apartment convenience.

Recently, through the efforts of West Mount Airy Neighbors, 30 such buildings received landmark protection from the Historical Commission as a 'thematic' historic district, recognizing their architectural significance in the Northwest's evolving multifamily housing landscape."

The Great Depression and World War II paused most development efforts. When activity resumed post-war, the Houston and Woodward family faced a changed world. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Samuel Houston collaborated with Robert McGoodwin to create new groupings of semi-attached houses in a simplified Colonial style, including those on Tohopeka Lane in Chestnut Hill and two locations in Roxborough. Unlike the earlier courts, these newer developments all featured private parking garages.

Other Houston descendants took different approaches to meet changing times. Donald Davidson Dodge, husband of Houston granddaughter Gertrude Houston Henry, chose to demolish his wife's childhood home, Stonehurst, after the war. In its place, he developed rental apartments, enlisting innovative immigrant architect Oscar Stonorov to design the Cherokee Village Apartments in the emerging International Style, with site planning and landscaping by Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, who recommended retaining many of the existing trees.

The following decade brought the more controversial development of Chestnut Hill Village on the former Morgan estate's east side. Unlike Cherokee Village, this complex's site planning, architectural design, and landscaping proved less distinguished.

Today, both developments have passed their half-century mark and are undergoing necessary renovations and upgrades. Despite their contrasting designs, both continue to provide vital affordable housing stock in the upper Northwest.

When the Houston and Woodward families planned and built much of the West side of Chestnut Hill, they understood that vibrant communities require variety – in housing options, shops, and services. This legacy of thoughtful development and housing diversity continues to distinguish our neighborhood from more uniform suburban communities, creating the vibrant, mixed-income neighborhood we know today.