Carlin Hall
The residents of the growing village soon felt the need for a place to gather
Carlin Hall, is the center of the Glencarlyn neighborhood, the earliest planned suburban subdivision in Arlington County.
Constructed in 1892, Carlin Hall (5711 Fourth Street, South, Arlington, Virginia) is a tall one-story, frame, Late Victorian cross-plan community hall. The exterior walls are covered with wooden siding of two designs separated by a wooden belt course: vertical beaded board below the belt course and five-inch German siding above. The belt also serves as a sill for the windows. The wooden cornice extends fully around the building, and the four gable pediments are carried on simple wooden brackets. Twin entrances flank five double-hung sash windows on the principal (south) elevation; a later porch shelters the west doorway.
Centered atop the roof is a four-sided wooden cupola with a pyramidal metal roof. A low, shed-roofed addition in the northwest quadrant of the cross plan contains the kitchen. The meeting hall occupies the center of the building, with a second room (the alcove) to the east and the entryway, bathrooms, and kitchen to the west. Stairs in the foyer lead to a loft used for storage.
Carlin Hall is in the center of the Glencarlyn neighborhood, the earliest planned suburban subdivision in Arlington County. It fronts on Fourth South Street and is set on a flat, grassy, fenced lot with several sizeable red cedar trees. Behind the building is a playground and a small wooden storage shed. To the east is the Ball-Carlin Cemetery, which contains the graves of members of the Ball and Carlin families, early residents of the area. Now owned by Arlington County, Carlin Hall serves as a community meeting hall.
Carlin Hall is historically significant for its association with the development of the Glencarlyn neighborhood. From its construction in 1892 until about 1920, when it became a school, Carlin Hall was the single most important structure in the community, serving as a meeting place for the newly formed civic association and the Episcopal church congregation, as well as providing a place for dances, plays, holiday festivities, and a variety of other community social events. The work of local carpenter Theodore Bailey, Carlin Hall is also architecturally significant for the integrity of its Late Victorian vernacular design, proportions, use of materials, and detailing.
The Glencarlyn neighborhood, called Carlin Springs until 1896, is situated on a plateau formed by Four Mile Run and Long Branch in western Arlington County, near the Fairfax County border. The neighborhood began in April 1887 when William Wallace Curtis and Samuel Swinfin Burdett purchased approximately 134 acres from the heirs of James Harvey Carlin. Two months later, Curtis and Burdett, Washington law partners announced the subdivision of 60 acres of their property into 360 lots, each 50 by 120 feet, to be sold for $100 per lot.
They also formed The Carlin Springs Co-Operative Association, a joint stock company to be composed of all the lot owners, and conveyed to it the remaining 74 acres not platted, with a portion set aside for a community park.
Curtis died in September 1888, just as the new venture got off the ground. Burdett, however, built a home for himself in Glencarlyn, where he lived with his wife until he died in 1914. A man of considerable talent and experience, Burdett played an instrumental role in the new community's development. Born in England, he emigrated to the United States at age twelve, settling in Ohio. He studied law at Oberlin College. In 1861, he joined the First Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, and was promoted to captain. From 1869 to 1873, he served as a Republican Representative to Congress from Missouri. In 1874, President Grant appointed him Commissioner of the General Land Office, a position he held until 1878 when he and Curtis opened a Washington law office. In 1885 and 1886, he was elected commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Curtis and Burdett chose the location for their new neighborhood well. The site was near Washington and Alexandria but was still rural, and the Washington, Ohio & Western Railroad ran nearby, allowing easy access to the city. Its site on a level plateau, surrounded by hill slopes, streams, and forest, provided an appealing setting.
Curtis and Burdett addressed their advertising to "all men and women of moderate means, or who receive stated salaries." The first deed to a purchaser was recorded in October 1888, and the subdivision plat was attached and recorded with it. By 1890, fourteen new houses had been erected.
The residents of the growing village soon felt the need for a place to gather. The county remained rural, with only a scattering of crossroads settlements and travel along the existing roads, none of which had a hard surface that was chancy at best.
In 1892, the Carlin's Hall Association was chartered as a stock corporation, with lot owners purchasing shares to build a community meeting hall. Construction began that spring on two lots located roughly at the village center. The carpenter chosen was Theodore Bailey (1838-1905) of Bailey's Crossroads. He was the grandson of circus founder Hachaliah Bailey, who purchased land in Fairfax County in 1837 for animal training and winter quarters. Theodore's parents, Mariah and Lewis Bailey settled at Bailey's Crossroads and raised their ten children there. On March 23, 1892, Bailey's bid promised to "furnish all material and build Hall, as plans and specifications call for...without shingle roof [as in an earlier proposal] but sheathed for a tin roof for $1379.29." Although little is known about his other work, Bailey did build St. Paul's (Episcopal) Chapel in Fairfax County (now Alexandria) in 1889. He incorporated existing carriage houses into the building's plan to create a traditional cross shape. Thus, he was already familiar with this form when he began work on Carlin Hall.
From its completion, the new hall (named Curtis Hall in honor of William W. Curtis) quickly became the focus of village civic life. Early in 1893, the Carlin Springs Village Improvement Association was
formed, and regular meetings were held at the Hall. Samuel Burdett was elected the group's first president. Minutes for the association during its first five years reflect the growing community's issues, including improving the train schedule, establishing a school, planting trees, building sidewalks, setting up telephone lines, seeking road improvements, and addressing sanitation concerns. The Hall also was used for Episcopal church services from 1892 until 1910.
Community life, too, revolved around the Hall. Hadassah Backus, Curtis's niece, born in Glencarlyn in 1888, wrote about those early years: "About once a month, there was a social at the Hall. Ladies in the village contributed cakes and lemonade. There were games for young and old .... When the young began to get sleepy, the grown folks would dance." She also told of plays and musicals, with the "stage" set up in the smaller "alcove" room, which also served to store the platform and removable communion rail used in church services. Fireworks displays at the Hall on the Fourth of July were paid for with pooled resources.
In 1920, after the Glencarlyn School had been destroyed by fire, the Carlin's Hall Association voted to donate the use of the Hall to the School Board, with the provision that it be given back when no longer needed. The Hall served as Glencarlyn School for thirty years, then was transferred to the Carlin's Hall Association in 1953. (These transfers were not recorded in the land records.)
The Arlington County School Board Minutes for this period record changes made to the building, including installing a furnace, modern plumbing, and a septic tank in 1931. In 1953, in preparation for returning the structure to the Glencarlyn community, the School Board ordered the following changes: installation of tile flooring; replacement of light fixtures, doors, and entrance porches; replastering; creation of an outside entrance to the basement and sealing of the inside entrance; and closing in of the balcony (now the 10ft), which opened into the hall.
Following a fire in 1961, the original standing seam metal roof and some rafters were replaced. The existing metal roof was installed in 1988 as part of an exterior rehabilitation of the building undertaken by Arlington County. Finding it increasingly difficult to care for the Hall, the Carlin's Hall Association in 1962 deeded the property to Arlington County for use as a recreational or cultural center.
The Arlington County Board designated Carlin Hall a local historic district in 1978. Since 1977, the Glencarlyn Citizens Association has managed activities at Carlin Hall on behalf of the County. Today, the Hall hosts a cooperative preschool, exercise classes, birthday parties, civic meetings, and seasonal gatherings, playing a vital and continuing role in community life.
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