Buckingham Apartment Complex, Building No. 12, 4007, 4009, 4011 Fifth Street North, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia

Significance: Constructed between 1937 and 1953 the Buckingham Apartment Complex is an important innovative example of garden apartment planning of a large, self-contained, full-service, residential community. Developer, Allie Freed, provided the innovative guidance for the entire development. His ideas regarding prefabrication and mass-productions techniques as applied on the Buckingham construction site were revolutionary producing economies of time and money. Sponsored by the Committee for Economic and Social Progress, under the direction of Freed, Buckingham is an important component of the influential movement to provide affordable, well-planned housing for the majority of Americans, solely financed through the private sector. Planner Henry Wright's idealistic scheme integrated affordable housing, industrial technology, the environment, pedestrian movement, and automobile traffic to form a prototype in this area. This development represents and espouses the doctrines of a more humane urban design philosophy. These principles included low-density superblocks, curving streets, separation of automobiles and pedestrians, shallow building plans allowing improved light and ventilation, and large landscaped common spaces. A commercial strip containing a post office, theatre, and drug store provided convenient well-planned services within walking distance of all apartments. Pathways throughout the complex connect each building forming a continuous interconnected park system. A a result of the spirited direction of Allie S. Freed, and the superior planning and design by Henry Wright, the Buckingham complex stands apart from other garden apartment developments and remains significant today.
Survey number: HABS VA-1339-A