Spring Valley Shopping Center (Massachusetts Avenu - View this location on map  Planned cluster of neighborhood commercial buildings, created as a village-like complex to complement the design character and prestige of affluent planned neighborhoods nearby; exemplifies the use of zoning regulations to control commercial sprawl; influenced by model neighborhood schemes of the 1920s, which abandoned continuous commercial strips (as this area was zoned in 1920) in favor of predefined commercial nodes (as zoned in 1928); prototype of the neighborhood drive-in shopping center, with centralized management and controlled tenancy, designed to offer a complete range of shops along with auto servicing; illustrates the evolution of retail business as a suburban convenience; typifies the Williamsburg-inspired Colonial Revival style popular in mid-century; significant work of pioneering real estate developers W.C. & A.N. Miller 48 4874 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington , DC Historical |