An 1890 plat first recorded as Fostoria, joined around 1930 with the newer Overlee Knolls subdivision into a single district of 681 contributing buildings.
Two subdivisions, one district, and one name that trips people up. Overlee is a single word, so searches for Over Lee Knolls will scatter. The older half, Highland Park, was platted in 1890 under the name Fostoria and is among the oldest recorded plats in Arlington County. The newer Overlee Knolls joined it around 1930, and the two have been represented by one civic association ever since. The National Register listed the combined Highland Park-Overlee Knolls Historic District on August 18, 2011 under VDHR file 000-9703, counting 681 contributing buildings.
Highland Park was recorded when Arlington was still Alexandria County, four decades before Overlee Knolls arrived. Plats of that vintage were laid out to nineteenth-century conventions, and the lot dimensions, street widths and block depths reflect that rather than the standards used in the 1920s and 1930s subdivisions elsewhere in the county. It also means the original Fostoria name still surfaces in title work and older records, which is worth knowing when a search or a survey comes back using a term you have never seen on a street sign.
Because the district merges an 1890 plat with a 1930-era subdivision, the housing spans a long arc, and the two sections were built to entirely different construction norms. Pricing the district as one thing is a mistake. Establish which plat a house sits on and what year it was built from county records, then choose comparables inside that section. The 681 contributing buildings counted in the National Register survey give a sense of scale, but they do not imply uniformity.
The 2011 listing recognizes the district's significance. It does not create design review. Exterior changes here do not require a Certificate of Appropriateness, which is a requirement of Arlington's local historic districts - a separate and much shorter list. The controls that actually govern a project are zoning height, setback and lot coverage limits for the district, the county tree preservation ordinance and stormwater requirements, and Arlington's Expanded Housing Options rules, which as of August 2026 remained in effect while the case was pending before the Supreme Court of Virginia.
The single civic association covering both subdivisions is the reason the combined name exists at all, and it is how the neighborhood presents itself to the county. For buyers, the practical consequence is that listings may be marketed as Overlee Knolls, as Highland Park, or under the combined district name, so a search using only one of the three will miss inventory. Arlington Public Schools sets attendance by address rather than by neighborhood name, and boundaries are adjusted periodically, so confirm the current elementary, middle and high school for the exact address with APS.
Highland Park-Overlee Knolls sits within Arlington — that guide covers the zoning, permitting and site constraints that apply across the wider area.
Artur can confirm what applies to a specific address here — lot, zoning, association documents and school assignment — before you write an offer.
