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The fact of the matter is that Friendship Heights is one neighborhood/commercial district that straddles the DC/MD border and includes portions of Chevy Chase, Bethesda, and NW DC. It should be kept in mind that Bethesda isn't even incorporated and is a census-designated place under the jurisdiction of Montgomery County.
It literally sits on the line of DC/MD. Bloomingdales and Clydes, and the Chevy Chase Collection stores are on the MD side. You cross the street to the Mazza Gallerie/ Neiman Marcus side and you're in Washington. The Metro tunnel itself underground probably straddles both jurisdictions, but when you actually come up the escalators to ground level you're on the MD side of the street.
It literally sits on the line of DC/MD. Bloomingdales and Clydes, and the Chevy Chase Collection stores are on the MD side. You cross the street to the Mazza Gallerie/ Neiman Marcus side and you're in Washington. The Metro tunnel itself underground probably straddles both jurisdictions, but when you actually come up the escalators to ground level you're on the MD side of the street.
Precisely, which makes the division among the three quite arbitrary. The former Mazza Gallerie, Friendship Center, Chevy Chase Pavilion, the Shops at Wisconsin Place, and the Collection at Chevy Chase are all individual retail complexes but, along with other individual retailers (Brooks Brothers, Banana Republic, Saks Fifth Avenue, Louis Vuitton, Gap, etc.), collectively constitute the Friendship Heights commercial district that straddles the border of NW DC and Montgomery County. To say that whatever is on the DC side or within Chevy Chase proper doesn't count isn't very practical IMO.
Great question! Though I'd concur with others that Buckhead (admittedly not yet that familiar with, but hope to revisit later this year) is a blend between Bethesda and Tysons, and obviously the two regions have different growth patterns in many ways -- e.g., greater DC's favored quarter is split by the Potomac River
What's especially intriguing about this comparison is that both areas' heavy rail stations opened in 1984, and both stations were intentionally sited at the hub of new commercial centers that stood a few blocks away from the historic commercial center (Buckhead Village, Woodmont Triangle). Obviously, Montgomery County was better able to focus later growth into a transit-supportive format, but it also has a much busier rail network to tie into.
Bethesda greatly benefitted from having the Capital Crescent corridor, not just as a very pleasant bike trail right into town, but also because that adjacent industrial land was room that it could grow into in the 2000s.
Since I'd always meant to look this up: the platforms at Friendship Heights are entirely south of Western and thus in DC. https://ghostsofdc.org/2016/06/22/19...consin-avenue/
But, it is kind of fun that you can stand in the Wisconsin/Western "rotary" and choose between two exits to Maryland, and two to DC. Just hope that someday soon, the buildings will be as tall on the "city" side as on the "suburban" side :-/
(No, the stubbiness of buildings on the DC side is *not* due to the Height Act; the WeddingWire building is 13 stories which is just a bit taller than DC's 130' height limit. The DC-side buildings are short because powerful Ward 3 NIMBYs
Great question! Though I'd concur with others that Buckhead (admittedly not yet that familiar with, but hope to revisit later this year) is a blend between Bethesda and Tysons, and obviously the two regions have different growth patterns in many ways -- e.g., greater DC's favored quarter is split by the Potomac River
What's especially intriguing about this comparison is that both areas' heavy rail stations opened in 1984, and both stations were intentionally sited at the hub of new commercial centers that stood a few blocks away from the historic commercial center (Buckhead Village, Woodmont Triangle). Obviously, Montgomery County was better able to focus later growth into a transit-supportive format, but it also has a much busier rail network to tie into.
Bethesda greatly benefitted from having the Capital Crescent corridor, not just as a very pleasant bike trail right into town, but also because that adjacent industrial land was room that it could grow into in the 2000s.
Since I'd always meant to look this up: the platforms at Friendship Heights are entirely south of Western and thus in DC. https://ghostsofdc.org/2016/06/22/19...consin-avenue/
But, it is kind of fun that you can stand in the Wisconsin/Western "rotary" and choose between two exits to Maryland, and two to DC. Just hope that someday soon, the buildings will be as tall on the "city" side as on the "suburban" side :-/
(No, the stubbiness of buildings on the DC side is *not* due to the Height Act; the WeddingWire building is 13 stories which is just a bit taller than DC's 130' height limit. The DC-side buildings are short because powerful Ward 3 NIMBYs
I wonder if the platforms themselves were just north of Western in Maryland the station would still be named Friendship Heights which is also the name of the CDP on the Maryland side, or would it be named Bethesda or Chevy Chase instead.
It would have been nice if the Takoma Park station were also underground. It would have had more cohesiveness as a neighborhood spanning the DC/MD border like Friendship Heights/Bethesda/Chevy Chase.
I wonder if the platforms themselves were just north of Western in Maryland the station would still be named Friendship Heights which is also the name of the CDP on the Maryland side, or would it be named Bethesda or Chevy Chase instead.
It would have been nice if the Takoma Park station were also underground. It would have had more cohesiveness as a neighborhood spanning the DC/MD border like Friendship Heights/Bethesda/Chevy Chase.
Yeah that’s what confused me. I just looked at the dc metro map and Friendship Heights is shown as being inside the Maryland border. That’s why I kept mentioning that this stop was in Chevy Chase (which is where I always remembered it being.
In actuality, I think theResident describes it correctly; because of the long tunnels, you can technically enter/exit the station in either MD or DC , since it sits directly on the border of the two.
Yeah that’s what confused me. I just looked at the dc metro map and Friendship Heights is shown as being inside the Maryland border. That’s why I kept mentioning that this stop was in Chevy Chase (which is where I always remembered it being.
In actuality, I think theResident describes it correctly; because of the long tunnels, you can technically enter/exit the station in either MD or DC , since it sits directly on the border of the two.
I gotcha. This doesn't exactly make things around that area less confusing LOL.
There's a good mile or so of suburban scale development between Friendship Heights and DT Bethesda. Wisconsin Avenue transitions quickly out of the urban grid into divided highway north of the District Line. Never considered Friendship Heights part of Bethesda, more like 2-3 blocks of urban DC development that crossed the border before things transition to suburban densities. Additionally, Friendship Heights associates with Chevy Chase, not Bethesda, even though the B vs. CC zip code boundaries pick up part of the neighborhood. There are stores and apartments there claiming to be "of Chevy Chase".
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