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Alright, here goes...defining Falls Church by it's areas by zip code...
You have 5 zip codes:
22041 - Bailey's Crossroads area
22042 - Jefferson
22043 - Pimmit Hills
22044 - Lake Barcroft
22046 - City Limits Falls Church
So hoping to define/redefine them by area. My understanding is that all 5 zip codes are Falls Church addresses, but all but the one within the city limits, are actually part of Fairfax County.
So, my other understanding is that just the city limit one is the one that is generally considered desireable by those who want a Falls Church address?
Just as an aside, for mail, do people ever write: Jefferson, VA? Or always Falls Church? Just curious, as sometimes I see a reference to Jefferson, etc.
Pimmit Hills seems to be going towards Tysons direction. What defines that area? Are there areas mostly residential? I mean, the ones who aren't within the Falls Church city limits, but contain the address? I suppose they spend most of their time in the Tyson's area for the most part? That is where their stores are? DO they have much business districts within their area?
22041 seems to be Baileys Crossroads area? Does this area have a lot in common with South Arlington? Do people in this zip code end up spending more time in Arlington or that mall in that area than going into Falls Church city limits itself?
22044 Lake Barcroft....defined by the Lake? Mostly residential? More expensive...is the lake popular at all for Nova residents? Any public access to that lake, or anything to draw people there? Or simply a lake with houses carving up the property around it, and they generally keep it to themselves type of thing?
22042 Jefferson. What is Jefferson? This seems to be closest to the Merrifield, which is an area redefining itself in the future. Sounds like they are trying to build a centerpiece in the area for the locals of the area. So I guess this is good for people who live in Jefferson? Jefferson also seems to be about the middle of Tysons and Baileys and not far from Falls Church city limits...so I imagine they end up in all of those places quite often?
For all of these various Falls Church areas....is 66 the best way into the city...or does 50 become a default route that bypasses some of the traffic - or are they both just bad.
Lastly...if you were to choose your favorite area or favorite two (considering you might say city limits FC)...what would you choose and why?
22043 is bigger than Pimmit Hills, and all of 22046 is not within the city limits of Falls Church.
22043 encompasses parts of the areas around Shreve Road (other parts are in 22046).
Baileys Crossroads is nothing like 22202 and has little in common with the Fairlington part of 22206 or 04, but it may have some similarities with some other parts of So. Arlington.
I'll let others who are more familiar with FC respond to your other questions.
Yeah, there's a lot of 22043 that's not Pimmit Hills. I used to live by the corner of Haycock Road and Westmoreland Street. That's in 22043, Fairfax County, and Haycock Elementary/Longfellow Middle/McLean High School pyramid.
Sometimes to get into the city without using 66 we'd take Westmoreland north to Kirby, Kirby east to 123, then take Chain Bridge Road (or take Kirby to the GW Parkway and take that to the Key Bridge).
Pimmit Hills is mostly residential, but there are two strip malls on either side of Route 7/Leesburg Pike. One has Whole Foods, Starbucks, restaurants, etc.; the other has Trader Joe's, post office, restaurants, etc. There is at least one gas station/convenience store on either side of the street, and there's a branch of the Fairfax County Public Library a little further up towards Tysons Corner. Pimmit Hills has a lot of small-ish ranch houses, but there are some large apartment complexes along Leesburg Pike too.
I have friends that live in 22042 and I've never heard anyone refer to that area as "Jefferson." They just say they live near Loehmanns Plaza. Or, further east on Route 50 closer to Seven Corners, that area is Sleepy Hollow.
Before moving to Falls Church, I lived south of Columbia Pike on the Arlington County (22204) side of Bailey's Crossroads. I went all over the place but I did most of my daily needs shopping (Giant, CVS, Hollywood Video, Chevy Chase Bank) right there in Bailey's Crossroads. Even later, when I lived in Falls Church, I very rarely did any shopping in the city limits (aside from Giant, CVS, and restaurants in Falls Plaza Shopping Center at the corner of Haycock and Route 7, which is the northern border of the city). Too much traffic, too many cars, parking can be a nightmare (except for the 4Ps, an exception was often made for that. ) I did a lot more shopping at Seven Corners and in McLean.
If I was going to move back over there, I would live in 22043 again, right where I lived before. (Not the same house, though, what a dump.) It was a mile from West Falls Church Metro and a little more than a mile to East Falls Church Metro. Good school district, close to major roads, nice area overall.
The zip codes cover arbitrary areas rather than clearly defined communities, so it's of limited utility to generalize about zip codes.
22041 includes the Bailey's Crossroads area and Culmore, which are older areas with lots of apartments and immigrants. It also includes the southern half of Lake Barcroft (which is a private lake with no public access) and some other affluent areas near the eastern part of Annandale.
22042 is a mix of comparatively small SFHs and garden apartments that is bisected by Route 50 (Arlington Boulevard). It's the part of Falls Church where the most Vietnamese currently live (even though Eden Center is in 22044). No one really calls it "Jefferson," though there is a county library with that name in 22042. There are some nice neighborhoods, but there aren't any really affluent areas there, such as you'd find in the other Falls Church zip codes. People who don't want or can't afford a big, newer house increasingly seem to be attracted to some of the older neighborhoods of Cape Cods in places like Greenway Downs.
22043 includes Pimmit Hills, a large neighborhood of small (900-1200 SF), post-WW II homes close to Tysons. There are a fair number of homes with additions or tear-downs in Pimmit Hills, but it's the most affordable housing that's really close to Tysons. 22043 also includes quite a few apartment buildings (tall and garden) and some upscale neighborhoods on both sides of Route 7. The West Falls Church metro station is in 22043. The people who claim they live in the "McLean part of Falls Church" generally live in 22043 or the northern portion of 22046 that lies outside the City of Falls Church.
22044 includes the northern half of Lake Barcroft and some affluent SFH areas near Sleepy Hollow Road. It also includes Seven Corners, Eden Center and some run-down garden apartments near Seven Corners and Culmore.
The bulk of the 22046 zip code consists of the City of Falls Church, but part of the 22046 zip code lies in Fairfax County to the north and west of the city. The City of Falls Church consists primarily of SFHs on small lots. While there are some apartment buildings (and new condos) in the City, there aren't as many garden apartment complexes as in the 22041, 22042, 22043 and 22044 zip codes, which is why the test scores at the City of Falls Church schools are comparatively high.
It's hard to generalize, but I don't think people who live in the parts of the county with Falls Church addresses necessarily spend a lot of time in the City of Falls Church, where it's often a pain to find a parking space. Most people in 22041, for example, would shop either in Annandale or Bailey's Crossroads before they'd go to the City of Falls Church. Similarly, I think a lot of people in 22043 would spend at least as much time in McLean or Vienna as they would in the City of Falls Church.
Lake Barcroft is a no-wake lake, so only electric boats are permitted on the lake. If you do not have property directly on the lake with a dock, there are access points for residents in the neighborhood, but it's not a county property, so is not open to the general public. It's a very peaceful lake, and people I know who live there enjoy it, especially being so convenient to downtown.
The housing stock is very dated, in terms of style and plan, though many have been updated. There are a number of mid-century modern homes, mixed with split-levels and split-foyers. There have been some tear-downs in recent years, but nothing akin to wholesale McMansionization, especially on the lake where the lots are smaller. Off the lake, there are some larger houses on larger properties, but the same general styles are common, splits, contemporaries, and a few vintage colonials, though there are also some extensively modernized splits that are actually healthy sizes (4,000-5,000 square feet).
Merrifield is really a separate area from Falls Church, as the Beltway divides the area. On Route 50, Fairview Park separates the areas near the Jefferson Library and Falls Church High School, with some large commercial buildings, and some townhouse/condo developments closer to the Lee Highway entrance to Fairview Park. It's a series of overpasses, such that there's no integration of walking/biking trails, either on Route 50 (Arlington Boulevard) or Route 29 (Lee Highway). The new focus in Merrifield is to create a live-work-shop-Metro relationship within the area, itself, but of course there will be shops and restaurants to attract people from neighboring Falls Church, just as it will attract from Fairfax and Vienna, too, when completed.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
Lake Barcroft is a no-wake lake, so only electric boats are permitted on the lake. If you do not have property directly on the lake with a dock, there are access points for residents in the neighborhood, but it's not a county property, so is not open to the general public. It's a very peaceful lake, and people I know who live there enjoy it, especially being so convenient to downtown.
The housing stock is very dated, in terms of style and plan, though many have been updated. There are a number of mid-century modern homes, mixed with split-levels and split-foyers. There have been some tear-downs in recent years, but nothing akin to wholesale McMansionization, especially on the lake where the lots are smaller. Off the lake, there are some larger houses on larger properties, but the same general styles are common, splits, contemporaries, and a few vintage colonials, though there are also some extensively modernized splits that are actually healthy sizes (4,000-5,000 square feet).
Most of the Lake Barcroft houses were built in the 1950s and 1960s in what was considered a contemporary style that remains relatively rare in NoVa (Hollin Hills in Alexandria is another example). They are "very dated" in the same sense as homes in other parts of NoVa, such as Rosemont, North Arlington or Mantua, that date back to the 1960s or earlier, which is to say that they may not have all the amenities that homebuyers started to demand in the 1980s and thereafter. Many, however, have been updated. In addition, buying a house without all the latest appliances, etc., may be less of an issue now than it was in, say, 2004, since a lot of homebuyers have scaled back their demands and are finding value in older homes that aren't necessarily 4,000 SF or more.
I live in 22043, and I love being right by the W&OD trail. That being said, its hardly a 20-minute bike ride to main street falls church. So I go there alot to ride around, shop, eat, etc.
I am probably equidistant from downtown falls church and tyson's, but until tyson's is more bike/pedestrian friendly, I try to avoid it. A 2-mile drive to the tyson's mall easily takes 40 minutes during rush hour
Most of the Lake Barcroft houses were built in the 1950s and 1960s in what was considered a contemporary style that remains relatively rare in NoVa (Hollin Hills in Alexandria is another example). They are "very dated" in the same sense as homes in other parts of NoVa, such as Rosemont, North Arlington or Mantua, that date back to the 1960s or earlier, which is to say that they may not have all the amenities that homebuyers started to demand in the 1980s and thereafter. Many, however, have been updated. In addition, buying a house without all the latest appliances, etc., may be less of an issue now than it was in, say, 2004, since a lot of homebuyers have scaled back their demands and are finding value in older homes that aren't necessarily 4,000 SF or more.
True, and I am familiar with contemporary architecture, but there are issues with homes of that vintage, too. Not all are period museum pieces, and the waterproofing technology was not anywhere near what we now have. Of the people I know in the area, not just on the lake, either, several have had water problems. That can happen anywhere, but the topography of that neighborhood lends itself to problems.
There are other elements that contribute to my opinion that the houses are dated, including a lack of adequate garage space. Sone houses have only a carport and a single, sometimes hilly, driveway that makes parking three vehicles difficult, and flutters the original aesthetic of the streamlined look of that era of contemporary architecture.
Moreover, there is no love lost for the demise of the split-level and split-foyer, as those plans are dated and difficult to modernize, lacking the space for a modern kitchen-family room, etc. Lake Barcroft, in particular, has issues with lot size and topography with respect to attempting to address floorplan issues. Mantua, in comparison, does not generally gave the same limitations, owing to the configuration of the neighborhood, and topography, but it doesn't have the lake, either, which is what sets Lake Barcroft apart frommother neighbhoords of the same vintage.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
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) I did a lot more shopping at Seven Corners and in McLean.
