Houses on former Febrey-Lothrop site to go on sale in the fall

Houses at the former site of the Febrey-Lothrop House are set to go on sale this fall, with a delivery set for early next year.

Toll Brothers announced last week that the “boutique community” off of Wilson Blvd in Dominion Hills, dubbed The Grove at Dominion Hills, is nearing the finish line.

It will feature 40 single-family homes on more than nine acres, with houses ranging from 3,470 to 5,834 square feet. They all appear to have five bedrooms and up to six bathrooms, per the website.

Sales are set to begin this fall with pricing starting at $2.1 million, said a Toll Brothers spokesperson in an email. The houses are expected to be move-in ready by “early 2024.”

The site where houses now stand was once where the historic Febrey-Lothrop House stood before it was demolished more than two years ago, much to the dismay of local preservationists, the county’s Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB), and the Arlington Historical Society.

Also known as the Rouse estate, the original house was built before the Civil War but was largely replaced in the early 20th century. Historians cited the estate’s role in hosting Civil War encampments, past residents including business mogul Howard Hughes, and the likelihood it was built by enslaved peoples as for reasons to preserve the site. The land it was on was also potentially a hunting ground for Indigenous peoples.

But its future became in doubt when its last owner, sportsman Randy Rouse, died in 2017. The property hit the market in 2020, with some pushing the county to purchase it and turn it into a public park, a school, or another public facility.

However, Rouse’s trust ended up selling the property to a developer intent on building single-family homes on the site.

The HALRB voted to consider a historic designation for the property in late 2020, but it came too late, and the County Board ended up denying the recommendation anyway. The house was demolished in March 2021 and construction began on the new houses shortly thereafter.

ARLnow asked Toll Brothers whether anything came from a preservationist’s request to partner with archeologists on potential artifacts at the site. The company did not respond to the inquiry.