The "Originals" Neighborhood
The Village of Greendale is a greenbelt community that is nationally recognized. Greendale, over the course of several decades, has been able to maintain its value and historic character, while many of the defining features of other Greenbelt communities around the country have been lost.
Today, Greendale is comprised of a series of corridors, districts and neighborhoods - which all come out of the original plan.
The historic "Originals" Neighborhood is situated in the middle of Greendale and, in general, follows the national historic district's boundaries, although it has been slightly expanded so that the Village Center businesses are all included as well.
The very heart of this neighborhood is the historic Village Center. It plays an important and defining role in much of the area's character.
Housing in the "Originals" Neighborhood
The "Originals" Neighborhood is Greendale's oldest and most established area. Although it is mainly comprised of single-family houses, there are also multi-family apartment buildings and duplexes as well. True to Greendale's original mixed-income design, there are also multi-unit buildings found in the business districts, along corridors, and at the end of blocks.
This neighborhood, starting in 1938, developed into a residential area of medium-density. The housing styles that can be seen in the area include the original cinder block homes, which were mostly two-story structures that had small single-car garages and large back yards. Lot sizes were typically about 1/4 acre with buildings at around 800 to 1200 square feet.
Streets Around and Through the Neighborhood
The "Originals" Neighborhood streets were all designed to loosely "bend" and follow a modified grid pattern. They have developed over the years into tree lined iconic streets that the greenbelt community's original plans envisioned.
There are three major types of streets found adjacent to and within the "Originals" Neighborhood. They include residential streets, neighborhood arterials (Broad, Southway and Northway), and major corridors (Grange Ave).
Neighborhood arterials are wide, and offer plenty of room for driving lanes, sidewalks on both or one side, wide street terraces that have shade trees, and on-street parking.
As Greendale developed, the neighborhood's residential streets were named alphabetically. They are much narrower compared to the neighborhood arterials and have been designed for serving local residents. In general, they accommodate one parking lane and one travel lane.
Pedestrian Routes Through the Neighborhood
The homes in the "Originals" neighborhood are set close to the streets and do not have a sidewalk or formal street terrace, since paths were instead integrated into the back yards. Given that many of the early houses have a small, single car garage at most, street width is further decreased and on-street parking is limited.
Sidewalks are mainly found along the neighborhood's arterials, and tend to be on one side of the street only, with the pattern varying from one side of the street and the other side. Inside residential areas, there are pedestrian paths behind houses, and that link together community facilities, the Village Center, natural resources, open spaces and parks.
If you have not explored the "Originals" Neighborhood, go for a visit. You will find Greendale's historic charm remains after all these years.