Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, and a principal city of both Northern Virginia and the Washington metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Reston's population was 63,226.
Founded in 1964, Reston was influenced by the Garden City movement that emphasized planned, self-contained communities that intermingled green space, residential neighborhoods, and commercial development.Tom Grubisich, "Reston, Virginia", Encyclopedia of Virginia, https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Reston_Virginia#start_entry , accessed May 6, 2018 The intent of Reston's founder, Robert E. Simon, was to build a town that would revolutionize post–World War II concepts of land use and residential/corporate development in suburban America. History Colonial era
In the early days of Colonial America, the land that is present-day Reston was part of the Northern Neck Proprietary, a vast grant by King Charles II to Lord Thomas Fairfax that extended from the Potomac to the Rappahannock rivers. The property remained in the Fairfax family until they sold it in 1852."A Brief History of Reston, Virginia," Gulf Reston, January 1970, George Mason Archival Repository Service, retrieved April 2018, http://mars.gmu.edu/handle/1920/1268?show=full
19th century Carl A. Wiehle and William Dunn bought 6,449 acres in northern Fairfax County along the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad line in 1886, later dividing the land between them, with Wiehle retaining the acreage north of the railroad line. Wiehle envisioned founding a town on the property, including a hotel, parks, and community center, but completed only a handful of homes before his death in 1901.
Wiehle's heirs eventually sold the land, which changed hands several times before being purchased by the A. Smith Bowman family, who built a bourbon distillery on the site.
20th century
By 1947, the Bowmans had acquired the former Dunn tract south of the railroad, for total holdings of over . In 1961, Robert E. Simon used funds from his family's recent sale of Carnegie Hall to buy most of the land, except for 60 acres (240,000 m2) on which the Bowman distillery continued to operate until 1987.
Simon officially launched Reston on April 10, 1964 (his 50th birthday). The name "Reston" is derived from Simon's initials, "R.E.S." He laid out seven "guiding principles" that would stress quality of life and serve as the foundation for its future development. His goal was for Restonians to live, work, and play in their own community, with common grounds and scenic beauty shared equally regardless of income level, thereby building a stronger sense of community ties. The initial motto of the community, as articulated by Simon, was "Work, Play, Live" or often was memorialized onto Reston merchandise as, "Live, Work, Play."
Simon envisioned Reston as a model for clustered residential development, also known as conservation development, which puts a premium on the preservation of open space, landscapes, and wildlife habitats. Reston was the first 20th-century private community in the U.S. to explicitly incorporate natural preservation in its planning.
Simon hired the architectural firm of Whittlesey, Conklin, & Rossant to design his new community."Robert E. Simon, Jr./Reston, Virginia," Historical Marker Database, marker provided by the American Institute of Certified Planners, https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=89538 , accessed May 15, 2018. The plans for Reston were designed by architect James Rossant, who studied under Walter Gropius at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and his partner William J. Conklin. From the outset, Rossant and Conklin's planning conceptualized the new community as a unified, cohesive, and balanced whole, including landscapes, recreational, cultural, and commercial facilities, and housing for what was envisioned to be a town of 75,000. For Lake Anne Plaza, the first of Reston's village centers, the architects combined a small shopping area with a mix of single-family houses, townhouses, and apartments next to a manmade lake featuring a large jet fountain. Close by were the cubist townhouses at Hickory Cluster, designed by modernist architect Charles M. Goodman in the International Style. Lake Anne also included an elementary school, a gasoline station, two churches, an art gallery, and several restaurants. The first section of a senior citizens' residence facility, the Lake Anne Fellowship House, was completed several years later.
Reston welcomed its first residents in late 1964. During the community's first year, its continued development was covered in such major media publications as Newsweek, Time, Life, and The New York Times, which featured the new town in a front-page article extolling it as "one of the most striking communities" in the United States. Nikki Hornsby performed an hour-long paid concert, singing with her guitar outside for this new Reston Community.
Simon ran into financial difficulties as sales in the new community flagged. To keep his project going, he accepted a loan of $15 million from Gulf Oil that allowed him to pay off his creditors. Even so, sales were sluggish as Simon's reluctance to compromise on his high standards for building designs and materials meant that a townhouse in Reston could cost as much as a single-family house elsewhere in Fairfax County.
By 1967, Gulf Oil forced Simon out and formed Gulf Reston, Inc., to manage the community. Gulf retained many of Simon's employees and continued to adhere largely to the spirit of the original Reston master plan as envisioned by Simon. During the 1970s, Gulf built the Reston International Center near the intersection of Sunrise Valley and Reston Parkway and added low- to moderate-income housing to the community's residential mix, including the Cedar Ridge, Laurel Glade, and Fox Mill apartment developments. Gulf also constructed housing for employees of the U.S. Geological Survey headquarters, located on Sunrise Valley Drive.
Gulf Reston put a premium on protecting Reston's open spaces and pedestrian-friendly landscape throughout its ownership. The corporation also transferred title for many Reston recreational facilities, including land, parks, lakes, and facilities, to the Reston Homeowners Association, thereby preventing development.
Within ten years of buying Simon out, Gulf opted to begin pulling out of the real estate business to focus exclusively on energy. It sold Reston's developed portions, including three completed village centers (Lake Anne, Tall Oaks, and Hunters Woods), the Reston International Center, and Isaac Newton Square, to an investment firm.
In 1978, the company finalized the sale of Reston's remaining 3,700 undeveloped acres to Mobil, which pledged to continue respecting the ideals of Robert Simon. Mobil formed the Reston Land Corporation as a subsidiary to manage its holdings and began developing the remaining residential areas in what would become the South Lakes and North Point villages. Reston Land introduced a wider mix of housing choices, including more townhouses and smaller “starter” homes, and completed the North County Government Center, which houses the Reston District police station, Fairfax County government offices, and a regional library and homeless shelter.
Reston Land also broke ground on the 460-acre Reston Town Center which formed part of Simon's original master plan for Reston. The first four-block development of this multi-phase mixed-use project were opened in 1996 and included a hotel, several restaurants, a cinema, and office buildings.
By 1996, Mobil had decided to follow Gulf Oil's steps and pull out of the land management business. It sold its entire Mobil Land Development subsidiary, including its Reston holdings, to Westbrook Partners, LLC, for $324 million. As Reston Town Center continued to develop, Boston Properties emerged as a leading player. The company became the sole owner of the core mixed-use tracts in Reston Town Center when it completed the purchase of the Fountain Square office/retail complex in 2012.
Ebola virus scare
In December 1989, a filovirus, at first suspected to be Ebola virus (EBOV), was discovered among crab-eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis) within a facility operated by Covance (now Fortrea). This attracted significant media attention, including the publication of the popular 1994 book The Hot Zone and the subsequent development of the National Geographic Channel TV Series The Hot Zone (television series). The filovirus was found to be distinct from EBOV and to be nonpathogenic for humans. It was named after the community, and is now known as Reston virus (RESTV). Macaques found to be or suspected to be infected with RESTV were euthanized, and the facility was sterilized.http://virus.stanford.edu/filo/ebor.html "Ebola Reston Outbreaks". Department of Human Virology, Stanford University The facility was located in an office park near Sunset Hills Road and Wiehle Avenue. It was eventually torn down, and a daycare was built in its place.
Geography
Reston is located in northern Fairfax County at . Neighboring communities are Great Falls to the north, Wolf Trap to the east, Franklin Farm, Floris, and McNair to the southwest, the town of Herndon to the west, and Dranesville to the northwest.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Reston has a total area of , of which is land and , or 2.10%, is water.
Climate The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Reston has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.
Planning and zoning
Reston is divided into three separate planning areas: the original Planned Residential Community (PRC) area that governs the majority of residential areas in the community; the Reston Town Center (RTC) District, which includes all of the high-density, high-rise portions of Town Center; and the Transit Station Area (TSA) on either side of the Dulles Toll Road.
From Reston's inception, planning and zoning in the PRC area has emphasized the inclusion and integration of common grounds, parks, large swaths of wooded areas with picturesque runs (streams), wildflower meadows, golf courses, public swimming pools, bridle paths, a bike path, four lakes, tennis courts, and extensive foot pathways. Reston was built in wooded areas of oak, maple, sycamore, and Virginia pine, and remains heavily wooded. Extensive canopy guidance protects tree cover throughout the PRC, and homeowners are prohibited from removing trees larger than 4 inches in diameter without written permission from Reston's Design Review Board. Total zoning density throughout the overall PRC area is currently capped at 13 persons per acre. This figure, however, does not include residents in Fairfax County workforce and affordable units (WDUs/ADUs), as well as the "bonus" units developers are allowed to add to their projects in compensation for having included ADUs in their proposals.