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Flat-roof apartments in Clarendon and Lyon Park: the edge details the nominations record
Around Clarendon and Lyon Park, a number of three-story garden apartment buildings from the 1930s to 1950 are capped by flat roofs. What shows from the street is the edge: a metal or cast-stone coping, a low parapet, a cornice. Federal historic nominations describe those edges for three complexes. This page sets out what each document says, where it is silent, and what to ask before a re-roof.
- 30 attached structures form the 7 buildings of Lee Gardens North
- Calvert Manor: a parapet capped in cast-stone coping
- None of the three is marked as a local historic district by the county
Anatomy of a flat-roof edge
On a flat-roofed garden apartment, the roof surface is only one layer. The perimeter is a stack of separate parts, and the historic nominations name several of them. Here is the vocabulary, with the part each nomination mentions.
- Roof cladding. The waterproof layer across the flat. Lee Gardens North's nomination calls it "built-up composite cladding."
- Parapet. The low wall that rises above the roof edge. Calvert Manor has a low parapet around the roof; an Irving Street building in Lyon Park has an ornamental one.
- Coping. The cap on top of the parapet or edge wall. Calvert Manor's is cast stone; Lee Gardens North's is metal.
- Cornice and string courses. Decorative masonry bands below the edge. Lee Gardens North uses blond brick for its cornice; the Lyon Park nomination records corbeled cornices on Lee Gardens.
- Flashing. The metal or membrane that seals where the roof meets a wall or a penetration. No nomination here describes flashing.
- Drainage. Drains, scuppers or built-in gutters and the downspouts that carry water down. The nominations are silent on all of these.
- Stair-hall roofs and cupolas. Small pitched roofs that rise above the flat. Calvert Manor has a slate-sheathed one with a copper finial.
The National Park Service's Preservation Brief 4 says "Failure of the flashing system is usually a major cause of roof deterioration." It also describes drainage through a parapet and warns that clogged traps leave water pooling on the roof. The edge is where those two things meet.
The same brief says a flat roof that is not visible from any elevation may take a modern built-up roof in place of what might have been a flat metal one, but a readily visible roof should match the historic material as closely as possible in scale, texture and coloration. That is guidance for historic buildings in general, not a county rule for these three.
What each nomination records
Three National Register documents describe the flat-roofed apartments around Clarendon and the eastern edge of Lyon Park. They were written between 1997 and 2004, so they describe roofs as they looked then.
| Complex | Where and what | Edge details recorded | Roof surface recorded | Silent on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee Gardens North (2004) | 2300-2341 North 11th Street. Thirty attached masonry structures forming seven buildings, three stories, on ten acres. | Metal coping over the flat-roofed structures; molded cornices on the gable roofs; half-hipped porch roofs. | Built-up composite cladding under the coping; asphalt shingles on the gables; standing-seam metal on the porticoes. | Drains, flashing, coping metal, any later re-roof. |
| Calvert Manor (1997) | 1925-1927 North Calvert Street. Built 1948; three stories, twenty-two original apartments. | Low parapet around a flat roof, capped with cast-stone coping and pierced by decorative cast-stone grilles. | Slate tiles with a copper finial on the south-wing stair-hall roof. The flat surface is not described. | What covers the flat roof, drains, flashing. |
| Lyon Park (2003) | Neighborhood nomination. Apartment complexes two to three stories; named: Irving, Sheffield, Lee Gardens, Lee High. | Ornamental parapet on the 1932 Irving Apartment Building; corbeled cornices on Lee Gardens. | None described for the apartments. | Coping, roof surface, drainage. |
Sources: Virginia Department of Historic Resources, nomination forms 000-9411, 000-2265 and 000-7820.
How the Lee Gardens North buildings are put together
The nomination describes buildings assembled from flat-roofed and gable-roofed structures. The building at 2300-2306 and 2334-2340 North 11th Street has six attached structures: two gabled and four flat. The one at 2301-2307 is two H-shaped footprints with flat roofs joined by flat or gabled structures. The one at 2333-2341 is four cross-shaped structures under flat roofs.
The nomination lists these flat-to-gable junctions but says nothing about how they are built or flashed.
Two nominations, two counts
The Lyon Park nomination describes Lee Gardens as sixty-seven three-story buildings on about thirty acres, with either hipped or flat roofs. Lee Gardens North's own nomination counts thirty structures forming seven buildings on ten acres, and says Lee Gardens South, now known as Sheffield Court, was the first phase, built in 1941-1942. A bid that says "the roof" without naming which of these buildings it covers is not specific enough.
What changed since the nominations
The Lee Gardens North nomination says the buildings were renovated around the turn of the twenty-first century, with entry porticoes reconstructed, original windows replaced by vinyl sash and interior layouts modified. It does not say the roofs were redone, so the age of the present roof surface is a fact to find out on site, not in the file.
Permits and historic review
Which permit
The county's Residential or Commercial page ties a residential permit to a detached one- or two-family dwelling or townhouse of no more than three stories. Anything else is commercial. Whether a given three-story apartment building counts as a house or townhouse under that test is for the county to say. The county's commercial permit pages do not mention roofs at all, so the Permit Arlington Center, 703-228-3800, is where to ask. See the Arlington County roofing guide for the residential permit table.
Which historic list
The county's National Historic Places page names Calvert Manor, Lee Gardens North and Lyon Park, and marks with an asterisk the sites that are also local districts. These three have no asterisk. The county calls the National Register honorific. Your association or owner should still confirm the answer with county Historic Preservation staff before choosing a roof or edge material.
ZIP code context
The nominations place Calvert Manor and Lee Gardens North on North Calvert Street and North 11th Street, ZIP 22201. Census estimates for that ZIP area (2024 five-year) show 75.3% of homes in buildings of five or more units, a median year built of 1991 and 22.2% built before 1960.
More on how the county sorts permits and districts is in the Arlington hub guide. The condo and co-op angle, including who approves a roof, is in condo and co-op roof replacement in Arlington. For the Columbia Pike side of the county, see Columbia Pike garden apartment roofs.
Questions to ask before a re-roof
These come straight from the gaps in the documents above. Put them to the bidder, the engineer and your association.
- Which buildings and street addresses does the bid cover, and does it use the same count as your association's own records?
- What is under the coping today, and how is the coping fastened and sealed? The nomination records metal coping at Lee Gardens North without detail.
- Is any parapet cap cast stone, as at Calvert Manor? If so, who handles repair of the stone itself?
- Where does water leave the roof: drains, scuppers, a built-in gutter or an exterior downspout? Are they clear now?
- Where do flat roofs meet gable roofs or walls, and how will those junctions be flashed? Preservation Brief 4 calls failure of the flashing system usually a major cause of roof deterioration.
- If slate or metal sits on a stair-hall or porch roof, will it be kept or replaced?
- Will the permit be commercial, and who pulls it? Ask the Permit Arlington Center.
- Has the county's Historic Preservation staff confirmed whether review applies?
For material background, see the flat roof, EPDM, TPO and composite roofing pages and the wider roof replacement and services pages. Book a phone consultation to go through the list for your building.
Documents opened and dates checked
Arlington County pages are blocked to automated downloads, so county text comes from archived copies. State and federal documents were opened directly on October 17, 2026.
- Lee Gardens North Historic District nomination, 2004 and its register page
- Calvert Manor nomination, 1997
- Lyon Park Historic District nomination, 2003
- National Park Service, Preservation Brief 4: Roofing for Historic Buildings
- Arlington County: Residential or Commercial? (archived January 29, 2026)
- Arlington County: Commercial Building Permit (archived December 30, 2025)
- Arlington County: National Historic Places (archived copy)
- Census Bureau American Community Survey 2024 five-year estimates, ZIP Code Tabulation Area 22201
Questions people ask
What is the metal coping on Lee Gardens North?
The nomination says the flat-roofed structures "have metal coping obscuring the built-up composite cladding." Coping is the cap along the top of the edge wall. The nomination does not say what metal it is, how it is fastened or whether it is original.
Does Calvert Manor have a parapet?
Yes. The 1997 nomination describes a low parapet surrounding a flat roof, capped by cast-stone coping and pierced by several decorative cast-stone grilles. It also records a peaked stair-hall roof sheathed with slate tiles.
Are flat roofs the norm for Lyon Park apartments?
The Lyon Park nomination says its garden apartment complexes stand two to three stories with flat roofs, and names Irving Apartments, Sheffield Apartments, Lee Gardens and Lee High. It also says Lee Gardens buildings have either hipped or flat roofs, so check the building in front of you.
Which Lee Gardens does the Lyon Park nomination mean?
It describes Lee Gardens (1942, 1949) as sixty-seven three-story buildings on about thirty acres. The Lee Gardens North nomination counts thirty structures forming seven buildings on ten acres. The two documents count differently, so confirm building numbers by street address.
Do these buildings need a certificate of appropriateness to re-roof?
The county's National Historic Places page marks sites that are also local historic districts with an asterisk. Calvert Manor, Lee Gardens North and Lyon Park carry none. The county calls the National Register honorific. For a specific building, ask the county's Historic Preservation staff.
Does a three-story apartment re-roof need a residential permit?
The county's test for a residential permit is a detached one- or two-family home or a townhouse of no more than three stories. A building that fails either part falls under a commercial building permit. Confirm the roofing answer with the Permit Arlington Center.
How does the National Park Service describe flat-roof drainage?
Its Preservation Brief 4 describes built-in gutters set within the roof perimeter, with downspouts inside the walls or through a parapet to exterior downspouts. The nominations here do not say how these roofs drain.
Can you tell me what roof my building has?
Only an inspection can. The nominations date from 1997 to 2004 and describe the roofs as they looked then. Book a phone consultation to talk through the questions on this page.
Talk through your roof with Roofers of Arlington
Share the address, what you are seeing on the roof and the decision you need to make. We will tell you what to expect before anything is scheduled.