Spring Valley is an affluent neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C., known for its large homes and tree-lined streets.
The neighborhood houses the main campus of American University at 4400 Massachusetts Avenue. Nebraska Avenue and Loughboro Road are to its south, Dalecarlia Parkway is to its west, and Massachusetts Avenue is to its northeast. Paradoxically, the neighborhood to the northeast is called American University Park, even though the bulk of the main campus is located in Spring Valley.
During World War I, Spring Valley was home to a military defense installation in which chemical munitions were manufactured and tested. Although the area had become a residential neighborhood by the Second World War, its legacy as a weapons facility returned in 1993, when weapons were found buried in the neighborhood (see below).
Spring Valley's residents include notable media personalities (e.g., Ann Compton, Jim Vance), lawyers (e.g., Brendan Sullivan), politicians, corporate officers, and elite Washington society (e.g. Washington Nationals principle owners Ed and Debra Cohen). Richard M. Nixon lived in Spring Valley before becoming President; his immediate predecessor, Lyndon Baines Johnson, after becoming Vice President under John F. Kennedy, purchased a three-story mansion named Les Ormes (The Elms) in Spring Valley that had previously been the home of socialite and ambassador Perle Mesta[1]. George H.W. Bush also lived in the neighborhood prior to his White House years.
Several embassy residences are located in the neighborhood, such as the ambassador's houses of South Korea, Bahrain, Qatar, and Yemen. The median home sale price in 2007 was US$1.725 million.[2]