Walter Reed Gardens, known today as the Commons of Arlington, is a fine example of the small-scale garden apartment complexes built in Arlington County before and directly after World War II. The influx of new federal workers under New Deal programs and World War II caused an extensive housing shortage in Washington, D.C. that led to the construction of 176 new apartment buildings or complexes in Arlington County between 1934 and 1954. Constructed in 1948, Walter Reed Gardens consists of 18 two- and three-story brick apartment buildings arranged in four clusters and set in a landscaped environment. The design was intended to provide a more hospitable and healthier setting for suburban residential life. The Colonial Revival style of the buildings and the open court design of the Walter Reed Gardens Historic District development is characteristic of the garden apartment complexes funded by mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration.