Laid out by developer William Simmons in 1922, Parkhaven enjoyed easy streetcar connections to both downtown and the Mississippi Normal College (PW38). Early design work is attributed to Juan G. Landry. A stucco Spanish-styled arch marking the entrance to the development at 22nd Avenue and Hardy Street sets the tone for the sixteen Spanish Colonial Revival bungalows that line that street’s first few blocks—the best grouping in the state. Nearby at 203 S. 22nd Avenue, a one-and-a-half-story blond brick house with round and pointed arches outlined in brown brick has a steep flared roof and a round tower.
The subdivision was incomplete at the onset of the Great Depression, and most of S. 21st Avenue was developed after World War II with Colonial Revival and ranch houses. The F. B. Woodley School (1949; 2006 O’Ferral Street) designed by N. W. Overstreet and Associates and built by Raleigh builders Currie and Corley served this white neighborhood’s booming school-age population. Its monolithic concrete walls recall 22nd Avenue’s Spanish Colonial stucco but in a sleek and angular Moderne manner, with a sinuous entrance canopy.