In the early twentieth century, Houston's son-in-law, Dr. George Woodward, turned from practicing medicine to community design. He purchased a cluster of deteriorated houses in the working-class neighborhood of lower Chestnut Hill which he proceeded to replace with handsome stone houses of moderate cost, many designed by Herman L. Duhring. Woodward's development was so successful that he never returned to his medical practice, instead developing several hundred units of housing that continued the evolution of Houston's initial development (
PH181) of the 1880s and establishing the continuing architectural character of Chestnut Hill as a residential park of significant houses and clusters of houses in a green zone. In total, Woodward commissioned more than three hundred houses that more than any other factor give Chestnut Hill its character. The benevolent dictatorship of the Woodward Estate continues to set the tone of the region, with Woodward's Chestnut Hill encompassing several distinct zones.