When Zhan Caplan sold his one-bedroom condominium in the Adams Morgan section of Washington, he knew Baltimore was where he wanted to buy his next home.

But instead of choosing one of the city's hip neighborhoods like Charles Village, Federal Hill or Canton, he picked Original Northwood. The quiet North Baltimore community of about 370 homes is tucked between The Alameda on the west, Loch Raven Boulevard on the east, and Cold Spring Lane on the north.

"I know people are really interested in Federal Hill and Canton. But I did that already in D.C.," said Caplan, who bought his home in August for $170,000. "I wanted a neighborhood with a quieter feel that was still urban."

The neighborhood is a 15-minute drive from downtown and 10 minutes from Towson. But the feel of the neighborhood, Caplan said, is peaceful.

The close-knit community hosts several annual events that include a newcomers' party, a wine and cheese social, a Halloween party and Christmas caroling.

Started in 1930, the 110-acre tract was the fourth and final development of the Roland Park Co., which also built Guilford, Homeland and Roland Park.

The Northwood name later was extended to surrounding areas and the term "original" was added to identify the initial development.

The neighborhood includes three half-timber Tudor-style attached housing units that were made to look like one stately house. The homes blend easily with the surrounding single-family detached homes and the area's topography.

The neighborhood also has traditional brick townhouses.

"It's a real treasure," said Jane Holloway, a real estate agent with the Stone Mill office of Coldwell Banker and a former resident of the neighborhood. "It's one of my favorite places. I know so many people there, but I also know the value the neighborhood offers."

The average price range for a single-family detached home is between $165,000 and $185,000. But recently, single-family homes in the neighborhood have sold in the $200,000 range.

The town houses can range in price from the high $80,000 range for a brick town house to the $190,000 range for a half-timber Tudor-style home.

The average price for a home, including townhouses, is $148,140.

"It's absolutely a good value," Holloway said. "It's comparable to Mount Washington. And even though the homes are smaller than those found in Homeland, it's the same builders. Everything I've sold in Original Northwood within the past year has been sold within one week or so."

Designated a historic district in 1998, Original Northwood offers the largest unified collection of homes by Baltimore architect John A. Ahlers, who designed most of the homes in the neighborhood.

Original Northwood resident Dean Wagner helped secure the historic designation for the community.

"Ahlers carefully planned each and every house, each and every lot. He had meticulous detailing with regard to where the lots would go, where the roads would go and how each house would be placed on each lot," Wagner said. "He even decided which trees would remain."

While most American subdivisions mimic a cookie-cutter layout, Original Northwood doesn't echo that mentality at all, Wagner said.

Designers focused on building a planned community without sacrificing the natural beauty of the surrounding property. The result is a park-like setting.

"This was the last development of a forest and you can see that in the 100- to 150-year-old oak trees throughout the neighborhood," Wagner said. "That environment was carefully preserved and the residential building was then sympathetically placed into that environment so that it looks like it has always been there."

The historic designation not only offers possible tax credits for repairs and renovations, but adds a level of protection to the existing neighborhood.

Like all Roland Park Co. developments, a covenant of land-use restrictions and architectural guidelines was included in the deed of each house. The covenants have offered protections to the neighborhood, says Frank Gorman, a past president of the Original Northwood Association.

He and his wife, Pat, moved to the neighborhood in 1970 from Washington. The couple expected to remain in Baltimore for a year, but by 1974 they were buying their second house in Original Northwood to accommodate their growing family - the couple has three grown children. "We were attracted to the neighborhood because of its beauty and convenience, but we stayed in the neighborhood because it has become part of our extended family," Frank Gorman said.

Gorman said the stable neighborhood has been well integrated for at least 25 years. Recently, an influx of young families with children have begun to fill the neighborhood.

"When we first moved in, we were part of a new wave that started having kids. Then in the early 1990s, you didn't see so many children in the neighborhood," he said. "Now, in the past five years there are lots of kids again."

Marty and Tracy King were not specifically looking in North Baltimore eight years ago when they chose their Original Northwood home. They were won over by the quality construction of the homes and what they describe as a culturally diverse neighborhood that is a great area for raising their children, ages 3 and 5.

"There's not a lot of traffic in the inner circles of the neighborhood, so the streets are pretty quiet and peaceful," Marty King said.

Original Northwood

ZIP code: 21218

Commuting time to downtown Baltimore: 15 minutes

Public schools: Northwood Elementary, Chinquapin Middle, Baltimore City College and Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School.

Shopping: Belvedere Plaza, Belvedere Square (under renovation with new shops expected), Northwood Plaza, York Road Plaza.

Homes on market: Two

Average listing price: $148,140*

Average sale price: $149,159*

Average days on market: 21*

Sale price as percentage of listing price: 100.69 percent*

* Based on 17 sales during the past 12 months, compiled by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc.