Beaux Arts
Among the tiny communities that populate the Eastside, Beaux Arts Village can proudly claim to be the tiniest – both in physical size and population. With a population numbering just over 300 and occupying an area only three blocks by six blocks, Beaux Arts remains a quaint lake-front community.
Beaux Arts Village was founded in 1908 as an artists' colony and was incorporated in 1954 to prevent annexation by Bellevue. Frank Calvert, a newspaper artist and cartoonist, and Alfred T. Renfro, a writer, architect and photographer, were the founding fathers of Beaux Arts. The two men wanted to create a model community, where nature's aesthetics would be paired with the visual arts.
The urban design of the community is unique. The streets were laid out in a pattern that creates the initials of the Beaux Arts Village.
