It's hard to generalize a response since we don't see and truly understand the lot and its setting. Some general thoughts include:

--A buildable envelope of 42 X 50 is very confining and will strongly influence any design for a home on the site. With a highway on one side and a stream on the opposite (?) side it sound as if the setting may not be ideal. Is there a flood plain for the stream? Is the buildable area above the 100-year flood elevation? If not, flood insurance will be required by your lender.

--What is on the sides of your lot?

--Are there trees on the lot which might mitigate the sound and view of the highway?

--Is the building envelope buildable or are improvements required in order to build? Will need a well and septic system or are there local utilities available?

--How will the site be accessed? Where will utilities (electric, gas, water, cable, etc) come from?

More information about your site is really needed. Off the top of my head, unless there is some compelling reason to focus on this lot, I'd be looking elsewhere. Good luck on your project.

A 200 foot setback from a highway is always wise. You do not want to be close to the highway. The more buffers from the highway noise and pollution the better.......a fence, a gate and trees.....

I would be concerned that there might be easements on your property that might allow the widening of the highway in the future. This would bring the highway closer to your house and would be intolerable and the value of your home would be affected.

Another concern will be the topography of the lot. Water is most likely going to drain down toward the stream behind your property. The house should be designed so that water drainage is diverted and is not causing flooding problems around your house.

In addition to this is the possibility that the stream might flood and this should be considered.

You might want to raise the house up above the grade several feet to prevent water and flooding problems.

Thanks for the above comments so far. The following link is the lot location. The location is a prime location in northern VA, a suburban of Washington DC. The highway i mentioned is the beltway. There are a 16+ foot concrete sound barrier wall between the lot and the beltway. The traffic noise is inconsiderable. The neighbors' newly built houses are less than 100 feet from the wall. The lot is pretty level side to side but slops a little toward the stream on the back. Elevation near stream is about 5 feet less than that of the front.

Assuming there is no major technical problem building on the back of a lot such as flooding, etc, what are the architectural pros and cons of building a house on the back of a lot vs. the center/front of the lot???

https://www.google.com/maps/place/2408+Spring+St,+Dunn+Loring,+VA+22027/@38.892458,-77.2199297,563m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x89b64b162637c03d:0xfb9c5efa1abc958e!8m2!3d38.892458!4d-77.217741

The cost of running the utilities from the street to the back of the lot will be higher than if the house is close to the street .... I would still consider raising the house to prevent the possibility of flooding .... Otherwise the location on the lot won't make a difference ...

Your front view will be of the backyards and rear elevations of the adjacent homes. You may be able to get a variance; really, an extra 100-150 feet further away is not going to make much difference when you're that close to a 13-lane superhighway.

Interesting how the last five lots are on a private road. Which means you and your fellow owners will be responsible for maintaining it. Not much snow there, I guess.

I have already committed to a setback of 115 feet but not the 200' that the county wants.

Personally if it were me, I would find another lot.

As worthy said, you'll be seeing the rear elevations of the house in front and the house behind you. It appears to be a flagpole property.

When outside, you will hear the noise from the beltway.

You're limiting yourself tremendously on the size house you can put on such a large piece of property. For example, my lot is 93 x 97.5 and my house is 85' wide. You're looking to build a house that is 1/2 the width of my city house, on a lot that is considerably larger. The size house you can build is the size one would expect on a narrow city lot and not a large piece of property you are considering.

Your front yard is a large piece of property that will have to be maintained but without the advantages of a large lot.

You'll be fairly close to the stream and if it is in a flood zone, that can be a problem.

The number one thing I have been taught about real estate my whole life is there are 3 things to look for when purchasing. They are, location, location and yes, the third thing is location. If you ever want to sell, I believe you will have a very difficult time selling a flagpole property that is practically on top of the beltway.

You'd be better off finding a smaller property without the difficulties this property will have.

There are no general architectural pros or cons of building a house on the front, center or back of a lot. It's all about expense, personal preference and existing site conditions. In this case, the county has given you no choice. Whomever buys the property must build in the small buildable footprint at the rear of the lot. So all of your site improvement costs will be greater than that of your neighbors.

From the link you included above, the two major concerns I'd have would be location of flood plain line (your local jurisdiction should have that data), and the family appeal/resale of living within 200 feet of a 15-lane highway. I'd also want to know if the buildable envelope allows me to build something similar to what's already in the neighborhood, or if it will force me to build something completely different. This is an issue of personal appeal and future resale, i.e., an investment issue.

Are you considering buying and building for yourself or for resale?

You might want to post your question also on the buying and selling a home forum to get some feedback from some of the realtors.

So is this a flag lot? If so, that's a pro-con situation: It'll be more private, but it'll be harder for people to find your house.

Will you be sharing a part of a driveway/part of a driveway? If so, that's a negative.

You'll need longer driveway and longer water and electrical wires, which means more money and more opportunity for trouble.

With the space available, I think you'll need to go with a two-story house. You just don't have the space for a one-story, and the rest of the neighborhood seems to be two-stories anyway. Given that this is a well-established neighborhood, you'd probably want to build a house that'd fit into the mix rather than standing out; however, these houses look like basic suburban houses.

I live in the land of no basements, so I'm no expert, but I'd think that with a stream so close to the house, you'd want to avoid a basement -- too much risk of leakage.

My honest, outside-the-situation opinion: I would not build on this lot. Building costs a premium price, and this is a substandard lot. No matter how high the concrete sound barrier, you can't ignore the significant restrictions on the lot and -- most of all -- the beltway running by the house. The location will "bring down" the value of your house, and you're unlikely ever to get back what you spend. If you're dead-set on this location, I'd look to buy something already existing -- let the other guy take the depreciation hit.

Would you be tearing something down that is on the lot? It looks like there is a building on it, although not of the same size and era of the houses next to it. Why are those houses, which look fairly new, so much closer to the fronts of their lots?

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I don't know that it makes much sense to speculate on the relative attractiveness of this lot, since all real estate is local. A 15 foot wide lot is buildable here and they are starting to allow infills on old 12 foot lots that were no longer considered buildable in the recent past rather than let them sit fallow. And some of them command what most of the country would consider ridiculously high prices, and the lot undesirable and the neighborhood crappy. Perhaps in NoVA at certain price points, being on top of the beltway is no big detractor, it's not for me to say since I don't live there.

Lived in Lake Barcroft neighborhood in Fairfax County for 7 years and worked in DC. I wouldn't give this lot a second glance. But the OP seems motivated.

But the OP seems motivated.

As long as they realize they probably will never get back their money for the house/lot IF they can even sell it if they ever need to.

Building on a back of a lot isn't an architectural problem beyond the price increase for the driveway and for the utility access. The narrowness of your spot, this means for very tight design and a two-story dwelling.

I'm building where I will be looking at the back elevation of another house. I don't have any trouble with this. (It's a nice back elevation...)

I'm assuming you already have this property? I've driven the Beltway - ouch!

2408, a smallish , 40 year old house sold for $225,500 in 2001.

2404, a new house in 2006, (apparently replacing similar to above) , sold for $965,000 in 2006.

2406, a new house in 2006, (apparently replacing similar to above sold for $985,000 in 2006.

The estimates for the values of the houses on this and similar properties practically on the Beltway itself in Dunn Loring and Falls Church and the like are estimated at over $1M, so the 2006 prices are not completely attributable to the bubble, they've at least rebounded.

I don't think this is a flag lot, I think it's a lot with a tear-down on it, which for some reason has different set back requirements than its recently built neighbors did, which requires it to be built closer to a stream than it's neighbors. I think this is the crux of the matter, not whether it's proximity to the beltway is a lousy location. In the big context I would think it was. In the context of DC Metro Beltway living, perhaps not. People are paying around $1M for similar.

6 families just paid in excess of $2M each for townhouses down the block from me and they are treated almost every night to a loud flock of transexual hookers unless it is pouring down rain or below zero. I doubt that would be acceptable in most parts of the country. Here it's part of the equation.

Listen to ArchitectRunnerGuy...............

But the OP seems motivated.

As long as they realize they probably will never get back their money for the house/lot IF they can even sell it if they ever need to.

That's why I suggested buying an already existing house in this large, sprawling neighborhood. Someone else has already spent the premium price to build. Scoop up that person's house for now, and when you're ready to retire (I am assuming this location would be desirable only to a person who's working in DC), then build exactly what you want in a more traditionally desirable location.