Following the principles set forth by the FHA and responding to the need for affordable housing, Mace developed several neighborhoods in Arlington County in the early twentieth century which provided economical housing to the growing population. Mace, who lived in Arlington County, was a real estate broker. He was just twenty-six years old when he began to play a role in developing the community of Over-Lee Knolls—adjacent to Westover to the northwest and today considered part of greater Westover. The Over-Lee Knolls neighborhood was advertised in 1926 as "Virginia's Ideal Suburb" which emphasized value and quality construction.