A house on Birchwood Drive. This predominantly Italian neighborhood is well-kept, with prices ranging from $189,900 for a four-bedroom split-level built in 1959 to $559,900 for a 2004 Colonial. Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski

Cherry Hill is a Johnston neighborhood just five miles from downtown Providence, and it’s also close to public schools, municipal services and a busy shopping and commercial district on Atwood Avenue.

Newer single-family subdivisions are scattered among the more established post-World War II plats off Cherry Hill Road, offering a variety of house styles and prices. There were 16 houses listed for sale last week in Cherry Hill, with prices ranging from $189,900 for a four-bedroom split-level built in 1959 to $559,900 for a 2004 Colonial with 3,504 square feet of living space, a three-car garage, and a master bedroom suite with a Jacuzzi bathtub.

Several listings were for bank-owned properties, evidence that the foreclosure crisis has touched this solid suburban community.

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But this predominantly Italian neighborhood is well-kept and friendly, according to one longtime resident, Eleanor Spremulli, of Capri Drive. Spremulli, who grew up in Federal Hill in Providence, is retired, but used to work for the Providence Water Supply Board. Her husband, Joseph Spremulli, worked for the City of Providence for many years.

She said they lived in a Providence neighborhood, Silver Lake, when they were first married, 52 years ago, and they have lived in their Cherry Hill house for 30 years.

“Everything looks nice. You can’t knock the neighborhood. Everything is beautiful,” she said. The Spremullis’ yard is lush and shaded, adorned with flowers and tomato plants. Because their house is on the corner of Capri Drive and Cherry Hill Road, there is a lot of traffic, she said, “but it doesn’t bother me.”

Directly across from Capri Drive is a newer subdivision, Paula Road; but Eleanor Spremulli remembers when it was a farm. There was a petting zoo with goats and horses, she remembered. “Polticians used to come here and have their outings and political events,” she said.

“Everybody keeps their property up,” Joseph Spremulli said. He added that since their children have grown, they sometimes think about selling their house and moving to smaller quarters, but they always end up deciding they like their house too much to leave.

There are plans for 52 condominiums to be built at a mixed-use development on a 20-acre parcel at Cherry Hill Road and Atwood Avenue. A Walgreen’s store would face Cherry Hill Road. The plan by developer Churchill & Banks Companies was approved by the town last month.

cdunn@projo.com