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Housing and Neighborhood Preservation
Richmond, VA 23219
(804)646-6344
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Central Richmond is, geographically and socially, the heart of the city. The area includes Richmond’s
best-known example of urban living, The Fan, as well as the architecturally
diverse and culturally rich West of the Boulevard and the quiet Byrd Park and
Carillon neighborhoods along the river.
Corner bars, restaurants and markets are interspersed
with row houses featuring some of the best turn-of-the-century Victorian
architecture left in the South, especially in The Fan. A dynamic mix of
students, artists, professionals, and long-time residents give this area a
particular flavor unmatched anywhere. Those who live here are passionate about
their neighborhoods, and active community associations help maintain the quality
of life.
The area includes many of the city’s best-known
attractions, including Monument Avenue, the only street in America designated as
a National Historic Landmark, Hollywood Cemetery, Byrd Park and Maymont,
Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Union University, the Virginia Museum
of Fine Arts, and the Carytown shopping district. It also contains a few
lesser-known areas, such as the Oregon Hill neighborhood, originally home to
many of the workers who toiled in the factories that used to line the banks of
the James River below. It now features a fiercely independent blend of residents
and some of the best examples of wooden row house construction in the city.
The Fan
Just west of downtown, The Fan is 85 blocks of charming
houses that represent some of the finest turn-of-the-century domestic
architecture remaining in the South. It is one of the largest intact Victorian
neighborhoods in the state, if not the nation, and makes up the majority of the
Fan Area Historic District.
The Fan was so named because of the way its streets
spread out at angles from Monroe Park at Belvidere Street to the Boulevard. It
includes gracious mansions and large statues, tree-lined parks and streets,
beautifully landscaped courtyards, rooftop gardens, cobblestone alleys and brick
sidewalks. Numerous neighborhood restaurants, pubs and stores add to the area’s
charm. The academic campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, one of the
nation’s premiere urban universities, is located primarily within the
neighborhood and many of Richmond’s historic and cultural attractions and parks
are minutes away.
The Fan is famous for town houses, and the variety is
incredible; Federal, Greek Revival, Richardson Romanesque, Queen Anne, Tudor
Revival, Spanish Colonial, Art Deco, and Italianate styles are all represented.
Opulent Victorian and Edwardian mansions, as well as American Four Squares and
bungalows, can also be found in the neighborhood.
Residents include students and faculty from Virginia
Commonwealth University, as well as families, singles and professionals from
diverse social, economic and ethnic backgrounds.
Style Weekly Magazine, a local newspaper, described The
Fan, "There’s an eclectic coolness here in these anti-burbs, mixing students
with seniors, busy duplexes that hold their character among beautifully restored
house tour-quality classics, all in a neighborhood that no urban planner could
duplicate today."
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Museum District [West of the Boulevard]
Nestled between The Fan and Richmond’s West End, the
Museum District/West of the Boulevard neighborhood is one of Richmond’s most
significant collections of early 20th century architecture. The district, which
includes 22 properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places,
became the state’s third largest historic district in 1993, and was added in its
entirety to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
The Museum District/West of the Boulevard includes a
diverse mix of residences, businesses, public buildings and museums. The
district features the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Virginia Historical
Society, brick row houses, detached townhouses, apartment buildings, small
commercial structures, churches, a synagogue and schools.
Architectural styles include everything from Queen
Anne, Romanesque Revival, Colonial Revival, and Classical Revival, to Craftsman,
Mediterranean, Tudor Revival and Art Deco. The Museum District/West of the
Boulevard neighborhood was one of the first planned suburban areas in the city,
with development beginning in 1893. Most of the houses were built between 1895
and the mid-1940s and are well preserved.
The dense population of the Museum District/West of the Boulevard,
its close proximity to the Carytown shopping district and its sidewalks and
shade trees help define the area as a flourishing pedestrian environment.
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Byrd Park & Carillon
The Byrd Park and Carillon neighborhoods are
geographically central to Richmond. Both feature lovely, tree-lined streets
landscaped yards and beautiful gardens. These neighborhoods are professionally,
racially, politically and economically diverse, and combine the convenience of
city living — both neighborhoods are less than five minutes from downtown — with
the tranquility of a park environment. Maymont, the city’s nature center, is
adjacent to Byrd Park and a favorite destination for Richmonders.
The Byrd Park neighborhood is located north and east of
its namesake and its three lakes; Boat, Swan and Shields. Homes include row
houses built in the 1920s, two-story frame bungalows, brick Colonials, Cape
Cods, tri-levels, ranchers and American Four Squares mostly built in the 1930s
and 1940s. Westover Road hosts a number of large lakefront Spanish, Georgian and
Colonial Revival mansions. Fountain Lake features upscale condos. Just to the
east of the neighborhood lies historic Hollywood Cemetery.
The Carillon neighborhood is located west of Byrd Park,
just north of the James River. Originally developed in the 1920s, the
neighborhood features Georgian, Dutch, Tudor and modern tri-level homes. The
240-foot-high Carillon, the city’s World War I memorial, and Dogwood Dell, an
outdoor amphitheater, are neighborhood landmarks.
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