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Housing and Neighborhood Preservation
Richmond, VA 23219
(804)646-6344
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Richmond’s downtown is unique compared to other areas of the city because of
its intensive mix of retail, commercial, and residential development. When Richmonders
refer to “downtown,” they generally mean the business or governmental center of the city.
A steady influx of new residents, restaurants and shops, however, is giving downtown a
neighborhood identity all its own.
Available living space has increased dramatically in recent years. Former industrial
and office buildings with rich histories are being converted into apartments and
condominiums, adding thousands of new residential units downtown. Revitalization and
creative development are reinvigorating the architectural and cultural treasure that
is Jackson Ward, arguably the most historically significant African- American neighborhood
in the nation
Five-star hotels, restaurants serving an enormous variety of cuisine, premiere
theatrical entertainment and the hottest nightclubs in town are mere blocks from
each other, and the streets between them serve as gateways to 250 years of history.
Richmond’s innovative Canal Walk connects the past and future of the city’s riverfront
while bringing apartments, business and shops to the banks of the James River
With residential, entertainment and business opportunities, Richmond’s downtown has
become a neighborhood where you can truly live, work and play.
Shockoe
The Shockoe neighborhood is generally referred to as two separate areas, known
in local shorthand as “The Slip” and “The Bottom.” In fact, Shockoe is not really
a “neighborhood” in the conventional sense of the word. Named for the creek that
ran through it in Colonial times, the area was once Richmond’s manufacturing center,
and industrial buildings are the predominate structures.
Shockoe Slip was so named for the docks at its southern end, where cargo was loaded and unloaded.
Shockoe Bottom’s most famous tenants were the tobacco warehouses and rolling plants, which, from
the 1870s until the early 1990s, turned out a significant\ percentage of the nation’s cigarettes.
Shockoe Slip offers unique fare
Now, the brick walls of former warehouses and factories echo with dance music and the
conversations of diners. Shockoe Slip has been home to upscale dining and shopping for
a number of years, and with the completion of the city’s floodwall in 1994, developers and
entrepreneurs also discovered what the Bottom had to offer. The centerpiece of the
redevelopment is Tobacco Row, where former cigarette plants and tobacco warehouses
are being converted into condominiums and loft apartments.
There are still plenty of smaller redeveloped structures as well and even one and two-bedroom
second-floor apartments scattered throughout Shockoe. Most tenants won’t spend much time in
their homes, however, as a wide array of restaurants, clubs and shops wait to be explored,
and attractions such as the City’s 17th Street Farmers’ Market, the Canal Walk, and Brown’s
Island are only blocks away.
If you want to be at the center of the action, Shockoe is the place for you.
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Jackson Ward
Jackson Ward is one of Richmond’s most valuable and significant neighborhoods.
It was here that Bill “Bojangles” Robinson danced, Duke Ellington played, and
generations of African-Americans worked in what was once called “The Wall Street
of Black America” because of its many banks. They included St. Luke’s Penny
Savings Bank, where Maggie Walker served as the nation’s first woman bank
president. The bank still operates today, and the Maggie Walker House is a
national landmark.
The area was a center for black enterprise and entertainment from the early 1920s to
the late 1940s. Each year, the neighborhood hosts the Second Street Festival to
celebrate the history and vitality of that time.
A majority of the city’s cast-iron porches are found in this neighborhood and
reflect the influence of the European craftspeople that once lived here. The
neighborhood is filled with Greek and Georgian Revival, Queen Anne and Italianate
houses, many adorned with elaborate ironwork.
But Jackson Ward is also looking ahead. Its location, halfway between Virginia
Commonwealth University’s campus and the office towers of downtown, is a great
asset. Aggressive revitalization and renovation efforts are bringing many
properties back to their former glory. Projects such as the Dairy Building
apartments and the expanded convention center are adding a new dimension to
the existing neighborhood. For Jackson Ward, the future is now shaping up
to be as bright as the past.
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