{"nrhp_refnum":"03000459","name":"Ballentine Place Historic District","other_names":["VDHR File Number 122-0829"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Cromwell Ave., Cape Henry Ave., McKann Ave., and Lafayetter Blvd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Norfolk (Independent City)","county":"Norfolk","state":"VA","lat":36.865920228500045,"lon":-76.25255590874563,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-05-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Landscape Architecture","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A residential historic district of about 145 acres near the center of Norfolk, Virginia, platted in 1909 by the Ballentine Realty Corporation on former truck farmland. It contains 649 properties, mostly single-family houses, plus churches, a school, a park and one commercial building.","why_significant":"The form presents Ballentine Place as a cohesive middle- and working-class suburb with a planned grid, tree-lined streets and a central park. Its growth, especially after 1915, was driven by workers arriving in Norfolk during World War I. The district retains modest examples of Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman and other early 20th-century styles, and its overall integrity remains intact despite some altered cladding.","narrative":"Ballentine Place is a residential neighborhood near the center of Norfolk, Virginia, laid out in 1909 by the Ballentine Realty Corporation on land that had been a truck farm. The plan used a regular grid of long, narrow blocks, tree-lined streets, sidewalks and a three-block central open space. In the 1930s the Works Progress Administration added a park with a lake and planted crepe myrtles along the streets. Only a few dozen houses stood before 1915, but demand for housing during World War I brought a surge of middle- and working-class residents, and hundreds of buildings followed through 1953. The district now holds 649 properties, including 616 single dwellings, 26 multiple dwellings, four churches, a school and one commercial building. Bungalow/Craftsman and Colonial Revival houses dominate, alongside Queen Anne, Tudor Revival, Dutch Colonial Revival, Cape Cod and kit houses. The 1915-1916 Ballentine School, a Classical Revival building, anchors the central park.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"J.W. Lee (architect) and the Seay Brothers (contractors) for the Ballentine School; district developed by the Ballentine Realty Corporation","architectural_style":"Late Victorian (Queen Anne, Italianate); Colonial Revival; Bungalow/Craftsman; Modern Movement; Commercial","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still largely residential; historic and current functions include single and multiple dwellings, churches and a park, with a school listed as a historic function only.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.840781-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/55/6821/41682155/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/03000459.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000459/7cec7ad67d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000459/7cec7ad67d-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ballentine_at_Davis,_Norfolk.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ballentine_at_Davis,_Norfolk.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682155","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballentine_Place_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16164062"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/norfolk/ballentine-place-historic-district-03000459/"}