{"nrhp_refnum":"03000563","name":"Oaklette Historic District","other_names":["131-5073"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Indian River Rd., Oaklette, Webster, St. Lawrence, & Seneca Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chesapeake","county":"Chesapeake","state":"VA","lat":36.828482593000075,"lon":-76.23807991979187,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-06-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A planned early-20th-century streetcar suburb of about 80 acres on a peninsula along Indian River in Chesapeake, Virginia, platted in 1904 from the Hare family estate. It holds 63 resources, 31 contributing and 32 non-contributing, mostly houses.","why_significant":"The district is significant under Criterion C in the area of Community Planning and Development as an example of a planned streetcar suburb of Norfolk. Its gridiron plan, waterfront lots and streetcar line reflect common suburban development in the region. It keeps its early 20th-century character and street pattern and has good integrity.","narrative":"Oaklette is a planned streetcar suburb on a peninsula bounded by Indian River in Chesapeake, Virginia. The land was once the estate of Mathew Hare. His descendants sold a parcel for a Methodist chapel in 1883 and platted the community in 1904, as a streetcar line was being built through the property. Lots were laid out on a gridiron, with larger parcels along the waterfront to maximize saleable water views. By 1905 many inland lots were subdivided into narrower parcels. Most early houses date from 1905 to 1915 and include Colonial Revival dwellings. Craftsman Bungalows followed in the 1920s, and brick ranch houses came after World War II. A Colonna family houseboat, moved inland by a hurricane in 1933, and the remains of the Colonna estate add to the district. The district was listed for its community planning and development significance between 1883 and 1940, and it keeps its early street pattern and character.","period_of_significance":"1883 - 1940","architect_builder":"Willoughby W. Colonna","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival; Bungalow/Craftsman; Modern Movement","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Houses in the district are in current use as single-family and multiple-family dwellings; late 20th-century infill and subdivision of some waterfront sites has occurred.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.716741-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/31/6801/41680131/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/03000563.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000563/d22923d5f6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000563/d22923d5f6-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seneca_east_of_St._Lawrence,_Oaklette.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seneca_east_of_St._Lawrence,_Oaklette.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680131","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oaklette_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15263224"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/chesapeake/oaklette-historic-district-03000563/"}