{"nrhp_refnum":"72001512","name":"West Freemason Street Area Historic District (Additional Documentation)","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Both sides of Bute and Freemason Sts. between Elizabeth River, and York and Duke Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Norfolk (Independent City)","county":"Norfolk","state":"VA","lat":36.85234235100006,"lon":-76.29439009425826,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Military","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A neighborhood historic district of about fourteen blocks (roughly 40 acres) on the western edge of downtown Norfolk, Virginia, bounded by the Elizabeth River, Brambleton Avenue, Duke Street and West Freemason Street. It was laid out just after the Revolution and holds houses from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century.","why_significant":"The nomination argues this is the only one of Norfolk's historic residential neighborhoods to escape the urban renewal of the 1960s, and the only surviving early residential streetscape in the city. Its townhouses record the city's architectural development from Federal to Georgian Revival. It also has associations with figures and events such as Captain Richard Lucien Page, the War of 1812 and the Civil War occupation.","narrative":"West Freemason Street Area is a compact neighborhood of about fourteen blocks on the western edge of downtown Norfolk, between the Elizabeth River and Boush Street. Laid out just after the Revolution, it contains townhouses built from the late eighteenth century into the early twentieth, including Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne and Georgian Revival examples. Most are three- or five-bay dwellings set close to the street on deep, narrow lots. Nineteenth-century details survive, such as stone paving at the end of West Freemason Street and fine cast iron fences and verandas. The district matters because Norfolk's other old residential neighborhoods were cleared in the 1960s, leaving this as the city's only early residential streetscape. Individual houses carry their own stories: the 1807 Selden House served as Federal headquarters from 1862 to 1865, the Whittle House was home to Captain Richard Lucien Page, and the Allmand-Archer House housed American officers in the War of 1812.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Range of townhouse styles from Federal through Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Romanesque Revival, Queen Anne, Beaux Arts Classicism and Georgian Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked fair and altered; structures range from excellently maintained to poorly maintained and abandoned, and the area is primarily residential with some townhouses converted to commercial use.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:58.050804-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/71/6821/41682171/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/72001512.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001512/5d95650ee7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001512/5d95650ee7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Cathy1763","credit_html":"Cathy1763, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:W._Freemason_St._Historic_District.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682171","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Freemason_Street_Area_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16903095"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/norfolk/west-freemason-street-area-historic-district-additional-documentation-72001512/"}