{"nrhp_refnum":"84003572","name":"Monroe Park Historic District","other_names":["See Also:Cathedral of the Sacred Heart"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Belvidere, Main, Cherry, Park, Laurel, and Franklin Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Richmond (Independent City)","county":"Richmond (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":37.546853999000035,"lon":-77.4504083803773,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-07-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district in central Richmond, Virginia, centered on Monroe Park, a five-sided public park laid out in the 1870s, and the churches, public buildings, apartment towers and town houses that face its north and west sides.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is an exceptional architectural ensemble, unique in Virginia for its monumental character and stylistic diversity. Gothic, Italian Renaissance, Moorish, Second Empire and Jacobean Revival buildings surround the park, which acts as a forecourt to them. The park also reflects Richmond's mid-19th-century park planning and later monument building.","narrative":"Monroe Park Historic District occupies about 21 acres in central Richmond, between downtown and a dense town house neighborhood. Its core is a five-sided public park on land the city bought in 1851. It served as a fairground and Civil War camp before being developed for recreation in the 1870s. Radial walks lead to a four-tier cast-iron fountain made about 1903, and the park holds statues of William Carter Wickham and Joseph Bryan and an octagonal Checkers House of 1939. Facing the park are late 19th-century town houses, Grace and Holy Trinity Church (1895), the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (1906), the Moorish Mosque Auditorium (1926), and two twelve-story Jacobean Revival apartment buildings from the 1920s. The district was listed for this unusual meeting of minarets, domes, towers and mansard roofs around a shared green space. Sixteen buildings and five objects are counted, and two buildings are non-contributing.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Multiple, including Joseph McGuire, Alfred Charles Bossom, Marcellus Wright and Charles M. Robinson Associates, Roland & Baskervill (Noland & Baskervill), Edward Valentine (sculptor)","architectural_style":"Eclectic mix: Gothic Revival, Italian Renaissance, Moorish, Second Empire, Italianate, Jacobean Revival, Georgian Revival, Colonial Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Park design unchanged since the early 20th century; most buildings are still used for original purposes, with some houses converted to offices and one apartment tower to a dormitory. All are described as well maintained and in good repair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.484946-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/64/6828/41682864/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/84003572.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003572/d2027cd568-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003572/d2027cd568-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Packer1028","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monroe_Park_Historic_District.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Packer1028</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monroe_Park_Historic_District.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"71000982","name":"James River and Kanawha Canal Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/james-river-and-kanawha-canal-historic-district-71000982/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682864","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24338685"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/richmond/monroe-park-historic-district-84003572/"}