{"nrhp_refnum":"94000153","name":"West of Boulevard Historic District","other_names":["127-742","See Also: 2900 Block Grove Avenue Historic District"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Colonial Ave., W. Grace St., Cutshaw Ave., Thompson St., and Ellwood Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Richmond (Independent City)","county":"Richmond (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":37.55968859200007,"lon":-77.47974414510003,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-03-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 69-block residential historic district in the West End of Richmond, Virginia, developed from about 1895 to 1940. It holds rowhouses, detached town houses, apartment buildings, commercial buildings, churches, a synagogue and schools.","why_significant":"The nomination describes the district as one of Richmond's most significant collections of early-twentieth-century architecture. It contains a wide range of styles, including Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, Colonial Revival, Classical Revival, Craftsman, Mediterranean, Tudor Revival and Art Deco. It also shows the growth of a streetcar-era suburb during a period of rapid economic and social growth for the city.","narrative":"West of Boulevard is a 69-block residential neighborhood in Richmond's West End, laid out on a grid of broad, tree-shaded east-west avenues and narrower north-south side streets. It grew from about 1895 to 1940, on former farmland, as an extension of the Fan District. The district holds 1,763 contributing buildings, including brick rowhouses, detached town houses, apartment buildings, small commercial buildings, three churches, a synagogue and five schools. Styles range from Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival to Colonial Revival, Craftsman, Mediterranean, Tudor Revival and Art Deco. The oldest buildings appear to be three granite-faced Queen Anne houses on Grove Avenue from the late 1890s. Notable works include the Wendell Powell House by D. Wiley Anderson, the Benedictine High School complex designed by Father Michael McInerney, Saint Gertrude's Convent, and the Classical Revival church at Grove and North Sheppard. Its architectural variety and intact streetscapes led to its listing.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architects named include D. Wiley Anderson, Isaac T. Skinner, Charles M. Robinson, Marcellus E. Wright, Luther P. Hartsook, Father Michael McInerney, Baskervill and Lambert, and McGuinness and Walsh. Builders named include O. J. Davis, A. D. Sprinkle, Matthias Kayhoe, Muhleman & Kayhoe, and Max Ruehrmund.","architectural_style":"Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, Colonial Revival, Classical Revival, Craftsman, Mediterranean, Tudor Revival, Art Deco","criteria":[],"status_note":"The district is a densely populated, cohesive neighborhood still in residential, religious and educational use. It has 1,763 contributing and 175 noncontributing buildings. Benedictine High School was gutted by fire in 1986 and has since been renovated and still serves the community. The former Johnston-Willis Hospital is now a retirement home.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:59.828751-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/13/6830/41683013/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/94000153.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000153/7057d5bbcb-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000153/7057d5bbcb-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Flickr user: Taber Andrew Bain Richmond (Virginia) https://www.flickr.com/people/andrewbain/","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richmondmuseumdistrict.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Flickr user: Taber Andrew Bain Richmond (Virginia) https://www.flickr.com/people/andrewbain/</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richmondmuseumdistrict.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/41683013","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_District,_Richmond,_Virginia","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7987081"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/richmond/west-of-boulevard-historic-district-94000153/"}