2900 Block Grove Avenue Historic District

Four stone-fronted houses on the south side of the 2900 block of Grove Avenue in Richmond form this small district, facing the landscaped grounds of the Virginia Museum. Three were built in the late 1890s in the Queen Anne style, with rough-faced stone, irregular gabled roofs with patterned tiles, witch-hat roofs and conical turrets. Inside, the houses retain stained glass, carved stairs, glazed scenic tiles on fireplaces and brass chandeliers with crystals dated 1895. The fourth house, at 2901, dates from 1912 and is a square stone building with Spanish Mission features and red tile roofing. Wooden carriage houses with cupolas and scrollwork line the rear alley. The land was held by the Harvie family, then sold in 1886 to the West End Land Improvement Company, which planned suburban development. The block survives as the most successful remnant of that late nineteenth-century West End growth and is valued for its Queen Anne architecture and quiet, tree-shaded setting.