Ghent Historic District

Ghent is a suburban neighborhood of about 77 acres within walking distance of downtown Norfolk, laid out from 1890 on former farmland by the Norfolk Company. Civil engineer John Graham planned a mostly conventional grid, but along Smith's Creek he filled marshland and shaped a semicircular street, Mowbray Arch, which became the favored address for prosperous residents. Most houses went up between 1892 and 1907, helped by new trolley lines, a toll bridge and annexation to the city. The streets hold brick houses of about two and a half stories, mainly in Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Shingle styles, along with a few apartment buildings, a hospital and a church. Lawyers, railroad executives and city officials lived here. Promoters used views of Mowbray Arch on postcards to advertise modern housing. Despite some alterations, the district keeps its original street pattern and landscaped waterfront, and it is regarded as Norfolk's best-preserved turn-of-the-century suburb.