Jefferson, Martha, Historic District

Northeast of downtown Charlottesville lies a 58.88-acre neighborhood of tree-lined streets and mostly two-story brick and frame houses. Almost all of it was built between 1893 and 1957 on land once tied to Locust Grove, a Greek Revival plantation house built in 1840-44 for the Sinclair family. In 1892 the Locust Grove Investment Company bought the land, subdivided it, and built eleven speculative houses in the 1890s. Most homes are modest vernacular designs, likely drawn from pattern books, with Late Victorian porch details, Colonial Revival columns and cornices, and later Bungalow/Craftsman examples. Some were built of early rock-faced concrete block by the Lupton construction firm. Maplewood Cemetery is the district's only green space, and Martha Jefferson Hospital occupies much of the southern end. Original architectural fabric survives largely intact, with additions mostly at the rear, which makes the area a well-preserved example of Charlottesville's early suburban growth.