North Ghent

North Ghent is an eighty-acre neighborhood west of downtown Norfolk, Virginia, laid out as a northward extension of the planned suburb of Ghent. Colonial Avenue, platted in 1891, was meant as a grand boulevard for wealthy residents and filled with large houses in Colonial Revival, Queen Anne, French Renaissance and Romanesque Revival styles. In 1897 the boundaries were extended north and west, and building on the new streets began in 1899. Stockley Gardens, a landscaped corridor created in 1900 by filling Colley Creek, became the focal point and drew institutional as well as residential development. A building boom followed between 1900 and 1910, and the area was almost fully built by 1928. The 1907 Jamestown Exposition encouraged red brick Colonial Revival apartment houses. Smaller single-family houses and rowhouses for middle-class buyers mixed Shingle, Tudor Revival, Craftsman and American Foursquare designs. Of 378 properties, 321 contribute to the district's character, which reflects both suburban planning and architectural variety.