Old Wythe Historic District

Old Wythe is a residential neighborhood in southwest Hampton, Virginia, stretching nearly a mile along Hampton Roads between Hampton and Newport News. Its earliest building is an 1849 Greek Revival house on Chesapeake Avenue. Wealthy northern seafood entrepreneurs built large waterfront homes there after the Civil War. True suburban growth followed, shaped by several subdivisions platted between 1891 and the 1930s, including Indian River Park and Hampton Roads Avenues. Street layouts range from regular grids to the curving streets of the 1930s Wythe plats, and Indian River Park has ornamental streetlights and a landscaped boulevard. Housing runs from Victorian and Craftsman types to Colonial and Tudor Revival, Minimal Traditional and Ranch houses. About half of the homes date from the 1930s and 1940s. The district was recognized for its community planning and architecture. Few demolitions or major alterations have occurred, and the original street patterns, waterways and open spaces survive.