South Market Street Historic District

South Market Street in Petersburg, Virginia, holds a two-block remnant of what was once the city's premier residential address. Seventeen resources, mostly brick or frame houses with a few surviving carriage houses and kitchens, line the street from Washington to Halifax Street. Most were built between 1840 and 1905 and show Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles. The street was home to the McIlwaines, McGills, Williamses, Roper family and other manufacturing and commercial leaders, and was called the "Fifth Avenue of Petersburg." The one non-residential building is the 1858 Gothic Revival church, designed by R. A. Machen, now Mt. Olivet Baptist Church. A cast-iron fence, granite curbs and consistent setbacks add to the setting. On April 3, 1865, the Wallace House hosted a meeting between General Grant and President Lincoln. Despite the loss of several grand houses, the street keeps a cohesive nineteenth-century character.