West Franklin Street Historic District (Boundary Increase)

This boundary increase extends the West Franklin Street Historic District northward to one city block in Richmond, centered on the 900 block of West Grace Street and the adjoining blocks of North Harrison and Shafer Streets. The area began as part of a fashionable residential neighborhood, and sixteen of its twenty-six buildings still reflect that era. They are two- to four-story brick, brownstone, limestone and sandstone houses in Italianate, Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque and Tudor Revival modes, with two carriage houses. Several have storefront additions that fill their original setbacks. Ten later commercial buildings and a parking lot do not contribute. The addition was listed for its architecture, with a period of significance of 1870 to 1920. Its houses closely match the styles, materials and setbacks of the original district, and the pressure of commercial growth and the adjacent university has not erased that character.