Bon Air Historic District
Why it's listed
Bon Air is a small village-scale district of 112 buildings near Richmond, laid out in the early 1880s by the Bon Air Land and Improvement Company as a summer refuge for city residents. Its location near Richmond, pleasant climate and rail access made it a popular resort. Buford Road holds the earliest summer cottages, mostly Stick-style houses from the 1880s and 1890s, alongside Queen Anne and Colonial Revival dwellings. Side streets contain smaller early twentieth-century frame houses, including Bungalow and American Foursquare types. The Bon Air Hotel burned in 1889, but its Stick-style annex survives, along with a Victorian Gothic church of 1882, a granite library of 1902 and a post office of 1916. The Bon Air Inn of 1894 was later divided and its sections moved and remodeled as houses. As automobiles and better train service arrived, the resort gave way to year-round suburban living. Together these buildings document that change from resort to suburb.
Significance in brief: The district is described as the best remaining representation of Bon Air in its heyday as a popular Richmond resort and emerging suburb. It contains an unusually complete range of late 19th and early 20th century buildings, from Stick-style summer cottages to Colonial Revival, Bungalow and American Foursquare houses, plus a hotel annex, church, library and post office.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 88002178, listed November 15, 1988. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by Forest Hill Rd., N. Robert, W. Bon View Dr., and McRae Rd., Richmond |
|---|---|
| County | Chesterfield County |
| Listed | November 15, 1988 |
| Reference number | 88002178 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architect / builder | Bon Air Land and Improvement Company of Virginia (developer); Jacob Fraker, builder; Lee W. Payne, builder/contractor; Carneal and Johnston, architects (Gordon House); George R. Talcott, landscape designer |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian; Late 19th- and 20th-Century Revivals (Stick, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Bungalow, American Foursquare) |
| Areas of significance | Entertainment/Recreation, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The Hazen Memorial Library is stated to be vacant since the Bon Air Library moved in 1975; the district's houses remain in residential use. |
| Acreage | 105 |
| Coordinates | 37.52494, -77.55729 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 88002178.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikidata Q49475239
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.