The Source for Richmond Architecture and Design Information

Neighborhood Profile: Springhill

Springhill is a tightly-configured, intown enclave of topographical and architectural contrasts. Tree-shaded streets lined with modest-sized cottages and bungalows meld counter-intuitively with riverside cliffs and modern high rise apartment towers. The neighborhood, which contains the only Old and Historic District in Southside Richmond, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.    …

Neighborhood Profile: Gilpin Court

Perhaps no other neighborhood in Richmond has been the object of as much stigmatization as Gilpin Court. Topography, racial discrimination, contemporary infrastructure, and public housing developments have all played a role in isolating this valuable piece of the city. Though these issues continue to obscure the history and culture which remain there, the resurgence of …

Neighborhood Profile: Newtowne West

For a city that prides itself on its network of distinct neighborhoods, perhaps Richmond has paid too little attention to Newtowne West. Then again, its obscurity is as much a function of the infrastructure and topography which surround it as intentional neglect.  This small neighborhood is bound by Broad Street to the south, Lombardy Avenue …

Neighborhood Profile: Bon Air

Bon Air is a neighborhood in northern Chesterfield County. Located roughly 8 miles west of Downtown Richmond, Bon Air was formed as a getaway for wealthy Richmonders. The name, meaning “good air” in french, was selected to evoke the bucolic countryside to which Richmonders could now escape. The village was formed around the Bon Air …

Neighborhood Profile: Windsor Farms

The Windsor Farms residential subdivision, known architecturally first and foremost for Agecroft Hall and the Virginia House, is equally as interesting for its layout and conception as well as an impressive collection of Colonial Revival homes. Founded in 1926 by tobacconist T.C. Williams, the neighborhood was reimagined as an English Village. This is evident both …

Neighborhood Profile: Chestnut Hill – Plateau Historic District

Wedged into a 148 acre strip of land on the northeast border of Richmond above Shockoe Hill Cemetery is the Chestnut Hill – Plateau Historic District, a unique and often overlooked neighborhood in the city also known as Highland Park Southern Tip. The first structure of note in the area was that of a sprawling, …