Marked by its collection of early 20th century revival and American movement buildings, Colonial Place is an example of the residential subdivisions that emerged as the suburbs of Norfolk expanded with the advent of the streetcar and automobile at the turn of the 20th century. Such communities offered residents a scenic alternative to the dense inner city older neighborhoods. George W. Dillard, area developer and president of the newly established Sterling Place Company, submitted the original plat in 1903 for the subdivision of Colonial Place, which was originally conceived as Sterling Place. The community, consisting of over 220 acres, was laid out specifically to attract middle and upper income residents. The building requirements, extensive services, restrictions, attractive landscaping and often generously sized lots attest to the development company’s desire to attract a certain class of people. Based on original plat maps of the community, the area was developed over several decades between 1903 and 1941, with additional infill development occurring later. Organized along the curvilinear waterfront, the streets were constructed along the slightly angled north-south axis of the central peninsula, with bisecting cross streets. The monotony of the ubiquitous grid plan was intentionally avoided through the introduction of a series of traffic circles, crescents, and squares. The peninsula extends into the Lafayette River and offers exceptional views and a bucolic setting. The community was further distinguished by the naming of its streets using a unified colonial theme, in keeping with the much-touted 1907 Jamestown Exposition.

The houses along the northern semi-circular edge are substantial in size and are set well back from the road with large grassy yards in front. The interior housing lots include a variety of building forms and sizes, ranging from large two-and-a-half-story brick dwellings to smaller, bungalow residences. In general, the larger houses are set upon sizeable lots, while the smaller houses are set upon narrow lots and separated by narrow alleys or driveways with freestanding garages and sheds. The chronological development is visible in terms of the architecture, which includes a wide range of building dates ranging from 1906 to infill housing of the late 1990s.(1) The neighborhood is generally defined by its eclectic collection of Colonial Revival style houses, ranging from the Georgian Revival American four-square house to the Craftsman Bungalow to the Tudor Revival and Spanish Mission-revival style dwelling.

As a whole, Colonial Place has achieved significance as the product of a distinctive period whose individual components combine to create a distinguishable entity with high artistic value, based upon the original plans of the developers. The proposed district meets National Register criteria A and C, and is significant under the themes of architecture and community planning/development with the period of significance extending from 1903 to 1941. The neighborhood consists of 965 properties (including approximately 913 single dwellings, 43 multiple dwellings, two churches, a school, a pump house, a monument, and four landscaped parks). There are 793 contributing primary resources and 172 non-contributing primary resources, supported by a total of approximately 354 secondary resources.

            Criterion A: That are associated with events that have made a significant
            contribution to the broad patterns of our history.

Colonial Place meets Criterion A of the National Register of Historic Places, as a planned community that developed because of its support of the expanding middle-class suburban population of Norfolk in the early decades of the 20th century.

The Sterling Place Company, renamed the Colonial Place Corporation in 1908, purchased a 166-acre farm in May 1903. The company, under the direction of developer and president George W. Dillard, filed an official plat for the newly devised suburb later that same year. The residential community, which ultimately consisted of over 220 acres, was to be known originally as Sterling Place, although the plat indicated the neighborhood had been unofficially renamed Colonial Place in 1906 (officially the name was changed in 1908). The proposed plan depicted the neighborhood’s original lot divisions, street layout, and open spaces. Infill of the landscape was required to raise the level of the marshy lowland for suitable high ground development, rather than the normal act of grading. The new subdivision was composed of intersecting streets, deliberately designed to take advantage of the irregular shoreline of the surrounding Tanner’s Creek (soon thereafter renamed Lafayette River), differentiating the neighborhood from the surrounding streets. Furthermore, the neighborhood had tree-lined curvilinear streets, paved with the advertised “bitulithic” and curbed granolithic sidewalks. (2) In addition, the amenities included an embanked protective outer seawall edge, telephone, city water, electric light, gas, sewerage, several parks, six wooded acres, convenient streetcar access, and scenic views along the waterfront. The extensive and costly seawall embankment was undertaken with “permission obtained from the Secretary of War and from the Board of Harbor Commissioners” and “mark[ed] a number of exceptional features in residential property.” (3) Other specifications stated that the lots were “eighty-one feet [in] front, or more than three times the width of the usual building lot in Norfolk, while other sites [were] one hundred and ten feet front, thus insuring an appearance of lawns between the residences, all of the flats in front of the bulkheads [were] dredged out so that no mud…show [ed] at low-water and the bulkhead [was] to be of concrete, with concrete steps, sixty feet wide at the ends of the streets, thus affording landing places for power boats and other pleasure crafts, at all times.” (4)

In an effort to attract the intended exclusive clientele, Colonial Place was touted as being “high class residential section” and one of Norfolk’s most beautiful neighborhoods. (5) Accordingly, restrictions on housing costs were imposed. The highest prices were for those lots on the waterfront with the less expensive lots making up the interior sections. Furthermore, it was not permitted for a dwelling to be constructed on less than two lots. By doing this, the company created a larger number of less expensive properties while maintaining the illusion of a “high-class” roomy suburb. In keeping with the “high class” vision, the development company advertised that “No lots w[ould] be sold to persons of African descent, no board fences, no liquor and the beautiful waterfront c[ould] never be used for commercial purposes.” (6)

From the outset, approximately 2,208 lots were platted with an envisioned 1,104 residential dwellings to be erected, as it was restricted for development to occur on less than two lots. Approximately 169 of these lots were south of Pocahontas Avenue (later 38th Street) and a few of these lots were improved. Once the streets were actually laid out, however, it was clear to the developers that this southernmost area was visually disjoined from the cohesive 1903 subdivision plan. Therefore, the area was disregarded as part of Colonial Place, eventually becoming the northern portion of Kensington and Virginia Place. Between 1903 and 1911, the first phase of the neighborhood’s development, Colonial Place faced stiff competition from other “high class” suburbs, as well as a building slump that hit Norfolk in 1909. Although 980 lots were sold by 1912, primarily as investments, only approximately twenty houses and four traffic circle parks had been actually erected. Consequently, by 1912, the company abandoned its original restrictive vision and Colonial Place began to thrive as a solidly middle-class community.

The pace of development in Colonial Place was further affected by the influx of workers brought to the port city on the eve of the First World War (1914-1918). This second period of growth (1912-1941) extended through the war, the Depression and in the years leading up to America’s entry into World War II. During this second development phase, approximately 766 dwellings were built. The final building phase included approximately 241 additional buildings, constructed after 1941.

            Criteria C: That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method
            of construction or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic
            values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components
            may lack individual distinction.

The suburban neighborhood of Colonial Place meets Criterion C of the National Register of Historic Places for its substantial concentration of high style and, as the market demanded, less ornate architecture. Colonial Place retains many of its original early 20th century residential revival and American movement buildings, the majority of which were speculatively designed by local builders and architects. The earliest houses erected were generally imposing Colonial Revival and Queen Anne style residences built for upper-middle class residents. Construction was originally focused in the southern portion of the neighborhood, on streets such as Newport Avenue, Gosnold Avenue, Pocahontas Avenue, and Colonial Avenue. Although the pricier waterfront lots along Mayflower Avenue were desirable, the marshy land took longer to infill than expected. Consequently, those lots were not developed initially. The dwellings, ornamented to the specific tastes of the property owners, were sited on spacious lots with landscaped yards. Each of these large single-family buildings exhibited high-style ornamentation, including wrap-around porches, bracketing, denticulated moldings, sleeping porches, and an array of detailed cladding materials.

By the time residential construction began to take off after many of the imposed restrictions were disregarded in 1912, house sizes and stylistic features had begun to change in response to a new middle-class clientele. As a result, larger numbers of smaller, less ornamented houses were built in the neighborhood. The dominant styles were modest Colonial Revival dwellings balanced by a number of Craftsman-style Bungalows. These later dwellings generally housed middle-income residents, and exhibited less architectural ornament than the houses erected prior to 1912.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Created from Norfolk County in 1682, the City of Norfolk is located along the eastern seaboard in Tidewater Virginia. It is bounded to the east by the City of Virginia Beach, the cities of Chesapeake and Portsmouth to the south and west, respectively, and to the north by the Elizabeth River and the Chesapeake Bay. Originally a borough, Norfolk achieved city status in 1845 with a total land area that encompassed 1.3 square miles.

A significant period of growth in the city began during the French and Indian War (1754-1763), when the population grew from 1,000 to 6,000 by the time of the American Revolution (1775-1783). Following the Revolutionary War, Norfolk emerged slowly as streets became lined with elegantly styled Federal townhouses. With the hostilities between France and England beginning in 1793, Norfolk resumed a role as an important seaport, prospering through the supply of ships for both countries. This significant role, interrupted numerous times throughout the 19th century, became stable after the Civil War (1861-1865). Thus, the city of Norfolk grew into a major port of trade with cotton, corn, flour, peanuts, tobacco, wheat, timber, and coal becoming its main exports. Long-time area merchants and newcomers to the city re-opened Norfolk to the cotton trade, making it one of the two largest cotton ports in the nation during the Reconstruction and Growth Period (1865-1917). Additionally, lumber and shingle mills, along with other commercial and industrial ventures, ensured the area's continued stability and encouraged the physical and residential growth of the city northward from the commercial core along West Freemason Street.

Along with the post-Civil War economic growth came an increasing population and expanding city boundaries. In the period between 1870 and 1914, Norfolk saw substantial changes in its residential character, growing from a small urban, port town to an expanding city with many outlying suburban communities. This suburban growth, induced in part by the electric streetcar established in 1894, occurred in phases beginning after Reconstruction and continuing well into the mid-20th century.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Norfolk underwent five significant boundary expansions, in 1887, 1890, 1902, 1906, and 1911, increasing the city’s area from 1.3 to nine square miles. The first boundary expansion to occur since 1845 was in 1887, when the city annexed Brambleton, a residential community separated from Norfolk by Newton's Creek. The acquisition of Brambleton increased the city's population and encouraged future city annexations. In 1890, Atlantic City was added, which, unlike the established residential community of Brambleton, was primarily undeveloped land that attracted developers wishing to improve housing for the growing population.

The expansion of Norfolk during the late 19th century mirrored that of many cities throughout the country, as the development of the streetcar became synonymous with the expansion of city boundaries and suburban growth. The electric streetcars that had replaced the original horse-drawn cars enabled the suburban development to extend farther and farther outside the city in accordance with the greater speed afforded by the electric cars. Major players in these expanding suburbs were often real estate development companies that laid out and advertised “planned” residential neighborhoods on the outskirts of major cities. The earliest of these outlying planned communities, such as Llewellyn Park in New Jersey (laid out in 1855), were firmly established upper-class neighborhoods. Yet, with the growth of electric streetcar systems in the 1880s and 1890s, greater numbers of middle-class subdivisions began to ring American cities.

In Norfolk, this transformation first began in 1866, when the first street railway franchise was granted to the Norfolk City Railroad Company. In 1869, the company had laid the first tracks along Main Street, later to be extended along Church and Granby Streets reaching the residential areas north of the city. By 1894, the most desirable areas for development were those located along the rapidly expanding electric streetcar lines, which replaced the original horse-drawn lines of the 1860s. Expansion of the city spurred by this modern form of transportation occurred primarily after the turn of the 20th century with the annexation of numerous tracts of platted land: Park Place, which included an 1890s suburb of the same name north of the city, was annexed in 1902; the port town of Berkley in 1906; and, in 1911, the unimproved tract of Lambert’s Point and the small community of Huntersville.

Norfolk investors, encouraged by the rapidly expanding transportation system, underwrote dozens of suburban improvement companies during this period. In 1890 alone, fifty-eight land and improvement companies were chartered in Norfolk. The first, and most significant residential development in Norfolk of this period, was the city's first planned suburb of Ghent (VDHR 122-0061). (7) Originally a 220-acre tract of mostly rural land, Ghent was subdivided in 1890 by the newly established Norfolk Company and developed with freestanding, single-family dwellings that appealed to middle and upper-middle-income residents. Following the development of Ghent, several other suburban residential communities began to take shape, including Riverview (1900, VDHR 122-0823), Lafayette Residence Park (1902, VDHR 122-0826), Colonial Place (1903, VDHR 122-0825), Ballentine Place (1909, VDHR 122-0829) and Winona (1909, VDHR 122-0828).

The explosion of often-speculative suburban real estate interests and a limited clientele caused stiff competition among the various suburbs. Thus, the expansion of many of these suburban neighborhoods was limited during the early 1900s through the 1910s. In addition, Colonial Place was limited by the restrictions enacted in an attempt to draw a “high class” clientele. Yet, during World War I, Norfolk’s location and prosperous industries made the port city an obvious center for military and civilian production. The expansion of wartime industry in the World War I to World War II Period (1914-1945) greatly impacted the city’s suburban development as an influx of workers swelled the city’s population, creating a demand for housing that lead to the rapid development of many of the suburbs platted in the early years of the 20th century.

Colonial Place Prior to Suburban Development in 1903

In 1875, the first phase of suburban development in the Colonial Place area began with the platting of the adjacent neighborhood of Riverview. The property was divided into tracts that made up the neighborhood subdivisions of Riverview Park, Riverside Park, and the property deeded to heirs of Cornelius C. Cruser. Between 1890 and 1900, each tract was subdivided into housing lots and platted by individual real estate companies, although they were later merged into one neighborhood known simply as Riverview. The 1898 extension of the streetcar line along Granby Avenue, which eventually encircled the subdivision of Riverview, proved to be one of the greatest amenities afforded to residents of this area. The streetcars provided easy access to downtown Norfolk, and essentially opened the surrounding area for suburban development by the first decade of the 20th century. Consequently, the prospects for suburban development brightened and the suburban communities, such as Riverview, immediately began to take shape. However, high housing costs slowed the early years of development. Therefore, prices were amended and, by 1915, the majority of the lots had been sold. With a number of such suburban communities already established, the neighborhood of Colonial Place quickly followed suit.

Prior to subdivision as a residential neighborhood, the land on which Colonial Place would be established was largely undeveloped and surrounded by marshy inlets. The property was captured within the boundaries of Norfolk City in 1902 when the Park Place/7th Ward annexation occurred, including the area between City Park and Colley Avenue/Atlantic City. Colonial Place was platted on a peninsula that jutted north into Tanner’s Creek (now known as Lafayette River) nestled between Knitting Mill and East Haven Creeks.

One of the major impetuses for development of the area was the expanding municipal and transportation improvements that made the adjacent Riverview neighborhood, located across East Haven Creek to the east, attractive to Norfolk residents. Even though the Norfolk City Railroad Company had been incorporated in 1866, construction of the streetcar system did not actually begin until 1870. The Norfolk City Railroad Company went out of business in 1873 because of a lack of patronage, and was succeeded by a company that adopted the same name. Thus, by 1875, the cars were back on the tracks, and public transportation began to grow steadily. This increase in ridership prompted the establishment of a steam-operated line to Ocean View, a route built by the Norfolk and Ocean View Narrow Gauge Railroad Company in 1879. Street rail expansion throughout the city of Norfolk began to increase at an even greater pace with the use of electrification in 1894. By 1898, a streetcar line had was extended along Granby Street, an electrified route that ran northward from downtown Norfolk and extended northward across the Lafayette River, becoming a principle downtown route. Part of this Granby Street line looped around Riverview, following Holly Street and Lucille Avenue. This extension provided a transportation route directly into Lafayette City Park, established in 1892. The two neighborhoods, which developed primarily in the same manner, became sister neighborhoods. Granby Street, the commercial corridor which the two communities share, runs along the western edge of Riverview. The route was a principle downtown thoroughfare, and one of the first streets in Norfolk to receive streetcar service. These early streetcars were small, horse-drawn vehicles with four wheels.

Although areas to the east and west of what became Colonial Place were previously platted, this portion of property remained independent farmland. (8) Historically associated with the Freeman family, who occupied the land prior to the Civil War, the property boasted a farm dwelling located near what later became the northernmost traffic circle on Newport Avenue. (9) The route of Newport Avenue closely follows what was once known as Freeman’s Road, which linked the farm to Lambert’s Point Road. Freeman Farm was advertised for sale in 1868 as “about 75 acres are cleared and are believed to be unsurpassed by any in the country for easy cultivation and early vegetation. The location is beautiful and healthful and susceptible of high improvement—being on the south side of navigable water, connecting with the Elizabeth River. The oyster grounds in front of the farm are said to be of the best quality and are very spacious.”(10) The truck farm property was described as having the only large growth of hardwood trees, including oaks, dogwoods, and various pines, within fifteen miles of the city. (11) The property, which then consisted of 166 acres, was later owned by Peter March, although it is unclear as to whether he purchased the property directly from the Freeman estate or a subsequent owner. Upon Marsh’s death, his heirs attempted to sell the property to the City of Norfolk as a park, but were refused due to the area’s close proximity to Lafayette City Park, just to the east of Riverview. (12) In May of 1903, the farm was sold for $150,000 to a private firm for development. (13) The Sterling Place Company, chartered on March 28th of that year and renamed the Colonial Place Corporation in 1908, purchased the property. (14) Under the supervision of George W. Dillard, a speculative developer from North Carolina, the company intended to develop the property as a high-class suburban community bearing the company’s namesake.

Initial Development in Colonial Place (1903-1911)

The company immediately delved into the expensive tasks of infilling the marshy property, laying out the streetscape, constructing a waterfront embankment, and installing modern amenities. The developers, under the guidance of George W. Dillard, strived to create a unique upper-class property to set Colonial Place apart from the numerous emerging streetcar suburbs. The neighborhood was located just to the north of Park Place, Virginia Place, and Kensington and west of Riverview. Immediately, the developers championed the popular ideals of the picturesque employed by influential architects and landscapists such as Alexander Jackson Davis, Andrew Jackson Downing, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. In addition, the City Beautiful Movement, introduced at the Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, merged with the American city-planning psyche. Accordingly, the developers included many of the Beaux-Arts theories. These included the use of visually linked grand vistas, a central monumental esplanade, and the inclusion of parks. Such ideals were implemented through the platting of the streets, which did not follow the existing grid plan established in the surrounding area. Instead, the streets were slightly skewed in order to create a distinctive grid-like pattern aligned with the projecting peninsula of the landscape. The concept was further implemented with the creation of a central axis, or promenade, as well as landscaped traffic circles.

Further embracing the ideals of the day, the developers chose to adopt the historic celebratory ideology to be presented at the Jamestown Exposition, which Norfolk was in the throes of planning in order to commemorate Virginia’s 300-year heritage. The publicity of the Exposition included a “major effort from 1903 through 1905 to mobilize local residents and to make the public at large aware of the heritage of Tidewater Virginia.” (15) Thus, the newly laid avenues were named according to the colonial motif. The previously established Colonial Avenue, originating in Ghent, retained its appropriate name. The parallel north-south avenues were renamed to honor the captains of the ships that carried the English colonists to Jamestown--Grafton Avenue became Gosnold Avenue honoring Bartholomew Gosnold, captain of the Susan Constant, and the central boulevard, once Granard Avenue, was renamed Newport Avenue in reverence to Christopher Newport, the captain of the Godspeed. The bisecting east-west streets were named for America’s original thirteen colonies, in order from Georgia to New Hampshire. In addition, 38th Street was named Pocahontas Avenue (later returned to 38th Street), Mayflower Road meandered around the perimeter, and the remaining street in the southwest corner remained Gray Street. In the 1920s, the residents changed Gray Street to Michigan Avenue, in keeping with the state nomenclature. (16) Newport Avenue boasted the Yorktown Circle to the north and the Jamestown Circle to the south. In addition, Delaware Avenue was pierced with East Park and West Park. A brick pier entryway bearing the Colonial Place name in terra cotta was initially constructed at 37th Street, as were several large houses such as the Gregory House at 528 West 37th Street. The new street configuration, once implemented, visually excluded the four blocks south of what is now 38th Street, including the gate and original dwellings. Thus, they were immediately decreed as no longer belonging to the development. (17) This act ultimately led to the demolition of the brick gates.

In an effort to make Colonial Place an exclusive and desirable neighborhood, restrictions devised by the developers were placed on anyone intending to build in the development. In addition to the numerous upgrades and restrictions imposed on the properties to insure a “strictly high class” neighborhood, Colonial Place’s promoters did not put the properties on the market until most of the improvements were in place. It was required, for instance, that no dwelling could be constructed on less than two lots. Lot prices themselves started in the $600-range, on the twenty-five foot wide interior lots, but increased to $800 for thirty-five foot wide corner lots. The 110-foot square lots along Gosnold Avenue, 220 feet apart, were marketed for $1,000 and those along Mayflower Avenue with waterfront views, 110 feet apart, sold for $1,200. In addition, the restrictions included ten-foot setbacks, no liquor, no board fences and no persons of African descent.

By 1906, much of the infrastructure was in place, including paved streets with granite curbs, as well as sewers, gas, telephone service and electricity. The president of the Sterling Place Company, George W. Dillard, led the way in the building process by erecting the first dwelling for himself at 4105 Newport Avenue. The Turpin Brothers, speculative building contractors, quickly followed suit with similar dwellings at 418 and 422 Pocahontas Avenue. In addition, with the numerous waterfront sites, bucolic Colonial Place was touted as having the charm of a seaside community, with the convenience of city living. It was advertised that every lot carry with it the entirety of the waterfront privileges, including the convenience of “good fishing, rowing and sailing.”(18) The suburban community was also located in close proximity to city streetcars, which took fifteen minutes to make the run from downtown Norfolk to Colonial Place. The streetcar line extended along 35th Street, which ran from downtown to the Jamestown Exposition on nearby Lambert’s Point. The neighborhood was designed with the idea of an extension of the line to come directly into Colonial Place, although it was not implemented until 1911. Newport Avenue was platted to accommodate double tracks, with Jamestown Circle solving the turn-around problems often encountered in other areas.

The City of Norfolk experienced a building boom between 1907 and 1908, just after the establishment of Colonial Place. The majority of the buildings in Colonial Place’s initial building phase, typical of domestic construction throughout the nation, were influenced by the forms, materials, details, or other features associated with the architectural styles that were currently in vogue. In this manner, the original plan and design of buildings in Colonial Place followed a more high-style pattern, with the majority of the dwellings exhibiting the Colonial Revival, Queen Anne and Classical Revival styles. As these new architectural trends were spread from the cities to the suburbs, the styles were modified to accommodate smaller resources, utilizing varied materials that typically reduced construction costs.

Many of the prominent suburbs, such as Ghent and Larchmont, flourished in the increased development. Despite Colonial Place being “destined to become Norfolk’s best residential section,” the combination of the company’s increased competition and drained resources lead to a reevaluation of the development company. (19) Thus, the company was officially reorganized as the Colonial Place Corporation in 1908 with a stronger focus on increasing development. (20) Although Norfolk’s period of prosperity was quickly followed by a slump in housing construction between 1909 and 1910, Colonial Place was finally in a position to establish itself as the “city’s finest suburb.” The 1910 federal census revealed that many of the original residents were prominent Norfolk businessmen, lawyers, dentists, and even Norfolk’s Chief of Police. They included G.W. Dillard (4105 Newport Avenue), J.J. Stanfield (3917 Gosnold Avenue—burned 1916), C.E. Herbert (536 New York Avenue), W.M. and J.A. Turpin (422 and 418 38th Street), R.C. Taylor (4107 Gosnold Avenue), Dr. J.W. Manning (4801 Newport Avenue), R.W. Peatross (4415 Newport Avenue) and G.T. Wilson (504 Georgia Avenue). Many of their houses were displayed in full-page advertisements in the Virginian-Pilot as real estate agents such as the Baldwin Brothers and S.L. McGonigle, attempted to attract residents and halt the building depression by glorifying Colonial Place’s high-class status in local newspapers. (21) The advertisements boasted of the investment potential of the development as “the safe and sane way of increasing wealth” (22) that would not “remain as dead wood on your hands for 20 years.” (23) Apparently such ideas worked and, by 1911, Colonial Place boasted 980 buyers, primarily investors from Dillard’s native North Carolina. However, only about twenty dwellings had been built, virtually all of those advertised. (24)

The advertisements did much to increase awareness for Norfolk’s newly established “high class residential section,” but the reality was that other communities such as Ghent more appropriately fit the upper-class profile. More restrictive, suburbs such as Larchmont included fifteen-foot setbacks and a requirement for housing plans to be reviewed and accepted by the governing board. Therefore, many of the plans were architect-designed rather than speculatively built—a luxury only afforded by the upper-classes. Stiff competition continued among the less restrictive, lower tier of the “high class” neighborhoods, including Winona, Ballentine Place, Lenox, Park Place and Riverview. After much promotion and great expenditure, the Colonial Place Corporation had little to show for its investment. Therefore, in 1911, with only about twenty houses erected, Colonial Place departed from its original lofty vision. This ended the initial phase of development, shifting the community to solid middle-class status.

Significant Phase of Growth in Colonial Place (1912-1941)

Once Colonial Place shed its pretensions of appealing to upper income residents, a speculative building boom took place, beginning in 1912 and lasting through the Depression until World War II. It was clearly the community’s largest period of growth, with approximately 766 dwellings built. Although some of the neighborhood’s original residents, including Colonial Place Corporation president George W. Dillard, fled to “more high class” neighborhoods such as Ghent and Larchmont, the community began to boom as a solidly middle class suburban neighborhood. Yet, prominent Norfolk residents continued to reside and build in Colonial Place. They included H. Thumm of Wilson & Thumm wood manufacturers (4806 Mayflower Avenue), Dr. W.A. Furcron (3711 Colonial Avenue), and L.S. Bohannon, a Norfolk liquor entrepreneur (4208 Colonial Avenue). Although more widespread, as was common in other such neighborhoods, building quickly ensued with speculators, such as Charles C. Fitch and S.L. McGonigle, erecting several dwellings at a time. Fitch built “substantial and attractive houses,” ranging in price from $3,700 to $5,500. His individually styled properties included those in the 500 block of Colonial Avenue and the 3700 block of Colonial Avenue, among others. McGonigle also offered a number of well-built properties, including the 500 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, said to be “one of the most distinguished blocks in Colonial Place.”(25) Here, he built thirteen subtle variations of the same brick house. No longer restricted by the two-lot minimum, and spurred by Norfolk’s emerging military status as World War I loomed on the horizon, Colonial Place’s building frenzy was even further expanded. The building activity, primarily military-related, was predominantly located south of Massachusetts Avenue and east of Gosnold Avenue. This trend was clearly evident between 1912 and 1923 when approximately 517 buildings were erected in Colonial Place, many wood frame, two-story dwellings. The smaller lots and increasing number of dwellings began to give the neighborhood a much denser urban feel, a clear departure from the original airy suburban vision of the Sterling Place Company.

The federal census of 1920 revealed that by this time, the majority of the families living in Colonial Place remained native Virginians or residents from nearby states such as North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. At the same time, residents from Ohio, New York, New Jersey and other states, as well foreign countries such as France, Russia, and Germany, were increasingly represented. Household sizes ranged from one to eight persons. Many of the larger households often included several boarders, a further outgrowth of the World War I housing demand. By this period, many of the residents of Colonial Place were solidly middle class. Many of the new residents were employed as naval officers, building contractors, carpenters, decorators, pilots, civil engineers, real estate investors, sail makers, skilled workers, small business owners, shipping and railroad employees, and a number of other war-related industrialists. Norfolk City Directories in 1915 reveal that other residents included Henry Thumm, a manufacturing company partner (4806 Mayflower Road), Miss Lovey Blick, a florist (715 Massachusetts Avenue—later sold as an orphanage to the Norfolk Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which was demolished by fire circa 1930. Other residents included John Robertson of a nearby paper company (4300 Colonial Avenue), Junius Goodwyn of Guaranty Title and Trust Company (3714 Newport Avenue), J. Logan Harrison of the men’s shop (4504 Gosnold Avenue), Oscar Witherspoon, a bookkeeper for a meat supply company (501 Carolina Avenue), R. Walker Foard, an engineer (638 Virginia Avenue), Frederick Horton, a steamboat captain (614 Maryland Avenue), Bennett Herbert, a shipping clerk (630 Delaware Avenue), and James Chase, a printer (634 New York Avenue), among others. However, some original “high-class” residents remained, such as Mrs. Calvert Taylor, “who proclaimed status as a member of the old and socially prominent families of Norfolk.” (26) Mrs. Taylor was the widow of Richard Calvert Taylor, president and treasurer of the Taylor & Wilson Company, a downtown blacksmith shop and carriage company. Throughout the 1920s, she often entertained prominent guests, such as her cousin, the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, at her home at 4107 Gosnold Avenue.

The vast influx of workers and housing needs also led to an increased need for social-minded professions including doctors, merchants, and teachers. Among the buildings built to serve this need, the Gosnold Sanitarium was erected at 4804 Gosnold Avenue in 1918 and later converted into an apartment building. Additionally, in 1920, the J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School, located between Virginia and Carolina Avenues, opened to meet the educational needs of the growing community. The school, in keeping with the community’s historic nomenclature, derived its nostalgic name from Virginia native and war hero James Ewell Brown Stuart (1833-1864), the Confederate Major General who led troops in decisive Civil War battles, including Chancellorsville, Brandy Station, Gettysburg, Second Manassas, Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse.

Colonial Place continued to grow, being improved almost wholly in the Craftsman/Bungalow style, with buildings primarily set on unimproved lots laid out in the early part of the 20th century. These modest wood frame and brick dwellings were stylistically integrated to stand alongside the more imposing dwelling houses constructed prior to 1911. In addition to the freestanding domestic architecture improving the landscape of Colonial Place, a small number of duplexes and apartment buildings began to appear in the second decade of the 20th century. Many of the buildings, often constructed in the imposing Colonial Revival style, stand in sharp contrast to the smaller scale single-family dwellings, and as representative examples of the influences of the 1907 Jamestown Exposition on architecture in Norfolk. Built to accommodate the influx of visitors and workers created by the Exposition, the apartment building became a common site in established suburban neighborhoods serviced by the electric streetcar lines by the 1910s. Although not a widespread phenomenon in Colonial Place, multiple dwellings first appeared around 1919. Between 1923 and the beginning of the Depression, the building boom slowly began to return to a pre-war patterned pace, although approximately 189 more buildings were erected during this period.

Despite the number of original improvements, more infill was required along the marshier waterfront lots than originally anticipated and many of the lots were left undeveloped until the 1920s. Some of this development includes houses on Mayflower Road, facing the river, which were built in an imposing Colonial Revival style. Furthermore, Gosnold Avenue began to be framed by similarly large-sized houses that the original developers had hoped would characterize the entire subdivision. Other changes also occurred during this period, including the transformation of the streetcar lines to bus routes in 1926. Although this was a significant change, the historic public transportation accessibility of the community remained intact.

With the stable military economy and the influx of new defense-industry workers to the port city of Norfolk prior to World War II, Norfolk was not as drastically impacted by the Depression, as were many other cities. In addition, a booming coal industry further fueled the economy. By 1929, approximately 637 primary resources existed within the boundaries of Colonial Place. During the period between 1930 and 1941, the year marking America’s entry into the war, approximately 147 additional buildings were erected in Colonial Place and only a few lots remained undeveloped in the neighborhood.

Final Phase of Development in Colonial Place: Decline and Renewal (1942-Present)

Of the 1,025 primary resources now standing in Colonial Place, approximately 241 buildings were constructed after 1941, with only an additional seventeen built during the War. The architectural character of this infill construction generally followed the lines of current fashions in middle-class residential housing. This period marked a shift in building trends, which generally consisted of smaller, less architecturally detailed dwellings, a concept first noted in the early part of the 20th century.

After the close of World War II, residential and commercial communities began to develop at an increasing rate, requiring vast amounts of additional housing. As a whole, the country was impacted by the following conditions: an unprecedented rise in automobile use and relative decline of mass transit; the evolution of regional shopping centers; and the presence of defense communities, with a need for additional housing. Colonial Place followed the national model, and buildings constructed during this housing boom were generally without ornamentation. The lack of detailing and grand form allowed for quick inexpensive construction using readily available materials. This marks a change in the building practices originally established in Colonial Place.

Infill construction resumed, reaching a highpoint in the 1960s, only to decline over the following decades. Commercial development, encouraged by the automobile, became the most substantial transition to affect many of Norfolk’s early suburbs. This transformation of 38th Street as a major transportation corridor prompted the street to serve as the southern boundary of Colonial Place, essentially screening the majority of the detached residential community from rapidly passing motorists. Despite its location near this major transportation route, the neighborhood escaped the effects of encroaching commercial interests. No commercial buildings are located within the boundaries of Colonial Place or on 38th Street abutting the neighborhood. Colonial Place is isolated from the commercial activity along Colley Avenue, located across Knitting Mill Creek to the west. The inlet created by the creek allows for a scenic marina to be located there. This freedom from commercial intrusion is also largely due to the close proximity of Granby Street. This thoroughfare also carries much of the north-south traffic and has been commercially encroached upon with a number of establishments, including service stations, stores, restaurants, and a movie theater. Surrounded on three sides by water, Colonial Place also remains isolated from traffic, in part due to the skewed grid-plan and curvilinear nature of many of the neighborhood’s streets as well as the geographical landscape. Colonial Place, now located in the center of Norfolk, has the added advantage of easy access to interstates, downtown, and medical, commercial, and cultural areas, despite not being directly affected.

During the 1950s and 1960s, with the growth of Norfolk’s suburbs and the decline of the city center, many middle-class inner-city residents began to move to the new outlying suburbs. Colonial Place, by this time, was located near the center of Norfolk, and consequently began to lose some of its middle-class residents. As people continued to move out of Colonial Place, again following the suburban flight trend, the area became more transient and property values began to fall. Working-class residents, both renters and owners, took the place of the middle-class, changing the neighborhood’s makeup. As many Norfolk neighborhoods began to suffer from similar circumstances and fall into disrepair, the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority was the first to receive funds from the 1949 Federal Housing Act, aimed at rehabilitating neighborhoods. In order to protect city neighborhoods, housing codes began to establish strict requirements. Accordingly, every room had to contain a window and houses were required to have interior running water. Such measures were taken to protect older middle-class areas such as Colonial Place, North Ghent, Riverview, Fairmont Park, Brambleton, and Winona from deterioration. Although most of the area was developed by the mid-1950s, a few unimproved lots in Colonial Place remained. In most cases the land had been held by developers or was too unstable for building. An open seven-acre site, within the original boundaries of Colonial Place on Delaware Avenue at the East Haven Creek was developed in 1962. The site became Norfolk’s second high-rise apartment building, known as Lafayette Towers, measuring twelve stories in each of the two towers.

By the mid-1960s, Colonial Place had begun to experience many of the same social and urban trends affecting older suburbs across America. As newer and more fashionable subdivisions were built farther from the city center, affluent white residents moved out of the older neighborhoods, where many of the large historic houses were divided into multiple dwellings. In turn, the older suburbs became home to the many African-American families affected by urban renewal projects in the downtown area. From its inception, Colonial Place was a strictly white neighborhood in which African Americans were specifically excluded. Colonial Place retained its all-white status until 1967. Previously, the edge of the African-American community—Park Place—had been 35th Street. In 1966, African-American families broke this social barrier and moved into Colonial Place in the ensuing years. Integration in the area and the development of modest houses targeted at upwardly mobile African-Americans proceeded quickly. (27) By 1970, nearly 20 percent of the population of Colonial Place was African-American. Unlike other suburban communities where white flight succeeded the entry of African Americans, Colonial Place continued to attract white buyers in the 1960s. In an attempt to meet the needs of the changing residential make-up of the neighborhood, the civic leagues of Colonial Place and the adjacent residential community of Riverview merged in 1968 to form the Colonial Place-Riverview Civic League. The new league developed programs and policies to reverse the physical decline of both neighborhoods and to publicly promote racial stability and integration. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 gave the civic league the power to oppose racial prejudice by the real estate community and to move forward in their efforts to improve the physical character of the neighborhood.

To insure the neighborhood context of Colonial Place, the Norfolk City Council changed the zoning from a two-family residential district to a one-family residential district in 1969. The change, recommended by the civic league, meant that only single-family residences were allowed in the area, and no new duplex apartments or conversions to duplexes would be allowed. The civic league’s efforts gained further support in 1972, when the City of Norfolk published a general development plan for “Colonial Place-Riverview,” and both neighborhoods were named Conservation Districts by the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority. This allowed property owners to receive low interest loans and grants for rehabilitation and renovation to existing houses, with funding initially provided through Model Cities and later by revenue-sharing funds. (28)

Following the initiation of urban renewal in Norfolk, interest in revitalizing the city’s close-in neighborhoods blossomed. An influx of funds and local interest in the neighborhood spurred resurgence in the community. In a further effort to improve the condition of Colonial Place’s housing stock, in November 1973, the civic league implemented a new Occupancy Permit program that required units to be inspected when they became vacant, and receive a new occupancy permit before new families could move in. (29) Created by an ordinance, this plan was the city’s first effort to require housing inspections each time property changed hands, and was approved by both the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the City Council. (30) This was one of the many actions that increased the stability of the neighborhood and the confidence of house buyers, resulting in sharply increased property values between 1970 and 1973. A 1977 article stated that “Colonial Place-Riverview is a rare combination in modern life: a community of neighbors who are learning how to cooperate for the common goal of preserving their community, and a neighborhood which reflects the economic, racial and individual diversity of the United States in an atmosphere of calm acceptance and understanding.” (31) Consequently, by 1978, the Colonial Place-Riverview area was regarded as a landmark in urban living ( a successfully revitalized middle-class neighborhood with residents who took pride in their community. (32)

A significant number of professional middle-class property owners returned to the neighborhood in the 1980s and 1990s, restoring many of the historic buildings to their original appearance. Enhanced by the establishment of the conservation district, the revitalization was facilitated by the specific housing code standards and zoning requirements guiding preservation of the neighborhood. By 1990, the neighborhood consisted of a mostly professional and partly working-class population with a varied ethnic and age makeup. To help serve the needs of this diversified community, the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses Church was built in 1977 at 645 Mayflower Avenue and a single dwelling was converted to the Garden Prayer Church of God in Christ at 5110 Nichol Court. Additionally, metal frame, three-story condominium units began to be built on the eastern edge of the neighborhood. Remarkably, most of the land was previously unimproved, resulting in the demolition of only two single dwellings for the development project. These modern housing units, although non-contributing, are integrated in scale, ornament, and landscaping with their historic counterparts.

Today, the community of Colonial Place appears closely as it was originally envisioned by the development company that platted the marshy tract at the turn of the 20th century. It stands as a quiet residential community conveniently located near the city’s center. Much of the original well-landscaped design remains intact, including the traffic circle parks. Many of the community’s streets are lined with trees and lit with black lamp posts and a bike path winds around the waterfront, beckoning strollers to stop and enjoy the beautiful views. Additionally, the civic-minded Garden Club erected a memorial monument to World War II soldiers in Colonial Place, marking the center of the waterfront arch. The City Council noted that the architectural and historic character of the neighborhood is of substantial importance to the residents and to the City as a whole, and is a significant component of the value and quality of the property. Furthermore, in 1999, Riverview was placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. Like Riverview, Colonial Place survives as a suburban subdivision that grew and adapted to the changing physical, social and cultural environment from its inception in 1903 to the present.

(1) The architectural survey was conducted in 1998. Therefore, some additional non-contributing construction may have occurred between 1998 and 2001. back

(2) “Colonial Place” Advertisement in Virginian-Pilot, April 16, 1911. back

(3) “Colonial Place” Advertisement. Virginian-Pilot and the Norfolk Landmark. June 9, 1911. back

(4) “Colonial Place” Advertisement. Virginian-Pilot and The Norfolk Landmark, June 8, 1911. back

(5) “Colonial Place” Virginian-Pilot, April 16, 1911. back

(6) “Colonial Place” Advertisement in Virginian-Pilot, April 16, 1911. back

(7) Ghent was placed on the Virginia Historic Landmarks Register in 1979 and on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. back

(8) Sam W. Bowman. Map of the City of Norfolk and Vicinity. Norfolk, VA 1894. back

(9) Dr. Norman Pollock. Colonial Place-Riverview Civic League. “History.” http://dcf.net/cprv/hist.htm. 12/14/00. back

(10) Classified Ad for Freeman Farm Auction. Virginian-Pilot, July 1868. Quoted in Dr. Norman Pollock’s Colonial Place-Riverview Civic League. “History.” http://dcf.net/cprv/hist.htm. 12/14/00. back

(11) Carrie McCormick. “News of Norfolk from History included Politics” The Compass, June 24-25, 1987, p. W10a. back

(12) Carrie McCormick. “News of Norfolk from History included Politics” The Compass, June 24-25, 1987, p. W10a. back

(13) City of Norfolk, Deed Book 138 A (May 8,1903), p. 172. back

(14) City of Norfolk Charter Book 8, p. 85. back

(15) Carl Abbott. “Norfolk in the New Century: The Jamestown Exposition and Urban Boosterism.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, January 1977, p 87. back

(16) At this point, all of the eastern states had been previously assigned in Norfolk. back

(17) Carl Abbott, et. al. The Evolution of an Urban Neighborhood: Colonial Place, Norfolk, VA. (Charlottesville, VA. Institute of the Government. University of Virginia, 1975). p. 24. Chapter by Dr. Norman Pollock. According to a footnote “ Federal census tracts, Civic League boundaries, zoning officials, and more recently the Model Cities- funded conservation projects in Colonial Place and Park Place have made West 38th Street the de facto southern boundary of the neighborhood, thus ratifying a decision made much earlier in 1904. back

(18) “Colonial Place,” Virginian-Pilot, April 16, 1911. back

(19) “Colonial Place” Virginian-Pilot, April 2, 1911. back

(20) City of Norfolk, Release Deed Book 21, April 30, 1908, p. 200. back

(21) These included “Colonial Place” Virginian-Pilot, April 27, 1911, p. 12 and “Colonial Place” Virginian-Pilot. April 16, 1911. back

(22) “Colonial Place” Virginian-Pilot, April 27, 1911, p. 12 back

(23) “Colonial Place” Virginian-Pilot. April 16, 1911. back

(24) It is known that at least two additional houses no longer exist, including The Stanfield House at 3917 Gosnold Avenue (built 1907, burned 1916) and the Blick House at 715 Massachusetts Avenue (built circa 1915, burned circa 1930). back

(25) Carl Abbott, et. al. The Evolution of an Urban Neighborhood: Colonial Place, Norfolk, VA. (Charlottesville, VA. Institute of the Government. University of Virginia, 1975). p. 27. back

(26) “Historical Houses & Horticultural Hints: Colonial Place-Riverview Calendar,” 1989, November. back

(27) Although not overtly advertised for African-American, these houses entered the market at high prices given their cheap construction, and were therefore rejected by whites that had alternative options. Blacks wishing to leave the inner city for suburbia did not have the privileges of choice afforded by the white population and were compelled to pay more for less. back

(28) Jack Carper. “Colonial Place-Riverview: Landmark in Urban Living.” Norfolk Compass, June 8, 1978, p. 2. back

(29) Debbie Odell, “Riverview in Norfolk revives a bit of the past,” Virginian-Pilot, February 9, 1985, D2. back

(30) “Housing Upgrade Okayed by NHRA,” Virginia Pilot, October 10, 1972. back

(31) “Colonial Place Idea Works,” Ledger, April 19, 1977. back

(32) Jack Carper. “Colonial Place-Riverview: Landmark in Urban Living.” Norfolk Compass, June 8, 1978, p.1. back