The Fan District – Area 10

Fan District Real Estate Trends and Sales Data

The Fan is a district of Richmond, Virginia, so named because of the “fan” shape of the array of streets that extend west from Belvidere Street, on the eastern edge of Monroe Park, westward to the Boulevard. (Though the streets rapidly resemble a grid after moving through what is now VCU). The Fan is one of the easterly points of the city’s West End section, and is bordered to the north by Broad Street and to the south by Interstate 195). The western side is sometimes called the Upper Fan and the eastern side the Lower Fan, though confusingly the Uptown district is located near VCU in the Lower Fan. Many cafes and locally owned restaurants are located here, as well as historic Monument Avenue. Development of the Fan district was strongly influenced by the City Beautiful movement of the late 19th century. The Fan district is primarily a residential neighborhood consisting of late 19th and early 20th century homes. It is also home to Virginia Commonwealth University’s Monroe Park campus, several parks, tree lined avenues and three of the city’s historical monuments. The district also has numerous houses of worship, and locally owned businesses and commercial establishments. The Fan borders and blends with the Boulevard, the Museum district, and the Carytown district. Main east-west thoroughfares include Broad Street, Grace Street, Monument Avenue, Patterson Avenue, Grove Avenue, Main Street and Cary Street. The Fan is often incorrectly described as significant for having one of the longest intact stretches of Victorian architecture in the United States, but most of it was actually built after the end of the Victorian era and is arguably more Edwardian in style. Almost all of the housing stock was constructed in the first decades of the twentieth century and exhibits the pared back Victorianism of Edwardian architecture. Colonial Revival and American Craftsman architecture is common as well, with Revival architectural types arguably the most common (as was common to the time period).

Need Help finding Richmond Real Estate? Contact Carter Snipes at 804-482-4200 or Carter@SnipesProperties.com