The Fan is a district of Richmond, Virginia, so named because of the “fan” shape of the streets extending west from Belvidere Street, on the eastern edge of Monroe Park, westward to Arthur Ashe Boulevard. However, the roads rapidly resemble a grid after they go through what is now Virginia Commonwealth University. 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 VA 195. However, the Fan District Association considers the southern border the property abutting Main Street’s south side. 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, a boulevard formerly featuring statuary of the Civil War’s Confederate president and generals. The only current statue is a more modern one of tennis icon Arthur Ashe. The City Beautiful movement of the late 19th century strongly influenced the Fan district’s development.
The Fan District is primarily a neighborhood consisting of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century homes. Fan District in Richmond, VA is also home to VCU’s Monroe Park Campus, several parks, and tree-lined avenues. 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, which features the ornate Byrd Theatre. The appearance of the Fan District is frequently compared to that of the Bourbon Street neighborhood in New Orleans, although the two places are pretty different architecturally upon close examination. Bed Bug Exterminator Richmond
Architecture
Following a succession of owners, an architecture museum, the Virginia Center for Architecture, took occupancy in 2005 of Branch House on Monument Avenue, a residence designed in the Tudor style by the firm of John Russell Pope in 1914.
The Fan of Richmond is known for having one of the most extended intact stretches of Victorian architecture in the United States. However, much of the housing stock was built after the end of the Victorian era and is arguably more Edwardian and Revival in style. While housing in the Eastern parts of the neighborhood is quintessential Victorian styles, such as Italianate and Queen Anne, housing stock further west was constructed in the first decades of the twentieth century and exhibited the pared-back Victorianism of Edwardian architecture. Homes still contain fancied Gables and turrets, but the detail is usually executed in a simplified classical form. Colonial Revival and American Craftsman architecture are also common, with Revival architectural types arguably the most common (as was familiar to the period) Revivalism (architecture).
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