A Sunday Stroll Through the Gay Nineties

Richmond basked in the sun this past weekend, and I met Jean & Bruce at the deLux Diner for an early brunch. Afterwards, since it was so pleasant, I picked Morris up and we took a walking tour along Hermitage Road. I had my trusty camera with me, so please settle back and let Morris & I do the walking while you enjoy the photos.

The two pictures above & below are of Holly Lawn, an estate that dates to 1900, built for a fellow named Andrew Bierne Blair. This handsome Queen Anne mansion is one of several estates in a designated historic area along four long blocks of Hermitage Road. We had a fine time gawking at the houses. Because Hermitage Road is a main road leading into town from the north, neither of us had ever walked the area. You can't see nearly as much when you're zooming along in a car.

The northside areas of Richmond were developed as the city became overcrowded, and sanitation and racial issues arose. After the Civil War, while the city rebuilt and became more populated, growth was hampered by the James River and the city of Manchester to the south, and a deep ravine to the north. Only one road, the Brook Run Turnpike, connected the city with points immediately north, and wealthy Richmonders bought up land for large estates. Many still maintained homes in the city, and used these country homes to escape the confines of the city on weekends or summers.

Richmond's inadequate infrastructure had not kept up with the population boom, and residents dealt with piled up garbage, a polluted water supply (Shockoe Creek was basically an open sewer), and coal smoke from burgeoning industries. Those who could afford it sought relief in the outlying areas to the north and west of town.

I don't know about you, but I take a lot for granted, such as clean water.

Lewis Ginter and his domestic & business partner John Pope were the two wealthiest men in Richmond. That's right, two gay men¹ in the latter part of the 19th century held the biggest purse strings in town, and they were instrumental in developing several neighborhoods of middle to upper middle class homes in Richmond's Northside. The Hermitage Road Historic District is in the middle of one such area. Originally the enclave of wealthy & prominent Richmonders, development in the first half of the 20th century brought middle class citizens to the bordering neighborhoods of Bellevue Park, Virginia Place, and Rosedale.

Hermitage Road has a grassy median today, but this was originally where the streetcar ran. The advent of the streetcar, especially when it switched from horse to electric power, was the springboard for expanded development, and Lewis Ginter & John Pope looked forward to this new technology. Although both died before the city's first public streetcar went into service, Lewis Ginter had established his own Lakeside Line which served the residents along Hermitage Road. According to the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond had the first operational electric trolley lines in the nation in 1888, the Richmond Union Passenger Railway.

Ginter and Pope purchased the old Westbrook Plantation, which had been around since the 1770's. They incorporated the original plantation house into their Queen Anne mansion, which was considered one of the grandest homes in the South. Westbrook had dark paneling of birch, oak, cherry and mahogany, parquet floors, and an extensive library. The third floor of one of the towers housed their own barber shop. One outbuilding offered a one-lane, automated bowling alley.

John Pope was also building his own home shown below, which he named Rosedale, but he died² before its completion. The stone arch pictured above marked the lane that ran directly from Rosedale to the Westbrook estate. Unfortunately, I cannot show you any photos of Westbrook, because the magnificent home was demolished in 1975. Richmond, like many cities, endured a period where historic preservation and remembrance of things past were undervalued.

Rosedale, completed in 1897

Wrenford, circa 1896, pictured above and below. The rear yard features several outbuildings, including a very large carriage house.



Montrose, 1898, is the home that spurred the creation of the historic district. When the home was threatened with destruction in 1988, the community rallied to protect the architecture along Hermitage Road.

Shadyhurst, 1899, was built by J. Clements Shafer, private secretary to Lewis Ginter.
The Shadyhurst home originally had six bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a three-room servants cottage. Apparently, Lewis Ginter paid his employees well, which is not surprising. Aside from his wealth, he was known for his generosity. His philanthropic work was on a mammoth scale, and his funeral in 1897 was as large as Richmond had seen. The city viewed his death as a calamity, and mourned the loss of one of its most prominent and generous citizens.

Willowbrook, built in 1925 for the J. Lee Davis family
The Davis family also purchased Shadyhurst in 1915. Willowbrook is now the New Community School. This school provides specialized instruction for students with dyslexia in classrooms that average six students. One of my former employees had a son who attended this school, and he said they do remarkable work.

The Oaks, 1909

Edgewood, 1870 or prior, is the oldest home in this historic district of Richmond.
Lewis Ginter purchased this property in 1889 for use as his land development office and also to house bachelor workers. Later, Ginter gave this home to one of his landscape engineers as a wedding gift. Edgewood's carriage house is shown below.



This could be the world's biggest bungalow. It was built in 1908, according to city property records. You can't appreciate the scale of the home from this picture, and I wish I had a broadside photo of the other side of the structure. It is long, long, long. You can get an indication of the deceptive proportions if you look closely at the front of the house. See the exterior lights flanking the porch's screen door? Figure those to be right about head-height, and you'll get an idea about the immense size of this "cottage." There's a wing off-camera that appears to house a ballroom or reception hall. I wish I could find out more about this big ol' bungalow.

The last photograph is not in the Hermitage historic area at all, but I think it is a charming house. Morris & I were hot and thirsty after our walking tour, so we bought beverages and parked at a church to refresh ourselves. The Victorian cottage shown below was across from the church, and I took a moment to walk over to take a picture.


¹ From Lewis Ginter's obituary in The Times, October 3, 1897: "His manner toward women was tender, considerate, at times gallant, though he never pointedly sought their company."
² According to John Pope's obituary in the Richmond Dispatch, April 9, 1896: "Mr. Pope lived quietly with Mr. Ginter, for whom he possessed the most ardent affection" and that the two "were almost always together."