1200 Block West Franklin Street, Richmond, Independent City, Virginia

Significance: This block is exceptional for the mix of building types it presents in a small area. Although the concentration of residences is high (three apartment buildings and seven houses), the addition of two churches, a parish house, and hospital within the block reflect the multiple activities that take place in this neighborhood. The fact that all but one of these buildings was constructed after most of the houses on the avenue's first three blocks were completed suggests that the 1200 block might best be understood as a response to that development. Certainly the stylistic character of this mostly Colonial Revival block has more in common with the avenue than with the concentration of Queen Anne, Italianate, Romanesque, French Renaissance and Georgian Revival town houses in the four blocks of West Franklin to the east, between Birch Street and Monroe Park.
Survey number: HABS VA-1298