Ramsey Homes, East side of the 600 block of North Patrick Street, Alexandria, Independent City, Virginia

Significance: The Ramsey Homes were designed by Alexandria architect and architectural historian Delos H. Smith, FAIA, of Smith, Werner, and Billings Architects in the Modernist style in 1941 and completed by the United States Housing Authority (USHA) by 1942. The property contributes to the Uptown/Parker-Gray Historic District, which is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register, and National Register of Historic Places, and is located within the locally zoned Parker-Gray District. The district comprises most of the northwestern quadrant of the 1797 street grid and consists of small row houses and townhouses, local businesses, and warehouses, highway-oriented buildings on U.S. Route 1, and public housing units. Ramsey Homes contains 15 units in three foursquare quadruplexes and one L-plan triplex. They contribute to the historic district in the areas of social history and architecture, as "an example of the housing constructed with public funds, between 1940 and 1945, for defense workers during World War II" (Necciai and Drumond 2008). They are individually significant due to their association with African-American defense workers and affordable housing.
Survey number: HABS VA-1511
Building/structure dates: 1941-1942 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: after. 1964- before. 1970 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1995 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: after 2015 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 09001232