Green Park is a small neighborhood of approximately 240 homes located in
Richmond, Virginia
(Thus do we reach the stars)
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, United States. The neighborhood is within the boundaries of the
North Side of the city limits.
Community landmarks include the Cannon Creek Greenway, a bike/walking trail which will eventually join the
East Coast Greenway, Hotchkiss Field, and historic St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church, which is the home parish of Senator
Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael Kaine (; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th lieutenant governor of Virgini ...
and his family.
Boundaries
The Green Park neighborhood is bounded to the north by Brookland Park Boulevard, and to the south by property owned by the Richmond Public School System/Overby-Sheppard Elementary School. Its eastern boundary is Richmond-Henrico Turnpike and the Cannon Creek Greenway. It is bounded to the west by 2nd Avenue.
History
The community was founded in the late 1800s. In 1892, Joseph P. Fourqurean and Thomas C. Ruffin began selling lumber, coal and feed from their business in what would become Green Park. Fourqurean & Ruffin eventually became a wood mill, and their products were used in the construction of the neighborhood that sprung up around the business, which later became Ruffin & Payne and relocated outside the area.
The first homes in the neighborhood were constructed in the late 19th century, with a second major building spurt of brick houses occurring during the early 20th century. This continues into the early years of
the Depression, when building effectively ceased in the neighborhood for a decade. A third major phase of homes was built in the early 1950s as housing was made available to G.I.s returning from WWII and their families.
Architectural styles and notes
Earlier homes in Green Park are of the
Queen Anne,
American Foursquare
The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass-produced elements of the Victorian architecture, Victorian and other Revival styles popul ...
,
American Craftsman
American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...
and
American Colonial
American colonial architecture includes several building design styles associated with the colonial period of the United States, including First Period English (late-medieval), French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Dutch Colonial, and Georgian. T ...
styles of architecture. Homes built in the 1950s were built in the
Saltbox style.
Today, many homes in Green Park are still adorned with their original oak woodwork; much of it spectacular, with floor-to-ceiling newel posts, hand constructed paneled wainscoting, molding, oak floors and built-in
Chippendale corner cabinets. A few homes retain their original iceboxes and unusual plastered interior walls, scored to resemble brickwork.
Greenspace and wildlife
Green Park contains a significant amount of wetlands and wooded area which is home to wildlife such as white tailed deer, coyotes, geese and herons. The eastern branch of Cannon Creek, much of it subterranean, runs through the center of the neighborhood.
External links
Map of Green Park from Google Maps
Neighborhoods in Richmond, Virginia
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