Old Wythe Historic District is a national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

located at

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

. The district encompasses 2,076

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

, 1 contributing site, and 1 contributing structure in a primarily residential area of Hampton. The residences include notable examples of the

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

, Queen Anne,

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

, and

Mission Revival The Mission Revival style was part of an architectural movement, beginning in the late 19th century, for the revival and reinterpretation of American colonial styles. Mission Revival drew inspiration from the late 18th and early 19th century ...

styles. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2012. The neighborhood association uses the spelling "Olde Wythe." This is followed on numerous local signs and historical makers.

History

The Old Wythe Historic District is part of the larger

Wythe A wythe is a continuous vertical section of masonry one unit in thickness. A wythe may be independent of, or interlocked with, the adjoining wythe(s). A single wythe of brick that is not structural in nature is referred to as a masonry veneer ...

neighborhood. It was named after

George Wythe George Wythe (; December 3, 1726 – June 8, 1806) was an American academic, scholar and judge who was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. The first of the seven signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence from ...

, a law professor and signer of the Declaration of Independence who was born within what is now the City of Hampton. The name was first applied to this portion of Elizabeth City County after the Civil War and is reflected on in the 1870 U.S. Census.Extract from the Virginia Geneaologist. https://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/crgis/images/9/9a/Extract_from_Virginia_Genealogist.pdf All of

Elizabeth City County Elizabeth City County was a county in southeastern Virginia from 1634 until 1952 when it was merged into the city of Hampton. Originally created in 1634 as Elizabeth River Shire, it was one of eight shires created in the Virginia Colony by order ...

later became part of the City of Hampton. The district first developed in the 1880s, and is composed generally of six primary subdivisions with the last platted in the 1930s. The earliest building is the John Simpson House, built in 1849. an
''Accompanying four photos''
an
''Accompanying map''
/ref> Suburban development in the district was spurred by the growth of two nearby cities,

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada * Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...

and

Newport News Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

. The district experienced a boom in development during and after World War I, with over half of the residences being built in the 1930s and 40s.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Hampton, Virginia Greek Revival architecture in Virginia Queen Anne architecture in Virginia Colonial Revival architecture in Virginia Tudor Revival architecture in Virginia Mission Revival architecture in Virginia Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Houses in Hampton, Virginia {{HamptonVA-NRHP-stub