A history lesson

I've been collecting bits and pieces of the house's and the neighborhood's history, and while there's probably a lot more information out there, here's what I've been able to find so far.

We refer to our neighborhood as Church Hill, but Church Hill is also made up of other smaller neighborhoods. According to the National Register of Historic Places, our house is in the Oakwood-Chimborazo District. It is bound by the Southern Railway tracks and East Broad Street on the south; North 30th and 32nd Streets, Melton Avenue, and the western edge of Oakwood Cemetery on the west; Nine Mile Road and the city line on the north; and the city line, North 39th Street, Crestview Road, and the eastern edge of Chimborazo Park on the east. The district's buildings are a mixture of Late Victorian, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles.

James Malone built our house in 1843, according to one source; another lists Richard Malone as the original owner. James Malone also owned land north of Leigh Street and east of 34th Street and several scattered blocks. All of the houses built before 1819 were demolished, making our house the oldest one in the district. The Malone house is a two-and-a-half story Greek Revival-style brick house. It has a side gable roof with a stepped parapet. Two chimneys are in each of the parapet ends. Two original gable front dormers flank a central pediment above the front entry. A Late Victorian cornice with a plain panel frieze and sawn brackets was added to the house. It was partitioned into two houses in the 1880s, as far as we can tell.

In 1965, the city conducted the Richmond Esthetic Survey and Historic Building Survey, in which our house was included. The remarks of the house include: "Handsome brick house largest in 'Shed Town'. Earliest example dated of step gable. Later extension in rear (wood) a curious structure which suggests the 1880s. Curious dormer enlargement, two-story porch and cornice are also later." The Library of Virginia has these records, which include a photo of the house from 1965, I assume. Since I need permission to use or reproduce these records, I'm not comfortable linking to them, but you can view these documents by going here and searching for "malone" to pull up the record of our house.

That's all I've been able to find using the Internet. I have to give credit to Michael's dad for finding the information about the Esthetic Survey and to Church Hill People's News for posting the information from the National Register of Historic Places.