Fan district

The Fan is a district of Richmond, Virginia, so named because of the "fan" shape of the roads that extend west from Belvidere St., on the eastern edge of Monroe Park, westward to Boulevard. The Fan is one of the easterly points to the city's West End section, and is bordered to the north by Broad St and to the south by Cary Street. Many cafes and locally owned restaurants are located here, as well as historic Monument Avenue. Development of the Fan district was strongly influenced by the City Beautiful movement of the late 19th century.

As development increased from downtown at the turn of the 19th century, Franklin street became a fashionable "West End" address. A desire for a West End address drove rapid real estate development of the area, changing the area from rural tobacco fields in 1900 to being almost fully developed land by the 1930s. As development accelerated, the University of Richmond (then located on Lombardy Street) decided to move westward to a more rural location (its present Westhampton location). The term "The Fan" was coined in the mid 20th century by a Richmond Times Dispatch editorial, as the appellation "The West End" no longer applied.

The eastern part of the fan (known as the "Lower Fan") is home to Virginia Commonwealth University's Monroe Park Campus and part of the fan's residents are college students attending VCU. The western part of the fan (The "Upper Fan") is a more young professional and wealthy residential area with a commercial district on Robinson Street. The Upper Fan borders and blends with The Boulevard, The Museum District, and Carytown District.

Architecture

The Fan is significant for having one of the longest intact stretches of Victorian architecture in the United States.

Primary architectural styles represented include:
* Italianate
* Richardsonian Romanesque
* Queen Anne
* Colonial Revival

Other architectural styles include:
* Tudor
* Second Empire
* Beaux-Arts
* Art Deco
* Spanish
* Gothic
* Bungalow
* American Arts and Crafts Movement
* James River Georgian
* Southern Colonial
* Jacobean

In April 2005, the Virginia Center for Architecture opened Branch House, an architecture museum on Monument Avenue. The Branch House was a historic Richmond home designed in 1918 by John Russell Pope as a reproduction of an English Tudor manor house.

History

In 1817, The Fan was plotted as the village of Sydney on land formerly owned by William Byrd II. Primary development of the Fan occurred from after the Civil War until about 1920. Streetcar lines leading from downtown influenced development, where the nation's first electric streetcar system was inaugurated in 1888. During the Great Depression, many of the single-family homes in the area were converted to apartments.

Nightlife

The Fan is home to one of the city's best social scenes. Many of the independently owned restaurants stay open until 2:00 a.m., serving up some serious fun after hours. It is not uncommon to rub elbows with young professionals and college students from the area, as well as locals that have been frequenting some of the same bars for decades.

Maps

* [http://www.wikimapia.org/#y=37552199&x=-77465801&z=13&l=0&m=a&v=2 Wikimapia]

External links

* http://www.fandistrict.org/
* http://www.historicrichmond.com/fan.html
* [http://www.myspace.com/thefanrva The Fan on Myspace.com]
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the-fan-neighbors/ The Fan neighbors on Yahoo!Groups]
* [http://fdhub.net/ Fan District Hub]