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Share the history of your house
09/03/2014 6:45 AM by John M
The Church Hill Association’s Historic Plaque aims to create “a connectivity and charm for our community and tell the story of the history, people and the architecture of the home.”
You can do the research yourself, or the Historic Richmond Foundation can do that for you.
If you’re interested or have questions, contact John Johnson at mksm1@msn.com or (804) 814 1066, or the Historic Richmond Foundation at (804) 643 7407.
TAGGED: Church Hill Association
I’be more likely to add a plaque if they were not so cheap looking. They’re constucted out of a resin-type material and completely inappropriate for a historic structure. Did anyone say false historicism?
I’m sure you could have one made out of caste iron, or other materials, but I’m sure it would cost you around $800. The current plaques look good, and will last for a long time. The medium size costs around $275. The initial research costs around $100.
Also, I did not realize they made historic plaques back in the early 1900’s, what exactly were they made of? How was their styling different?
Most of the houses that have these plaques are the best looking houses in the neighborhood!
While I disagree that “most of the houses that have these plaques are the best looking houses in the neighborhood”, the truly stunning, architectural gems do not have them.
Trying to pass these off as cheap imitations of a bronze plaque does not pass the true test of a genuine historic structure or enhance it any way. They look and feel cheap…as they are.
The practice of placing these cheap plaques on historic structures is akin to wrapping them with vinyl siding because its less expensive than using the real thing.
I agree with Laura that they are kind of cheap looking
Is it possible to get one without the Church Hill Association’s logo front & center?
@ Bill 3 – no, you can’t get it without the logo
There were bronze ones made years ago by the city for historical homes but were discontinued back in the 1970s. The house next door to me built in 1835 has one on it.
Also back in 1985-1986 when Dan Harrington bought up a lot of properties in Church Hill to restore when most were blighted and boarded up, he made his own plaques with hand painted lettering. Our house has one but they are now old and faded and think some people have removed a few already over time.
No deed or well intentioned work on Church Hill – ever goes unpunished.
I’m actually surprised folks are unhappy with the appearance of these plaques. I think they are handsome and great way of displaying history for the public. I hope to see more in the neighborhood.
@ Ryan Ramsey – I agree. And guess what? When our neighborhood association looked into getting the historical plaques, the membership as a whole supported this less expensive alternative I do believe. But, if they had gone and recommended a more expensive (bronze or other metal) type two things would’ve happened. One, very few people would’ve invested that much more money. Two, a whole lot more complaining would’ve ensued I’m sure.
Why not offer both? One for the budget conscious and one for the more stylish, historically accurate set…
I don’t think they look cheap, the ones I’ve seen in person look very nice & I think $275 for the research, production & installation is a fair price. Personally I’d prefer not to have the CHA logo, but still may purchase one.
If you know the history of your house, you can write the piece yourself. If they write it, see if you can’t check a bit at the Library of Virginia online.
I love reading the information on the plaques as I walk by houses. Very cool!
Highly encourage those that think the present plaques are not up to standards – to develop a new plaque design/prototype/approvals.
All you have to do is: research, design, get manufactures quotes, price it to sell, pay for a prototype, meanwhile get approval by HRF and CAR – as it is posted to the outside of houses in a historic district. Also you need to notify and keep informed the membership of impending adoption of a new plaque, (over the present one – pros and cons and have a debate), then finally bring it to a vote after due notice to the membership.
Looking forward to the new and better design in the future.
KatManDo
Good point since I have seen some questionable facts on a couple plaques that I have seen and know the people who does the research has some things completely incorrect about our house on file. I would do my own write-up for it after doing some deep digging at the state library through city directories, tax records, deeds, newspapers, maps, etc… “before” writing the first word.
Eric! Don’t forget to put Larry Levis on your plaque. Best poet of his generation!
Were these questionable facts some of the 15 individual types and materials of plaques in the community? In CH there are a variety of sizes, types, composition and color of plaques that are posted by owners on many homes and no oversight – as to what is printed or posted. One of the purposes of the CHA plaques which are researched by HRF and approved by CAR is to have some sort of standardized and reviewed process to avoid the past practices of just print and post what you want.
Not all programs or processes are perfect but having some sort of approval process, especially in the historic districts, is appropriate and adds a certain uniformity and charm to the neighborhood.
I’d likely consider the plaque if it didn’t have the CHA logo.
There is always some sort of logo on historic markers like a state or city logo. These were sponsored by CHA so they have theirs on these.
You can always go out and have your own custom made to proper specs to look like a bronze plaque but will probably cost more and for someone who will buy your house later a “logo” sort of represents an authoritative source.
The CHA logo should be a choice. Lots of Church Hill residents are members of other civic organizations. Also, what if your house has a history that isn’t all that pretty – like it was a crack house for 10 years back in the 80s and 90s?
Checking with Historic Richmond Foundation and Committee for Architecture Review on the ability and process to have historic plaques made without the CHA crest.
Will post results and answers here soon.
The CHA gets a percentage of the sales of these plaques. That is why the logo is there.
You do have a choice. Find out who the manufacturer is and deal with them directly.
Kathleen Saunders makes a good point. My house was a bathtub Gin manufacturer and supplier during prohibition. The enamel in the cast iron tub is damaged up to the overflow drain. My neighbor directly across the street told me this when I first moved in. She ran a nip joint and bought Gin made here.
@kathleen
Most if the houses in church hill were crack houses back in the 80’s. Talk to many locals that were here in 80’s they will tell you the same. When I first first moved in my house, a guy in his 50’s walked by and said my house was lookin good. He said he used to hang out here like 30 years ago. He said they partied and “smoked” a lot. He said “I smoked in that house, that house, that house, that house, and that house”. He pointed to almost every house on the block. Funny part was he was definitely telling the truth, he new the layout of many of the houses…..
So most of the houses around would or could say “crack house 1982-1991”, including mine.
@jean
What is a nip joint?
Kathleen, obviously with your example you don’t want to highlight that your house was selling or manufacturing crack but Jean, your house being a bootlegger during prohibition would be a highlight now. Crack and bathtub gin are two different things in two different context.
Not every house will have enough “history” to justify a plaque. Joe Blow who worked at American Tobacco 40 years before his 50 year old house became a slum is not going to have much to put on one. But if there was something significant that happened, has unique architecture, or was a part of some surrounding history then by all means come up with text for a plaque.
Wording can add a lot of interest but accuracy is a MUST so do your homework first before wasting your time and money only to be called out by historians.
Jean I would say that is something to be proud of!
Plaque Process – thanks for checking on this. I would be very interested in one. Personally, if HRF is doing the research, I’d rather have the HRF logo on there. To me that signifies a bit more “integrity” in the research versus the CHA logo. Just my 2 cents.
@James – maybe we need a hoodstoric plaque option
I was involved with getting a plaque for a house in the neighborhood and later found out it had some interesting late 20th Century history as an open and vacant nuisance – would love to have added that to the plaque. I would think people strolling along to read these would find it interesting if folks added a line to their plaque histories like “This property was vacant between 1979 and 1999, when it was restored to its current configuration.”
James, MOST is not true. Yes, there were some crack houses, definately not MOST. That is a gross overstatement, which is somewhat offensive, frankly.
@26 a nip joint was a place selling booze without a license. Typically dollar shots, back in the seventies and early eighties. Someone would go to the ABC store, buy a bottle (or more) and sell shots.
@31 agree, some but not most.
Bill 3, I would not put a lot of faith on their research. I have found errors and omissions including for our house – which I had to correct them on.
edg… unfortunately there was a lot of that kind of activity and more going on in Church Hill. The reputation started on the decline in the 1930s until many houses were vacant or boarded up. This left a lot of squatters, vagrants, and drug dealers taking over buildings. When we moved to CH in 1999, there was still a lot going on all around from drive-bys, drugs, prostitution, you name it…
crd… my stepfather use to go to these places when I was growing up to get booze after hours and we always called them then “shot houses”. But bathtub gin has an air of risqué to it linked to gangsters and speakeasies. Would definitely add it to the history!
Eric–careful when discussing accuracy in tandem with history
Bill 3, to add… much of what they use comes from Mary Wingfield Scott’s research done 65-years ago. Many new documents and ease of access to records and newspapers online has brought errors and omissions to light and of course any new history since the books were written.
If it is “history” then it is something that has been done and over so should not change. Research and double-checking are in order but you want details and dates to be “accurate” per history and not second-hand gossip.
I am not embarrassed that my house was a crack house on the infamous ‘thirty deuce’. I am not at all reluctant to put it on a plaque, although cha might not appreciate it. Not all homes have what some people might refer to as an impressive – or plaque ‘worthy’ – past. The overall history – what kind of people built the house and lived in it during the span its 150 years – is what should interest people. Sign me up for the hoodstoric plaque, thank you!
James@26
I looked it up in Webster’s
“to take (liquor) in nips, to tipple”
The lady that ran the nip joint was Ms. Hattie and lucky for me she liked me. She ran a tight ship answering her door with a baseball bat and would not tolerate any loud, fowel or disrespectful behaviour! What I am proud of is that when I moved here, my new neighbors accepted me and ultimately we all looked out for each other.
I have been since 92 and yes, there was much of that activity, but there are also many more good families that have lived here for generations. It is a real insult to them to claim that most of church hill was crack houses.
John Murden
HOODSTORIC Plaques are a great idea!!! That way we won’t have to suffer the CHA logo and we can have a more realistic / accurate house history.
HOODSTORIC Plaques would be in keeping with the pioneering spirit of the 70’s and 80’s. The non-house tour was started with that same irreverance. People ( some people ) were so anxious to have the Church Hill Garden Tour ( they wanted to compete with the Fan ) that they were slipping anomious notes in their neighbors doors with “suggestions” like.
Your porch furniture is tackey, take it in for the Garden Club Tour.
The Garden Club tour is ( gave date ) you need to weed your sidewalk by then. There were many more. The year I was on the Garden Tour, the Garden committiee complained because all the police kept stopping by to see the house. I held Crime Watch meetings in the early days before Shelby took over, The going joke was ,’we will never see it this clean again” The committiee felt that having the police cars out front abd the police coming in and out of the house was not appropriate.
Sign me up for a HOODSTORIC Plaque!!!
That remind me that our house use to be on the Garden Tours and found signs for it in the basement when we moved in. But saw nothing around the house then that was worthy of a tourist attraction?
@edg
You said you move here in 92, so how are the expert on what went on n the neighborhood between the 80s and early 90s? I have talked to many, many people who lived here in the 70s-90s and said the 80s were the worst years. You said that “many more good families that have lived here for generations”, which is true, but those families will tell you that this was a different place in the 80s, ask them. Why would you take insult that many people say that, yes, MOST of the houses where places of significant drug use? Me and Kathleen are not attended our houses were crack houses! It’s a part of their history!! Church hill has come a long way from the early 80s to the early/mid 90s (which were some of the worst years for Richmond).
Is there anyone that lived in the area in the 80s that could give us their opinion?
@James…I renovated my first Church Hill property in the late 80’s. The area was indeed as bad as described above. South of Broad was the most uninfected area but there were also some unsavory places and people SOB too. And there are still a few properties SOB in desperate need of help. Just about everything NOB was terrible. The nice, well-maintained home NOB was a rare occurrence and not the majority. From crack houses, open air drug dealing on the corners, regular gunfire, to hookers, drunks, bums, wanderers to boarded up or slum-like houses really was the norm. The occupied homes were mostly rentals with countless people living in a single dwelling. Slumlords were the norm and owner occupancy was rare. Even through most of the 90’s, 50% of the homes on Broad St. were either empty, boarded up, or complete dumps. Hard to believe for many who have called the hill home just 10 years ago. Church Hill was mostly a bad place to be albeit, the architecture was stunning. If it weren’t for the character of the area, few early renovators/restorers would have taken the risk in this area.
A fun project would be for anyone who has older photos of the area to post them in one place so others would gain perspective of the area not all that long ago. The changes are remarkable and I bet 75% of the folks living here now would never consider this area if they saw it in 2000.
CHA makes no money on the plaques!
All the money goes to the research, making and posting the plaque where the owner wants it.
CHA invested in the development of the plaques, work them through HRF and the CAR process and got approval for them in historic designated areas. There was no reimbursement for such work/time/efforts to CHA, as it was done as a project to improve the whole of our community.
Also at that time, (6 or 7 years ago), there was not the present geographic and attitudinal fracturing of the community, which we have now -due to some unfortunate circumstances.
Unfortunate circumstances? No. Poor leadership and unethical practices? Yes.
@jean mcdaniel
Shelby Long started the Church Hill crime watch and did not take over from you.
I don’t want this to devolve any further into back-and-forth bickering. Be constructive, please.
@ laura, so true on every account. I would love to see some of the “pre” days of Church Hill North. Problem is they have to be mainly in private collections because none are in the museums or libraries… I have asked many times before.
During the holidays firecrackers are used you instead heard every kind of gun imaginable being fired, including elephant guns! It sounded like a war zone and you often found yourself ducking on the floor not knowing where the shots were coming from while often power transformers were shot at loosing power making it even more threatening. As mentioned before I saw some of this first hand next door – drug dealings and gun running. Houses across the street were in such bad shape that you could open the front door and see the back yard from holes in the walls. Vagrants living in them at the risk of setting it and possibly neighboring houses on fire as they made fires in the middle of the floors! Now those houses have been completely restored. I helped the city attorney locate the nearly 10-owners of one of them as it was sold as a tax sale.
Eric
I bought 115 N. 29th St. in 1983 from an owner who started the work but was discouraged by the crime in the neighborhood, coming primarily from the area called “Sugar Bottom” which was at the bottom of Franklin St. at 31st. Many of the houses on the block were in the process of restoration, but 110, across the street was a center of drug activity and general petty crime. David Cooley helped start the restoration of the 200 block of 29th by restoring the double house next to the alley which was being held up, only, by a large tree in the back. There was spotty restorations on Broad, but that was slow in coming. I, too, disagree with the word “most”, because there were many people working to restore properties. We were lucky when Historic Richmond Foundation bought a long list of properties from Stanley Smith in 1982 to spur renovation north of Broad St. Eric’s house was one of them.
#46
I was not as visible as Shelby and had to work. I could not give crime watch the time, effort and dedication it deserved and Shelby has given it. However, I did start the Crime Watch. Ask Shelby. With the assistance of police we patrolled the area and called the police when necessary.
Lucky Dog, Thanks for speaking up!
“Hoodstoric Plaque” option:
I can see it now…the CHA logo emblazoned on signage crafted from ghetto brick!
@ G… LOL, I haven’t hard that term in a couple of years but use to use it a lot. In fact one house across the street from me still has that crap on the side but was supposed to be removed on the otherwise nicely restored house. Our house was covered with it in the 1940s but fortunately was removed by the 1980s.
@Bill Hartsock, true that the HRF bought our house in 1981 but not from Stanley Smith but from Lewis A. Harding and wife Evelyn who had in turn purchased the house in 1959 from James B. Davenport who purchased the house in 1914. I have the entire ownership and residence occupancies of our house (both sides including the ½) going back to when it was built.
The house did end up boarded up as the last occupant was a maid named Mattie B. Stokes (deceased in 2003) who moved there in 1977 but gone by 1979 and so was vacant for 7-years. The ½ side was vacant for 13-years. There is a newspaper article where a Boy Scout was attempting to replicate the foliage that might have been planted around a house like ours when built and you can see the house boarded up and the porches falling off in the background.
HRF sold it to Dan Harrington in 1985 who had purchased several houses in Church Hill to restore (and added his own historic plaques on) and renovated in 1986.
Hoodstoric Plaque logo has to of course be spray painted in graffiti style!
Eric
The HOODSTORIC Plaque does not have a logo. The identifier is ghetto brick, preferably in a dignified darker shade of gray, not the lighter gray that tries to look like stone! Tacky!!
Also, If it has to be spray painted, It will need to be extra large. Graffiti “style” needs to be clarified since there are so many.
HOODSTORIC Plaques are done while you sleep.
Crews are the more artistic after 1 am – also there is less chance of over-spray getting on your pets/children. Guaranteed dry by 8 am.