1976
Foundation is granted 501(c)(3) non-profit status.
1980’s
Purchased four houses in the 1800 block of West Grace Street
that had long been sub-divided into multi-family or boarding house rooms.
Foundation board members backed the loans personally and did much of the work
needed to return the houses to the market as single family homes, triggering a
wave of renovation that continues today.
1989-91
Implemented
the Monument Avenue Centennial, a year long celebration of the 100th
anniversary of Monument Avenue,
in 1990. The Foundation raised $500,000, hired a full-time director and
conducted a year of exciting events, including lectures, tours and a croquet
game with nearly 700 participants!
1991
Helped fund the Historic American
Buildings (HABS) Survey Project, a program sponsored jointly by the National
Parks Service (U.S. Department of Interior), the Library of Congress and the
American Institute of Architects, the first time HABS documented an entire Grand Avenue or
Boulevard.
1992
Published and distributed the book “Monument Avenue:
History and Architecture,” which reports the findings and research conducted by
HABS in 254 pages with 120 photographs and drawings. The study and the book
document the fact that all houses on the Avenue were commissioned by their
future occupants and that their “signature homogeneity was the achievement
of more than two dozen different designers working independently over a period
of
nearly sixty years.”
1993-98
Established
scholarships in the Urban and Regional Planning Program at Virginia Commonwealth
University in Richmond that were awarded for five years.
1994-95
In 1994
purchased a long-empty house at 2023
Monument Avenue 0 known to residents of the Fan District as “the White
Elephant.” Then sold the house in 1995 for $165,000 to new owners who
completely restored it into a single family home. Its current assessed value is $1.25 million.
Its renovation triggered a wave of rehabilitation and conversions from
multi-family to owner-occupied houses and even infill construction of
compatible new homes by recognized architects.
1995-96
Sponsored a
well-attended four-evening lecture series on Monument Avenue by Robert
Winthrop, AIA, who was cited by the authors of the “Monument Avenue: History
and Architecture” book as their primary resource.
1998
Commissioned the preparation of
the historic documentation by Sarah Shields Griggs for the National Historic Landmark
Nomination and sponsored this nomination to the U. S. Secretary of the Interior.
The Monument Avenue Historic District became the only avenue in America with
this designation.
2001
Published
the 280-page, four-color book “Richmond’s Monument Avenue” by
Sarah Shields Driggs, Richard Guy Wilson and Robert P. Winthrop, with
photography by John O. Peters, now in its second printing by the University of North Carolina Press.
Sponsored a four-evening lecture
series featuring the authors
and photographer of “Richmond’s Monument Avenue.”
2002-03
Raised
the funds to purchase two large historic properties at the corner of Grove Avenue and Harrison Street,
adjacent to Virginia
Commonwealth University
and at one of the gateways to the Fan District.
The properties had been empty, vandalized and defaced and are now
undergoing renovation following strict guidelines that assure their future as
single family homes. Received the 2003 Virginia AIA Award for Preservation for
this and other efforts.
2004
Provided a $10,000 grant for the development
of software to make it possible for a citywide inventory to be taken of the
city’s trees, starting with the Fan District.
2005-2006
With the help of the City of Richmond, Councilman Bill Pantele, Virginia Commonwealth University and many Fan District residents, businesses and institutions, raised the funds to replace the neighborhood’s hodgepodge of street signs with distinctive brown and green ones featuring a fan logo. The few remaining original signs were maintained, and signs that were supported by pipe were replaced with historic reproduction poles.
September 2006