Covering some twenty blocks north of the University of Virginia grounds in the city of Charlottesville, the tightly developed Rugby Road-University Corner Historic District neighborhood contains academic, commercial, and residential buildings associated with the university during the period before World War II. Most date to the boom years between 1890 and 1930 when the student population quadrupled. Noteworthy university structures are Madison Hall, Carr’s Hill (the university president’s house), Fayerweather Gymnasium, and Bayly Museum, all in various classical idioms. Clustered along leafy streets is a variety of residential buildings, including some twenty-three fraternity houses and various apartment houses, many of which also emulate the university’s classical tradition. Among the more architecturally distinguished fraternity houses in the Rugby Road-University Corner Historic District is the grouping on Rugby Road, known as the Quadrangle, as well as a range of columned structures along Madison Lane. The era also produced the colorful strip of commercial buildings along University Avenue, known as “the Corner.”
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia