This compact district incorporates a significant assortment of buildings dating from 1840 to 1905, when South Market Street was one of the city of Petersburg’s premier residential areas. The high-style Greek Revival and Italianate dwellings lining the two-block-long district housed some of Petersburg’s economic, social, and political elite. Most of the structures in the South Market Street Historic District display a high standard of craftsmanship and are set off by ancillary features such as cast-iron fences, tiled walks, and granite curbs. A highlight is the Norman-style former South Market Street Methodist Church, completed in 1860. Several original outbuildings survive, including carriage houses and kitchens. Although demolitions have robbed the neighborhood of important structures, a cohesion is tenaciously maintained. The principal historic landmark is the Thomas Wallace House where, on April 3, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln held his last meeting with Gen. Ulysses Grant.