English Village, at the western edge of the city of Richmond’s West of the Boulevard Historic District, was one of the state’s earliest ventures in cooperative planed communities, a precursor of today’s condominiums. Notable for its Tudor-style architecture and innovative planning and design, the U-shaped multi-family complex was designed by Richmond architect Bascom J. Rowlett and built in 1927 by Davis Brothers, a local contracting firm. Although most cooperative housing in that period was built for workers and owned collectively, English Village was built for upper-middle-class families, with each owner holding title to their own unit. All but one of the first owners lost their titles through mortgage foreclosures in the Depression. Home ownership gradually resumed, however, allowing the Richmond complex to survive as a successful cooperative to the present. One of its bylaws includes a restriction on exterior changes, a factor critical to the maintenance of English Village’s architectural integrity.