Roanoke’s Norwich neighborhood named to state landmarks register

Though it may not look it at first glance, Roanoke’s Norwich neighborhood was once the source of a bustling manufacturing industry — dense with mill buildings and shotgun-style homes, detailed with brick chimneys and turned porch columns, as well as churches and a school — situated between a now-vacated railroad spur and the Roanoke River.

Today, some of the original manufacturing buildings house new companies and industries, but Norwich remains a working-class community — one with new historic recognition.

Roanoke’s century-old Norwich neighborhood was recently added to the Virginia Landmarks Register, along with 11 other sites across the state.

[Read more from Cardinal’s archive about the history of Norwich , and the efforts to obtain landmark status for the neighborhood.]

Norwich was a destination for manufacturers such as Norwich Lock Manufacturing Co., the Bridgewater Carriage Co. and the Duvall Engine Co., in the late 19th century. These companies were drawn to the area because of the Roanoke River and proximity to major railroad lines.

They built shotgun houses and cottages for their employees, and many are still intact today.

The proposal for the nomination came in November 2023, with dual motivations: obtaining a unique recognition for the neighborhood, as well as a few perks for Norwich property owners and residents.

Owners of historic buildings in the district now can apply for state tax credits for “substantial rehabilitations” of their property, according to Michael Pulice, the Western Regional architectural historian for the state Department of Historic Resources.

The entire 55-acre district contains 181 total sites, and 116 of them are recognized in the register. The rest were either built after 1955 or are older buildings that have been heavily modified, Pulice said.

The nomination did not include a breakdown of homes and businesses in this total.

There are no restrictions or obligations on property owners as a result of the new designation.

“But the main thing really is to recognize areas in communities that had a significant history or heritage to them and to give them that kind of recognition and designation,” said Nelson Harris, a former mayor of Roanoke and a local historian.

Roanoke received a matching grant of $20,000 through the Certified Local Government program, administered by DHR, to prepare an application for historical status, along with an architectural survey of every building and property and data entry into the state database, from which the inventory in the nomination was generated. The DHR paid another $20,000 with federal dollars to cover the remainder of the costs for the nomination.

The nomination is now headed to the National Park Service for possible inclusion on the National Register. Harris said the state nomination “certainly helps” this process.

According to the National Park Service, listing in the National Register is the first step toward eligibility for National Park Service-administered federal preservation tax credits and grant programs.

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