2017 The Drew St. John Carneal Fund was founded by the HMAFDF to honor a remarkable champion of the Fan District. The goal of the Fund is to ensure the continuation of the Fan District Historic Street Sign Project established by The Foundation in 2005.
2012 The Historic Monument Avenue and Fan District Foundation (HMAFDF) worked with Mark Hill, a student in the master's program in Urban and Regional Planning at VCU's L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs; the Glave & Holmes Architecture Studio II Fellowship Program; and Storefront for Community Design, Richmond's nonprofit design and building resource, on a study of the Robinson Street corridor's history and condition and the improvement ideas of its business owners and residents (http://robinsonstreetrva.com). As a result, the Robinson Street Association was formed and is working with the City of Richmond--to improve the street with better lighting, parking, safety and trees and with the GRTC--to reduce the number of bus stops and routes and the speed of buses on this busy corridor.
2007-10 Commissioned a study of the condition of Richmond’s city-owned monumental public sculpture that outlines the treatment and maintenance methods and expenses needed to protect them in perpetuity. Spun off Save Our Statues as a separate organization to conduct this effort in conjunction with the City of Richmond.
2006-07 In partnership with the Virginia Center for Architecture, located in the Branch House on Monument Avenue, sponsored a sold-out series of six lectures on Preserving Richmond Architecture.
2005 Gained approvals and raised more than $100,000 for the installation of new street signs featuring a fan symbol throughout the neighborhood. This effort inspired the Museum District to install new signs as well.
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. The Fan’s roughly 6,000 city trees were found to be 45% maples, revealing the need for more diversity. The Adopt-A-Tree program has been revised to assure more diversity.
2002-03 Raised the funds to purchase two large properties at the corner of Grove Avenue and Harrison Street, one of the gateways to the Fan District. Both properties had been empty and vandalized for years. Both have been completely renovated with strict guidelines to assure their futures as single family homes and are now assessed at nearly 300% more than when purchased by HMAFDF. Received the 2003 Virginia AIA Award for Preservation for this and other efforts.
2001 Published the 280-page, four-color book Richmond’s Monument Avenue, now in its third printing, and held a lecture series featuring the authors and photographer of the book.
1994-95 Purchased a long-empty house at 2023 Monument Avenue, known to residents of the Fan District as “the White Elephant.” Sold the house for $165,000 to new owners with the requirement that it be a single family home. It was restored and is currently assessed at $1.34 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.
1998 Commissioned the preparation of the historic documentation by architectural historian Sarah Shields Driggs for the National Historic Landmark Nomination and sponsored this nomination to the U. S. Secretary of the Interior. Monument Avenue became the only avenue in America with this designation.
1995-96 Sponsored a well-attended four-evening lecture series on Monument Avenue by Robert Winthrop, AIA, a noted expert on Richmond architecture.
1993-98 Established scholarships in the Urban and Regional Planning Program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond that were awarded for five years.
1992 Published and distributed the book “Monument Avenue: History and Architecture,” which reports the research conducted by the Historic American Building Survey (HABS), a program sponsored jointly by the National Park Service (U.S. Department of Interior), the Library of Congress and the American Institute of Architects. It was the first time HABS had ever documented an entire American “Grand Avenue”. The HMAFDF-published book documents the fact that all the avenue’s houses 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.”
1989-91 Funded and organized the Monument Avenue Centennial, a yearlong celebration of the 100th anniversary of Monument Avenue, in 1990. The Foundation raised $500,000, and conducted a year of exciting events, including lectures, tours and a croquet game with nearly 700 participants. Also helped fund the HABS project listed above.
1980’s Purchased four houses in the 1800 block of West Grace Street that had long been divided into multi-family houses. Board members backed the loans personally and did the work needed to return the houses to single family status, triggering a wave of renovation that continues today.
1976 Foundation is granted 501(c)(3) non-profit status with the mission to support projects and educational programs that preserve and enhance Monument Avenue and the Fan District.