A Fairfax County residential community built primarily for middle-class African American families in the 1960s and 1970s has been officially recognized by Virginia as a historic property.
William H. Randall Estates is one of 10 new inclusions on the Virginia Landmarks Register approved by members of the Virginia Board of Historic Resources at their Sept. 18 meeting.
Located west of Mount Vernon District Park in the Groveton area of Fairfax County, the community was constructed in phases between 1962-74. According to state officials:
“William H. Randall Estates represents the vision of African-American developer Jube Shiver, Sr., who sought to establish a neighborhood in the Washington, D.C., suburbs for middle-class and professional Black families during the Jim Crow era, when African-Americans were frequently excluded from residential communities through racially restrictive deed covenants and financial redlining.
Laid out along wide, gently curving roads, the 20-acre subdivision is comprised of 50 residential lots housing 49 single-family residences built primarily in the Ranch style with influences from the International Style and other Modern Movement trends.”
Many of the homes were designed by noted African American architect Joseph E. Johnson, Jr.
According to Fairfax County, the push to garner more recognition for Randall Estates’ historic status started in the community, which lobbied for its inclusion on the Fairfax County Inventory of Historic Sites in 2022.
Community members then submitted the neighborhood to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (VDHR) for consideration.
In addition to recommending the district for the National Register of Historic Places in 2023, the state awarded a grant to the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Development’s (DPD) heritage resources section a grant last year so it could work on an architectural survey and the National Register nomination with W. H. Randall Estates Civic Association.
DPD and the Fairfax County History Commission also provided funding for the study, which was completed over the past year with help from the consultant Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates. The county says it submitted the final nomination to VDHR in early June.
After approving the Randall Estates for the Virginia Landmarks Register, state officials have forwarded its nomination for the National Register of Historic Places — and those for the nine other newly added sites — to the National Park Service. Its listing should be approved “within 45 days,” DPD said on its website.
Del. Paul Krizek (D-16) said the neighborhood is well-deserving of historic designation for its importance to the social history of Fairfax County.
“The development … is representative of the Black community’s self-determination and resilience in the face of discrimination and oppression,” Krizek said in a social media post.
The 10 newly designated landmarks are in the counties of Louisa, Henrico, King William, Dinwiddie, Fairfax and Shenandoah and in the cities of Newport News, Norfolk, Buena Vista and Danville.
Sites included in the Virginia Landmarks Register become eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, which is maintained by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
In each case, the designations are honorific in nature. There are no restrictions placed on property owners for future use.
Designating a property to the state or national registers — either individually or as a contributing building in a historic district — does provide an owner an opportunity to pursue historic rehabilitation tax credits to make improvements.
