Richmond's most beautiful residential neighbourhood, the Fan takes its name from the way its streets fan outward from Monroe Park toward the west. The streets are lined with late-19th and early-20th century rowhouses — graceful, brick-fronted, with small front stoops and the occasional turret — in a density and state of preservation that rivals the finest urban rowhouse districts in the American Northeast.
The neighbourhood runs from Monroe Park (at the edge of VCU's campus) west to the Boulevard, with Monument Avenue as its northern spine and Cary Street as its southern commercial edge. It's best explored on foot: the architectural variety within a consistent scale makes it endlessly interesting, and the streets are active at all hours with residents walking dogs, sitting on stoops, and cycling to work.