The Virginia Department of Historic Resources has added the Woodland Heights neighborhood of South Richmond to the Virginia Landmarks Register. Woodland Heights was among more than two dozen new sites approved by the department after presentations last week. Woodland Heights is an approximately 80-square-block area—bounded roughly by the James River on the north, West 24th Street on the east, West 34th Street on the west and Bainbridge Street and Forest Hill Avenue on the south—that is one of the oldest streetcar suburbs in Richmond.

The streetcars are long gone, but reminders of yesteryear are still prominent throughout Woodland Heights. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources today will consider the South Richmond neighborhood’s request for historic designation. A request for similar federal designation is pending as well. Unlike local historic district designations, which give municipal governments the power to closely regulate building activities within zones, state and federal designations do not restrict owners’ use of their property. Instead, state and federal designations encourage preservation by allowing the districts to apply for grants and individual homeowners to apply for tax credits for renovation work.

Colorful lights along Semmes Avenue and adjacent streets will highlight the fifth annual Woodland Heights holiday house tour. “Avenue of Lights Through Woodland Heights” takes place Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. Semmes is a main thoroughfare into Richmond. Lighting the houses, lawns, trees and bushes along the avenue ties in with the lighting of downtown buildings across the James River, said Michael Boykin, chairman of this year’s house-tour committee.