Sometimes known as Lynchburg Hill, this neighborhood, centered on Court and Clay streets between 5th and 12th streets, occupies a relatively level ridge high above the downtown business district. The area developed early as a choice residential area, and some of the city's oldest houses, most now converted to offices, remain. As congregations outgrew the churches that once stood along Church Street, many relocated here. The superb group of late-nineteenth-century churches that together form something of an ecclesiastical historic district is among Lynchburg's chief claims to architectural fame. Unfortunately, in the 1990s, several blocks at the southern end of the neighborhood were chosen as the site for the Blue Ridge Correctional Facility (1997–1999, Vitetta Group), a massive prison complex that succeeds admirably as a contextual neighbor with its brick facing and gable roofs, but is a bit overpowering in size.
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