The Driving Tour
A showcase of the largest concentration of
Neo-Classical Colonial Revival Homes
This driving tour showcases mostly the 1920's and 1930's architecture of Colonial Revival and Neo-Classical design found in the Country Club Hill and Oakhurst Avenue areas of Bluefield. While the earliest architecture is found on Jefferson and Albemarle Streets in the early 20th Century style, Bluefield boasts possibly the largest concentration of Neo-Classical Colonial Revival homes in the state of West Virginia.
The Virtual Tour
This virtual tour features only a sample of the 250 listings on the National Register of Historic Places. Many of the homes were designed by architect Alex B. Mahood (1888-1970). He was trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he brought back the styles prevalent in Europe at the time. To have a professional of this caliber, concentrating his talents in Bluefield and Southern West Virginia, is amazing.
Most of the residents of these grand homes were bank presidents, architects, mine operators and owners, contractors, & merchants who shaped the destiny of Bluefield. They were connected through the West Virginia Cole Realty Corporation in the development of downtown Bluefield and helped our population grow to 19,330 in 1930, greater than its present population. Bluefield was booming and the Norfolk & Western Railroad line was shipping out coal from the Pocahontas Coal fields, one of the richest coal deposits ever discovered.
See the full-size map in our brochure.
