Hilton Village
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Hilton Village
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| Location | Bounded by the James River, Post St., Chesapeake and Ohio RR tracks, and Hopkins St., Newport News, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 37°01′46″N 76°27′39″W / 37.02944°N 76.46083°WCoordinates: 37°01′46″N 76°27′39″W / 37.02944°N 76.46083°W |
| Area | 100 acres (40 ha) |
| Built | 1917-1921 |
| Architect | Henry Vincent Hubbard, Joseph D. Leland, III, Francis H. Bulot, and Francis Y. Joannes |
| Architectural style | Jacobethan, Dutch colonial and Colonial revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 69000341 |
| VLR # | 121-0009 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | June 23, 1969 |
| Designated VLR | November 5, 1968 |
Hilton Village is a planned, English-village-style neighborhood in Newport News, Virginia. Recognized as a pioneering development in urban planning, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The neighborhood was built between 1918 and 1921 in response to the need for housing during World War I for employees of Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company. It is recognized as the United States' first Federal war-housing project.
The planned community was jointly sponsored by the U.S. Shipping Board and the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company. It was built on the site of J. Pembroke Jones' farm "Hilton."
Hilton Village was opened July 7, 1918. The street names in the 100-acre (0.4 km2) tract of former pine woods honor government and shipyard officials. The 500 English village-type houses were sold to private owners after the war.
In 1917, during World War I, the war effort was in full swing. Newport News Shipbuilding had many contracts to build naval ships and was hiring thousands of employees. Shipyard workers were being housed in overcrowded and/or temporary quarters The emerging community of Newport News faced a severe housing shortage. This led to the construction of Hilton Village. The housing shortage was so severe that Newport News Shipbuilding president Homer L. Ferguson traveled to Washington to emphasize to Congress the impact of lack of housing on ship construction, and thus the war effort. Immediately after his appearance, the United States Shipping Board was provided funding of $1.2 million and authorization to create a comprehensive emergency housing program. Hilton Village was the first project of the emergency housing program.
About three miles (5 km) north of the Newport News city limits, in Warwick County, Virginia, land known locally as the "Darling Tract" was purchased. This consisted of about 200 acres (0.8 km2) of woodlands and, located on a bluff overlooking the James River, the pre-Civil War homestead was named "Hilton". The planning for Hilton Village was conducted using a team approach, highly innovative for the time. Initially landscape architect Henry Vincent Hubbard was hired as town planner, Joseph D. Leland, III as architect and Francis H. Bulot as sanitary engineer. Leland was unable to finish the assignment because of other obligations, and Francis Y. Joannes was hired as the architect to work on the Project. The planners met with the wives of shipyard workers. Based on their input, 14 house plans were designed for the projected 500 English-village-style homes.
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