The churches and residences display aspiration, competition, and achievement. The perception of unity is deceiving, for great variety exists among the buildings, since the street grew piecemeal over a period of forty years. The avenue becomes a virtual catalogue of the stylistic interests of early twentieth-century Americans, as the buildings compete with their facades ranging from prim James River Georgian to giant Southern Colonial columnar and more eccentric Spanish and Jacobean. By the Depression, most of the avenue was built up as far as Roseneath Road to the west, for a total length from Stuart Circle of a mile and a half, or fourteen blocks. The infill of a few buildings added after World War II for the most part followed earlier examples.
Asphalt paving blocks still remain in portions of the avenue.
Eventually Henrico County extended the avenue to the west, creating a boulevard of more than five miles. Monument Avenue incorporates many stories, but the main plot involves the statues and the various memories they impose upon the viewer. Statues attempt to shape a collective memory, to give legitimacy to a point of view. The initial statues on Monument Avenue attempted to convey the nobility of martial exploits and vindicate the Confederate cause. Symbolism and validation underlay the creation of Monument Avenue, for its location at the end of Franklin Street created an alignment with Capitol Square and two powerful statues there, Houdon's Washington inside the Capitol, and Crawford and Rogers's equestrian Washington on the Capitol grounds.