Bon Air is a census-designated place (CDP) in Chesterfield County, Virginia, United States. The population was 18,022 at the 2020 census. The community is considered a suburb of the independent city of Richmond in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a part of the Southside neighborhoods. Originally developed as a resort, a central portion of Bon Air has been designated as a National Historic District with many structures of Victorian design from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its name means "good air," reflecting its role as a resort getaway that wealthy Richmonders enjoyed for its fresh air as opposed to the dirty air of Richmond's industrial downtown of the late 19th century.

Bon Air is located entirely within Chesterfield County, Virginia and mostly within the 23235 zip code. It is bounded to the north by Huguenot Road, to the east by the city of Richmond, to the south by Midlothian Turnpike, and to the southwest by Robious Road.

Prior to the advent of the 1877 resort in Bon Air, the area had some settlements. Brown Road and Belleau Drive each follow portions of the old Warwick Road that dates back to the 18th century Warwick plantation. The Bon Air area came to be known as Brown's Summit, probably named for the Brown family farm which was located near the southwest corner of present-day intersection of Jahnke Road and Brown Road.

In the first half of the 19th century, Anderson Edwards owned a large plantation on the current site of Bon Air. He sold parts of it to Nathaniel and James Duval in 1840. The Duvals' two portions of Anderson Edwards' land would eventually comprise large parts of modern-day Bon Air.

The R&D railway came through the area around 1850, connecting Manchester to Robious and the Coal Mines. An 1864 map shows a small cluster of buildings labeled "Pawhite Stop" on the "Railroad to Coal Mines" line near the site of historic Bon Air village. Another Civil War era map shows an area owned by "Cogbill" which is in the vicinity of the area near Buford Road near current day Bon Air Elementary School and Grand Summit subdivision. Early maps also lists a "Powhite Station" 1/2 mile east of Robiou's Station.

In the 19th century, it was believed that the higher elevation and distance from the urban area of Richmond provided a more healthful atmosphere, particularly in the hot summer months in central Virginia. With its nearby location and greater elevation, Bon Air offered these features nearby, and was founded as a summer resort town about 8 miles (13 km) outside of Richmond by railroad. One of the founders was Colonel Algernon S. Buford, of Chatham, Virginia, who is best known for his presidency of the Richmond and Danville Railroad during its massive postwar expansion, which ended in 1894 with the formation of the Southern Railway System (now part of Norfolk Southern). Bon Air's connections with the railroad's leaders could possibly be evidenced by the fact that over many of the years until passenger service ended in 1957, the community simultaneously had three stops within 1-mile (2 km) of trackage.

Colonel Buford was a graduate of the University of Virginia. He became a lawyer, and represented Pittsylvania County in the Virginia House of Delegates during 1853 and 1854. During the Civil War, Buford served the Confederacy in Richmond at Virginia Depot, although the title "Colonel" is believed to have been honorary, a southern custom common in the post-slavery years. With the support of Virginia Governor Francis H. Pierpont, on September 13, 1865, Buford became president of the 140-mile (225 km) Richmond and Danville Railroad (R&D).

Around 1875, Buford purchased portions of a large tract of land from Nathaniel and James Duval, a tract of land on the south side of the R&D right-of-way known as the old Anderson Edwards plantation. He personally (as well as through the R&D Railroad) helped in the development of Brown's Summit, which was renamed Grand Summit, then Bon Air, after the French expression for "good air". This choice may also have been related to the earlier settlement by French Huguenots, a group of religious refugees, slightly to the west. In 1877, Richmond jeweler Lewis G. Jahnke bought the other 153-acre portion of the Edwards estate from the Duval brothers and two years later sold this farm to his brother A. Franz Jahnke Sr. This 350-acre estate, at 7737 Jahnke Road, would be known as Shady Echo. The Jahnke family, including jeweler Minnie Jahnke, were very involved in Bon Air life, from the fledgling Bon Air Presbyterian Church to the Bon Air Chautauqua Society founded by Reverend Hazen in 1885.