Monthly Archives: June 2012

First Unitarian Universalist Church

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Architect: Ulrich Franzen
Dates: 1972
Address: 1000 Blanton Avenue

The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond traces its roots back to 1830 when the Unitarian Universalist society was founded. It was the first congregation to use the term Unitarian Universalist despite several name changes in its long history. In 1906 the Unitarians built their first dedicated meeting house at the corner of Harrison and Floyd in the Fan District. Virginia Commonwealth University owns the building which still stands despite demolition threats.

In 1972 the congregation moved to its new building at the corner of Blanton Ave. and Garret St., adjacent to Byrd Park’s Carillon. The famously progressive institution selected famous and progressive architect, Ulrich Franzen. Franzen, a German born graduate of the Harvard School of Design, designed the building with strong influence from the much admired American architect Louis Kahn.

The Church is composed of large concrete block piers which protrude around the exterior. Inside of these are ‘service spaces’ such as restrooms, storage, and maintenance rooms. The negative spaces in between are the ‘served spaces’ such as large, open meeting rooms, art galleries, and a children’s center. Spanning between the heavy exterior masses are simple planes of glass and wood. Openings are either floor to ceiling view windows or angled clerestory strips designed to let in light only.

The strong, solid massing, formal repetition, and simple materiality of the building gives it a sense of place and permanence on its prominent site. The Unitarian Universalist Church is a invaluable addition to Richmond’s architectural portfolio.

D.OK.

Current: Hargreaves Plan for River Development

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In mid 2011, the Cambridge office of the internationally renowned firm Hargreaves Associates was awarded a $490,000 commission from the city for a (re)development of Richmond’s Riverfront. The firm has already undertaken successful riverfront plans for cities including San Francisco, Louisville, Houston and others. This month, the final draft of the Riverfront Plan was unveiled.

The target area includes the portion of the river from the Robert E Lee Bridge to the Henrico County line and Ancarrow’s Landing. Intending to build off the framework of the 2009 Downtown Master Plan, the plan focuses on accessibility and recreational uses. The plan is ambitious, calling for a wide range of improvements, including more public art, bike paths, completion of the capital trail, rowing clubs, revamping of watercraft sports, and cultural venues. Accessibility is also a common point of the proposal, through developing new pedestrian bridges and various completions of old trails to Belle Isle, Browns Island and Mayo Island. Other designated areas of focus are Chapel Island, Manchester, Tobacco Row, Ancarrow’s Landing, and the Tredegar Green. A prevailing technique used in many locations along the river are terraces, easing the level of descent from recreation to the water’s edge. The proposals are comprehensive, covering ecology, land acquisition, possible roadway change and future urban development.

Despite the wide aims of the plan, Hargreaves emphasizes that it will function as “a single, unified, cohesive system,” and that benefits from subsequent riverfront investment will spread to other neighborhoods of the city. To break up the magnitude of Hargreaves’ vision, the plan is divided into three priorities. The first, headlined by improvements to Mayo Island and Brown’s Island, is estimated at 35.4 million dollars.

Mayor Dwight Jones acknowledged that “The Richmond Region exists because of the critical role the James River played in our history” and acknowledged the importance of this plan with a $5 million addition to the Capital budget in 2013 and 2014.

Unlike countless past riverfront development strategies gone unrealized, the energy brought about by Hargreaves’ plan will hopefully lead to implementation. Before releasing the final plan, the firm completed a series of three popularly attended town meetings to discuss and edit their strategies. You can find all of their presentations online here:

http://www.richmondgov.com/PlanningAndDevelopmentReview/PlansAndDocuments.aspx

M.F.A.
Photos courtesy of Hargreaves Associates.

Forest Hill Park

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Date: 1933 (purchased by City)
Address: Main entrances at Forest Hill Ave and West 41st St; New Kent Ave and West 42nd St

Forest Hill Park has a surprisingly large footprint, and when one has walked the meandering cobblestone paths through wetlands to the central lake, it is easy to feel completely secluded from the urban environment. This sensation in the heavily wooded valley is reinforced by the presence of river otters, great blue herons, and other creatures unusual in an urban climate, a condition brought about by the amount of storm sediment in the park.

The rocky, wilderness-like 105 acres link the important Southside intersection of Forest Hills Ave and Semmes Ave to the south, and a section of the James River park system to the north. Historically, its location served as a catalyst of development for Forest Hill, Woodland Heights, and Westover Hills neighborhoods. However the park existed as private property for many generations, passing first through the hands of William Byrd III, son to the founder of Richmond. Holden Rhodes purchased the land in 1820, and built an estate there that still stands today.

In 1889, the land was sold to Southside Land and Improvement Co., who used the land as an end stop for the Forest Hill trolley route. During this time the additions to the Rhodes House included a carousel, roller coaster, golf course, swimming area and other amusement park attractions in an effort to lure passengers to the trolley terminus. The Great Depression caused the station and the amusement park to close, and the City took over ownership of the land, turning the area back to its natural state and the Rhodes House into a library and meeting house. The park received improvements from the Works Progress Administration, including construction of the stone gazebo along the lake and plants that would later become the Azalea Garden in Bryan Park. For this and the Rhodes House, Forest Hill Park was placed on the National Register of historic places in 2002.

Some of the main attractions to the park today include a popular sledding spot, as well as the South of the James Market, which brings hundreds of shoppers to the park every Saturday in the summer and fall for an open air locally sourced market. Friends of Forest Hill Park is an organization dedicated to the well being of the park, and since 2009 has been developing a comprehensive plan for its future, including supporting native species and protecting the valuable water resources.

M.F.A

Federal Reserve Bank

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Architect: Minoru Yamasaki
Dates: 1975-1978
Address: 701 E. Byrd Street

Perhaps the most iconic building of Richmond’s skyline is the Federal Reserve Bank Tower. The Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, 1 of 12 branches in the US, commissioned the building to be designed by Minoru Yamasaki in 1975.

The building features a largely aluminum curtain facade punctured by vertically oriented slits and an articulated corner. The design was clearly taking cues from Yamasaki’s most famous work, New York’s World Trade Center. Towers 1 and 2 were completed just 4 and 5 years earlier respectively. Unlike the Twin Towers, the structures corners contain wide window bays and angled piers at its base. The windows are bound by simple faces of aluminum rather than textured strips which create the formalist pointed arches of WTC. The striking simplicity in form and materiality give the structure a monumental presence in the city.

The building was originally to be sited where the Jefferson Hotel now stands but the site was later moved close to the river, directly across the canal from Brown’s Island Park. The project was underway at the same time as Richmond’s Downtown Expressway which slices through the southern part of urban Richmond and separates much of it from the riverfront. The Federal Reserve was unwilling to be separated in this way and so was born the idea for Kanawha Plaza, a park built over the highway to connect the bank with the center of the city.

D.OK.

The Commonwealth Club

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Architect: Carrére and Hastings
Dates: 1891
Address: 401 W. Franklin St.

The Commonwealth Club is one of Richmond’s most historic and opulent private clubs and its building reflects this. Founded in 1890, The Commonwealth Club was a social gathering place with facilities for dining, fitness, and drinking. Initially the club commissioned a local architect but ultimately chose the top tier New York firm Carrére and Hastings to execute the design.Upon the request of the clientele, the building melds elements of both Richardsonian Romanesque and Colonial Revival styles. The overt asymmetry of the building, particularly its north facade, and use of brownstone to frame arches and rusticate the base clearly display the fashionable Romanesque tendencies of the time. In keeping with Virginia’s colonial roots, Tuscan columns and a Palladian entry were combined into the structure. Carrére and Hastings even added its uniquely overblown high Beaux-Arts cartouches to the facade, rendering them in terra cotta.

The Commonwealth Club stands in Monroe Ward, just blocks from Carrére and Hastings’ other Richmond projects, the Jefferson Hotel and the Mayo-Carter House (the Junior League headquarters at 205 W. Franklin St.). It remains as lovely a building to visit as in 1890 but don’t get too excited about joining the club; membership is by invitation only and is limited to males.

D.OK.

The Library of Virginia

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Architect: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Date: 1997
Address: 800 E. Broad St.

Designed by the internationally renowned firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the Library of Virginia brings a level of significance and sophistication to a critically civic stretch of East Broad Street. According to the architect, the structure was intended to be “a catalyst for reviving the city’s downtown.”

And it is an undeniably civic building, both in experience and aesthetic. In fact, its presence is almost camouflaged next to City Hall and near the federal courthouse. This stately, symmetrical composition is a backdrop to the trees on Broad Street; the large, angular metal awning extends over a raised entrance.

The library interior continues the same handsome maturity the facade exudes. A generous atrium serves as an interior courtyard, with views to the upper surrounding book stacks, which face an interior wall of glass. One of the nicest features of the design is the ceiling, a series of wide scoops that carry in soft light from clerestories in the library’s wings. The circulation path is clear and understandable, leading the visitor to research stations, study areas and more than 700,000 volumes. The building’s detailing is reserved but comfortable, with wood furniture complementing metal accents in mid-sized reading rooms.

However, the experience the library exterior gives the pedestrian is less accommodating. The sidewalk space is sparse and the building lacks in first floor transparency. Its mass extends across the whole block and is slightly removed from the street edge. While this creates a sense of monumentality and scale that is appropriate for the site, it isn’t an engaging structure. The Library of Virginia is nonetheless one of the most handsome buildings in Richmond, and while perhaps not a catalyst, certainly a positive institution on Broad Street.

M.F.A