T. Tyler Potterfield2009The History Press157 pages All cities are shaped by the landscapes on which they are built. The great harbors of New York and Hong Kong made those cities into the hubs of international trade we know today. Istanbul’s position on the Bosporus strait has made it a meeting point of cultures for nearly …
Ryan K. Smith2020Johns Hopkins University Press328 pages Asian, Latin American, Islamic and other growing Richmond communities “will navigate anew the panorama of revolution, war, gender, art, industry, race, environment, and memory at this fateful city on the James.” This is how Ryan K. Smith, a professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University closes his …
Springhill is a tightly-configured, intown enclave of topographical and architectural contrasts. Tree-shaded streets lined with modest-sized cottages and bungalows meld counter-intuitively with riverside cliffs and modern high rise apartment towers. The neighborhood, which contains the only Old and Historic District in Southside Richmond, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. …
One of the glories of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is the American Wing. A highlight of the collection is its fully-furnished period rooms that range from the simplicity of a Shaker retiring room to the elegance of a Frank Lloyd Wright living room. Among the 30 period rooms (that are arranged contiguously in …
M.M. Wignor with Inosuke Yoshida, builder1904 Postcards is a new series of articles on ArchitectureRichmond that examines buildings outside of the Richmond area that are of special interest and relevance to our city. Most Richmonders will be familiar with the Branch House, a stately gothic mansion that was once the largest home on Monument Avenue. …
Charles Duff 2019 Bluecoat Press 279 pages Richmond, like its near neighbors Washington and Baltimore, is a city of row houses, at least in its inner neighborhoods. This urban building block sets Richmond apart from cities like Phoenix, which are almost entirely suburban, and places like Paris, which are composed mostly of multi-family dwellings. In …
Christopher Silver1984University of Tennessee Press342 pages Why does Richmond look the way it looks? Why are highways located where they are? Where did the line between Richmond and Henrico originate? Why have we settled this region in sprawling suburbs instead of compact districts? Why are the interests of minorities and the poor consistently sidelined in …
George C. Longest 1992 Virginia State Library and Archives 218 pages Decades after his death, owning a garden designed by Richmond landscape architect Charles Gillette (1886–1969) is still a marker of status and taste. “Gillette Gardens,” as they are known, pepper the city’s wealthy West End and hide behind some of the architectural treasures of …
In this installment of Under Construction, the fourth in the series, we bring you a sampling of projects underway in the city. Some are nearly finished, like City View Place, a new residential development in Manchester designed by 3 North Architects. Others, including The Current, an infill project in Manchester designed by Hickok Cole, are …
Tony Horwitz 2019 Penguin Press 417 pages Few designers in American history have had a greater effect on the nation’s cities than Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903). Olmsted is well known as a pioneer of landscape architecture and for his role in designing New York City’s Central Park, but few know of his stint as a …