Manchester General District Courthouse

Architects: Moseley Architects
Dates: 1870s, expansion 2010
Address: Ninth and Hull streets

The Manchester neighborhood in South Richmond (formerly an independent city that merged with Richmond in 1910) severely deteriorated in the late-20th  century and its handsome old stock of domestic buildings were all but obliterated by developer/speculators. The neighborhood, however, currently is experiencing a building boom (as of this 2013 entry). Contemporary, medium-rise apartment complexes and townhouses are re-establishing residential life along once-barren streets.

A rare institutional and architectural constant amid the dramatic ups and downs of the neighborhood is the Manchester General District Courthouse. Since the 1870s the courts building has anchored the full city block bounded by Ninth, Tenth, Hull and Decatur streets.

The original building, a somber, but well-proportioned, red brick Italianate confection fronted on Hull Street. In expanding the complex in 2010 however, Moseley Architects of Richmond, swung the entrance 90 degrees to face north. A neo-classical temple front facade now lords over the warehouse flatlands of Manchester while the downtown Richmond skyline looms beyond that.

The impressive portico, with four muscular columns in the Tuscan order rests on a solid brick podium. Each of the two symmetrical wings that flank the porch contains two, elongated windows that pay homage to the design of the original, Italianate courthouse. Beyond the central block of the building are two sprawling extensions, each connected by an enclosed loggia that serves as a hyphen. It is a conservative solution for sure, and the classical detailing is less than perfect, but going the classical route architecturally was a reasonable choice considering this almost-lost neighborhood desperately needed an architectural and institutional centerpiece of authority.

Almost crowding out the successful completion of the courthouse in 2010 (on the occasion of the centennial of the merger of Manchester with Richmond in 1910) was controversy surrounding a piece of public artwork commissioned for the grounds. As part of Richmond’s Percent-for-Art program, one per cent of the project’s construction cost had been designated for art.

Artist Ray King was commissioned, from 50 entrants, to create a dazzling, electrified and decidedly glitzy sculpture for courthouse plaza near Hull Street. “A bright spot in the neighborhood, a beacon of hope,” is how the artist described his project. The judges, however, hated it: “Not in front of our courthouse,” they reportedly reacted. A new commission is in the works.

E.S.