The Source for Richmond Architecture and Design Information

William Chilton, a Designer of Dominion’s New Downtown HQ, Lectures in Tokyo

    Richmond-based energy giant Dominion is developing a new headquarters in Downtown, scheduled for completion in 2019. New Haven, Connecticut based Pickard Chilton Architects is designing the project, with Kendall/Heaton Associates of Houston as architect of record. On October 26th, William Chilton, a principal at Pickard Chilton, gave a lecture in Tokyo to the …

Architectural Ancestry: Quirk Hotel

This article comes to us from guest writer, Robert Winthrop. Winthrop is partner at Winthrop, Jenkins, and Associates, a Virginia based architecture firm specializing in historic renovation. Historic buildings have also been his focus in numerous writings and lectures. As author of The Architecture of Jackson Ward, Cast and Wrought: The Architectural Metalwork of Downtown Richmond, Virginia, …

Portfolio: Under Construction

Originally Posted on January 4th, 2014. After a slow period during the late aughts, Richmond is building again. Whether through private investments catching the wave of residential development in the city’s center, VCU’s seemingly endless expansion or the city’s own public works projects, it is a pleasure to see cranes mingling with buildings in Richmond. …

Current: Northern Grade Market Showcases the Haxall Point Power Plant

Yesterday and Today (September 21st and 22nd), popular Richmond-based online retailer Need Supply Co. is hosting the Richmond iteration of a pop up men’s wear market known as Northern Grade. The event, which started in Minneapolis, focuses on high quality American made goods.  The event is taking place in the Haxall Point Power Plant, a spare …

Opinion: American Civil War Center in Court End (Museum of the Confederacy)

The former Museum of the Confederacy is an exemplary piece of modernism in Richmond, responding to its site and program critically. Now part of the American Civil War Center, the museum was designed in close proximity to the White House of the Confederacy, one of Richmond’s most significant, and infamous, historic buildings. Given its function …

Current: Medical College of Virginia’s New Children’s Pavilion

Ground has been broken on the new building for the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU. The project, situated on a block bounded by Broad, Marshall, 10th and 11th Streets, is slated for completion in 2015 and comes with a price tag of $168 million. The intent of the development centers around addressing the fragmented …

Opinion: Federal Reserve Bank

Having a landmark architect design in a city has always been an exciting event and the Federal Reserve Bank is no exception. Minoru Yamasaki implemented his often rigid principles without restraint; glass, aluminum and verticality harmonize in a building both sleek and monumental. Interestingly, he refrained from incorporating any arch or cornice elements into the …

Current: First Freedom Center

A major new development is headed for Richmond in the form of the First Freedom Center and Hotel. The building, which was approved by city council on Monday (the 23rd), will be built on the corner of 14th and Cary Street in Shockoe Slip. This site is now used as surface parking but it was …

Opinion: MeadWestvaco Headquarters

Architect: MSTSD Architects, Atlanta Dates: 2010 Address: 501 South 5th Street Richmond VA When considering the new Meadwestvaco headquarters along the Richmond riverfront, several hugely important positives come to mind. The fact that a large company relocated to the Richmond area is, in and of itself, an achievement. The decision to reject the suburbanity of …

Opinion: Egyptian Buidling

Architect: Thomas S. Stewart Dates: 1845 Address: 1200 E. Marshall Street Richmond VA  We often look at buildings, if only subconsciously, as what we want them to be. In the case of the Egyptian Building, the preserved, ‘un-ruined’ nature, coloring and stereotyped images could easily be perceptually subverted to tackiness, a tawdry example of American …