The Source for Richmond Architecture and Design Information

Winthrop Manor (formerly John B. Cary Elementary School)

  Architect: Charles M. Robinson Date: 1912 Address: 2100 Idlewood Ave While not the most celebrated grade school designed by Robinson in the city, the former John B. Cary Elementary School in Byrd Park nonetheless shares several similarities with Thomas Jefferson High School, Albert Hill School and Highland Park Public School, despite the differing aesthetic styles. …

Pump House Park

Architect: Wilfred E. Cutshaw Date: 1882 Address: 1708 Pump House Dr Tucked away along the Three-Mile Locks of the Kanawha Canal, a weighty Neo-Gothic structure rises over the water, a symbol of utility, conviviality and mystery. Massive gabled slate roofs look out across the river from their overgrown land, neglected but not forgotten. The great …

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Architects: Peebles and Ferguson Architects, Norfolk (1936); Theater Wing, Merrill C. Lee Architects, Richmond (1954); South Wing, Baskervill & Son Architects, Richmond (1970); North Wing, Warren Hardwicke Associates, Richmond, and Sculpture Garden, Lawrence Halprin Associates, San Francisco, landscape architect (1976), both demolished; Lewis Mellon Wing, Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, New York City (1985); Frances G. …

John Tyler Building

    Architect: Odell and Associates Dates: 1991 Address: 1300 East Main Street On the corner of 13th and Main Streets rises the John Tyler Building. The building houses office space for the State of Virginia and lies only a block from the state capitol. Facades are composed mainly of granite and glass with metal …

First National Bank Building

Alfred Bossom 825-827 East Main St 1913 The First National Bank was founded eight days after Lee’s surrender in Appomattox, when all Richmond banks’ charters had been revoked by the Federal Government. It merged with the National Exchange Bank and, after surviving the financial crisis of the 1890s, needed a new office building, for which …

Cathedral of the Sacred Heart

Architect: Joseph Hubert McGuire, architect Date: 1906 with 1996 renovations by Robert P. Winthrop Address: 800 Cathedral Place Virginia-born New York industrialist Thomas Fortune Ryan and his devout wife, Ida Barry Ryan, gave much of their considerable wealth to Catholic causes and institutions along the east coast. But nothing in their benevolence compares with the …

The John Marshall

Architect: Marcellus Wright Dates: 1929 Address: 101 N. 5th Street Erected in 1929, the Hotel John Marshall immediately became an establishment in the city. It’s imposing entrances, grand ballrooms, and bombastic skyline signage were icons of Richmond’s then vibrant Grace Street corridor. The area was home to boutiques, restaurants, and department stores that attracted visitors …

The Renaissance

Architect: Jackson C. Gott Date: 1888-1893 Address: 101-107 West Broad Street Conceived by a planning, financing and laboring of over 40 years by the Virginia Masons, the former Masonic Temple is impossible to miss on Broad Street. It is Richmond’s clearest manifestation of Richardsonian Romanesque, an American style characterized by a robust geometry and massing, …

Virginia Commonwealth University Cary Street Gym

Architect: Wilfred E. Cutshaw Date: 1891 Address: 101 S. Linden St. 2010 renovation and expansion by Moseley Architects (lead), Smith+McClane Architects (exterior) and Hastings+Chiverta Architects (consulting) There may be no more popular building on the Virginia Commonwealth University Monroe Park campus than the Cary Street Gym on the southern edge of the sprawling grounds. This …

Lewis F. Powell, Jr. United States Courthouse

Architect: Ammi B. Young; renovations and additions by Mifflin E. Bell, James Knox Taylor, James A. Wetmore Dates: 1858; renovations and additions in 1889, 1912, 1932 Address: 1000 E. Main St Originally used as the Customs House and Post Office of Richmond, the Lewis F Powell Jr. Courthouse occupies half of a block downtown, directly …