The Source for Richmond Architecture and Design Information

Markel Building

Haig Jamgochian  1962-1966 5310 Markel Road Commissioned in 1962 by the Markel Insurance Corporation, the Markel Building is one of the most distinctive pieces of corporate architecture in Richmond. It was designed by Virginia Commonwealth University professor and experimental architect Haig Jamgochian. The building’s exterior is comprised of alternating horizontal bands of windows and metal …

Richmond Public Library Main Branch

Baskervill & Son Dooley Library – 1930, Addition – 1972 101 East Franklin Street On October 13th, 1924, after more than 20 years of effort, a group of civic activists opened the Richmond Public Library. The late Major Lewis Ginter’s former home at 901 West Franklin Street served as the first location. By 1930 a …

McGlothlin Medical Education Center

Pei Cobb Freed and Partners 2013 1201 East Marshall Street Once a collection of high class antebellum town homes, Richmond’s Court End neighborhood is now totally dominated by the VCU Medical Center. Each new building has increased the scale and intensity of the area which is one of the city’s most densely built. When it …

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. …

White House of the Confederacy and Museum

Architects: Robert Mills, Petticord Associates Date: 1818, Museum and renovation 1976 Address: 1201 East Clay Street The Museum of the Confederacy’s main building, completed in 1976, was built to house the institution’s collection of confederate artifacts, the nation’s largest. The institution is the oldest museum in Richmond, founded in 1890, and includes on its grounds …

Dominion Place

Architect:  Pietro Belluschi Inc. with Jung / Brannen Associates Date: 1978 Address: 1025 W. Grace Street A stoic brutalist slab, the 12 story Dominion Place rises out of the leafy Fan District near the corner of Ryland Avenue and Grace Street. It is the closest Richmond has come to Unité d’Habitation, Le Corbusier’s famous housing …

Williams Mullen Center

  Architect: HBA Architecture Dates: 2010 Address: 200 South 10th Street The Williams Mullen Center is one of the most significant new projects in downtown Richmond in recent years. Occupying a formerly vacant site on the corner of 10th and Canal Streets, the mid-rise tower totals 15 stories. First floor retail grounds the building at …

Bank of America Center

Architect: Welton Becket Associates Dates: 1971-1974 Address: 1111 E. Main St. Still playing a role in Richmond’s skyline, the Bank of America Center was the tallest building in the city upon its completion in 1974. In addition to its height, the project is a symbol of its time in other ways. The building is an …

First Unitarian Universalist Church

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 …

Federal Reserve Bank

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 …