Architect: Charles M. Robinson
Date: 1915
Address: 201 East Brookland Park Boulevard
Richmond Community is a public high school for gifted students in Richmond’s North Side. Their building was originally home to Chandler Middle School. In 1960, Chandler became the first public school in Richmond to racially integrate. Richmond Community boasts another first; founded in 1977, it was the first public high school for the gifted in America to focus on minority and low income students. Community, as its known colloquially, has achieved notoriety for its high academic standards in a number of national rankings.
The school was designed in 1915 by architect Charles M. Robinson, who moved his practice from Pittsburgh to Richmond where he spent the majority of his career. Robinson was a dedicated educational architect. He designed more than 400 public schools and worked on university campuses such as University of Richmond, William and Mary, and Virginia State. Robinson also designed Winthrop Manor, formerly the John B. Cary Elementary School, in Richmond’s Byrd Park.
Richmond Community exhibits one of Robinson’s most used modes of design, reserved neoclassicism. Monumental stone columns engage a tan brick wall topped with a cornice completing a faithfully rendered greek ionic order. The clock in the entrance pediment presumably informs students if they have arrived late, affording them much needed time to prepare excuses. Its imposing scale is unlike anything on its stretch of Brookland Park Boulevard, an important mixed use corridor running east-west through North Side. The contrast is a pleasant one. Community has occupied the building only since 2009, but hopefully the school can help anchor a successful revitalization of the well worn boulevard.
D.OK.
Photographs by author
Write a Comment