Miller & Rhoads was a preeminent Richmond department store for a century, 1885-1990. The four-story East Broad Street building was added in 1922, expanding the Grace Street building. The then-Italian palazzo style addition was remodeled in 1933-1935 to Art Deco. The landmark department store closed in 1990 and was vacant until 2010, when it was […]
Richmond / Miller & Rhoads Read More »
Chesterfield Apartments, built in 1903 as luxury residences – and Richmond’s first high-rise apartment building – is now occupied mostly by VCU students. The landmark building is part of the West Franklin Street Historic District. The building’s distinctive features are stone sills and flat-arch lintels on all windows, 10 oriel projections, an Ionic-columned portico, and
Richmond / Chesterfield Apartments Read More »
Prestwould Condominiums is a limestone-trimmed brick high-rise designed by Alfred C. Bossom and erected in 1928. Now condominiums, the Jacobean Revival building has a crenelated tower, gables, and oriels. Prestwould overlooks the northeast edge of Monroe Park and is part of the Monroe Park Historic District. Name: Prestwould Condominiums Location: 612 West Franklin Street Year
Richmond / Prestwould Condominiums Read More »
Edison Apartments was built in 1913 as Virginia Railway and Power Company Office Building. It’s also been known as Virginia Electric & Power Building, VEPCO Building, and Railway and Power Building. The high-rise was converted to residential use in 2013/2014 as the 700 Centre Building and combined with the adjacent modern low-rise structure. Soon after,
Richmond / Edison Apartments Read More »
First National Bank Building was Richmond’s first high-rise building, according to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Surprisingly (to me, at least), this 1913 landmark was built as a bank but commissioned by a railroad, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company. The massive brick-and-stone building is an example how architects originally envisioned high-rise buildings – as
Richmond / First National Bank Building Read More »
Even Google Maps is confused about this building: Reynolds Tobacco and Reynolds Metals both built warehouses and factories alongside the Haxall Canal in the vicinity of Haxall Point. This building, though, is definitely R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Leaf Tobacco Warehouse, aka Italianate (after the architectural style), aka The Locks – part of the residential
Richmond / Italianate Building Read More »
Richmond Dairy Apartments is the adaptive re-use of a quirky dairy-cum-ice cream factory that closed its doors in 1970. The three giant milk bottles at corners of the eastern wing were conceived as a marketing tool, to promote the use of sterilized glass bottles for milk. Artists and musicians populated the building until 1990, when
Richmond / Richmond Dairy Apartments Read More »
Masonic Temple is considered Virginia’s largest and finest example of Richardsonian Romanesque construction, according to landmark documents. Originally, the building housed a department store on the ground floor, ballrooms on the second and third floors, and Masonic Lodge meeting rooms on the fourth and fifth floors. Now known as the events venue Renaissance, the landmark
Richmond / Masonic Temple Read More »
Hotel John Marshall opened in 1929 as “The Finest Hotel in the South,” and for decades reigned as the premier venue for political events. Seven presidents, from FDR to Ronald Reagan, attended functions at the John Marshall. Virginia’s outgoing governor traditionally met the governor-elect at the hotel on inauguration day. In 1985, L. Douglas Wilder
Richmond / Hotel John Marshall Read More »
Berry-Burk Building, once home of Berry-Burk clothiers, has been converted to rental apartments and a ground floor restaurant. The four-story limestone structure has a colorful terra cotta crown and fourth floor, and impressive main entry. As a bonus, the building is cater-corner from the stunning Dominion Energy Center Carpenter Theatre and just four blocks west
Richmond / Berry-Burk Building Read More »