Delta Hotels by Marriott Richmond Downtown, built as Crowne Plaza Hotel in 1986, is a knife-edged red high-rise squeezed between East Canal Street and a Downtown Expressway on-ramp. The building’s shape is dictated by the odd shape of the site. The striking ribbon-windowed design was described as “architecturally ingenious in how it squeezes a big […]
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One James River Plaza was built in 1979 by Virginia Power & Electric Company. The utility changed its name to Dominion Resources in 1983 and Dominion Energy in 2017. Their International style headquarters was quite similar to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, a block south across Kanawha Plaza and built the same year. After
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Westrock-CoStar Building was erected in 2009 by paper/packaging firm MeadWestVaco as its new corporate headquarters. The company later changed its name to WestRock, and leased space in its HQ to CoStar, a real estate company. CoStar has since purchased the building, and announced plans to build a 26-story skyscraper next door. That structure would become
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Richmond’s Old City Hall is an architectural and, to a degree, governmental landmark. The winning design was scrapped because the $300,000 cost was deemed too expensive. The city then accepted a more modest proposal from a different architect, only to reverse course again to build Elijah Myers’ Gothic design. The actual cost wound up more
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VCU Children’s Pavilion got mixed reviews (see links below), but I was fascinated by the way it reflected and fractured the sky and neighboring buildings. It’s dynamic abstract art that changes with the sun, clouds and your own motion. Do the top and bottom clash? Do the odd angles annoy? You be the judge. Name:
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Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is among Richmond’s tallest buildings, and visually a near-twin of Dominion Energy’s One James River Plaza building, which was demolished in 2020. The skyscraper was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the architect who designed New York’s ill-fated World Trade Center towers. Interesting factoid: Almost half of the building’s total square footage,
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Virginia Housing is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing affordable housing. I haven’t found any details about their headquarters on Gambles Hill. Name: Virginia Housing Location: 601 South Belvidere Street Style: Postmodern Google Map All images copyright © Kenneth Grant / photos taken October 2019 with Canon 5D Mark iv
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Institute for Contemporary Art, aka Markel Center, is part of the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Monroe Park Campus. The ultra-modern design is also ultra-environmentally conscious, with green roofs, geothermal heating and cooling, and glass insulating walls combined with recycled metal panels. Name: Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU, Markel Center Location: 601 West Broad Street
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Railroad Branch YMCA was built by the railroads, next to the Main Street Station, to give railroad workers a wholesome alternative to the flop houses and bordellos of what was then a red light district. It has been converted to a pub/restaurant (City Bar & Chop House) and apartments (Railroad-Y Lofts). Name: Railroad Branch YMCA
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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
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