Johnson Hall was built in 1915 as the Monroe Terrace Apartments, designed by Alfred C. Bossom in neo-Gothic style. Now used as a dormitory by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), it was excluded from the overlapping Monroe Park Historic District and the Western Franklin Street Historic District. The building’s crown has been drastically simplified from the […]
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Cathedral of the Sacred Heart is said to be the world’s only cathedral financed by a single donation – that of industrialist Thomas Fortune Ryan and wife Ida Barry Ryan. Ryan family members are interred alongside Richmond bishops in the crypt below the cathedral’s altar. Together with the Bishop’s Residence, Priest’s House and supporting structures,
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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,
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St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is a landmark place of worship, used by Confederate President Jefferson Davis and General Robert E. Lee. The church used to have extensive memorials to the Confederacy, but most have since been removed. Architecture Richmond notes that the church provides “a virtual museum of late 19th century stained glass. Works are
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Egyptian Building is one of Richmond’s architectural treasures. Architecture Richmond says it best: “It’s facade is not merely an Egyptian entry sutured onto a neoclassic building but rather a complete Egyptian expression. Its obelisk gate, battered walls, papyrus columns, monumental windowless surfaces, and harsh contrast between shadow and highlight create a convincing Egyptian effect.” Name:
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Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles headquarters, a massive block of white concrete and black glass, is next door to the Science Museum of Virginia – quite a contrast in styles. And, true to its function, VDMV is set amid acres of blacktop parking. Name: Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles Location: 2300 West Broad Street Year
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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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