Being the center of Henrico Parish, St. John’s Episcopal Church and its congregation stretches back to the very beginnings of Virginia in 1611, being an offshoot of the first church in Jamestown. William Byrd II is credited with establishing Richmond with land he donated in 1733, and in 1740 he donated land for the construction of a church for Henrico Parish. Completed in 1741, St. John’s Episcopal Church is not only the oldest church in Richmond, it is the oldest wooden church in Virginia. In March 1775, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Peyton Randolph, and over 100 other prominent Virginians met in St. John’s Church to hold the Second Virginia Convention. It was during this meeting in the church that Patrick Henry delivered his famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech, cementing the church in American history. St. John’s Church continued to thrive, surviving two domestic wars and the financial fluctuations of the 19th-Century. However, the urban flight and racial segregation of the mid-20th-Century greatly reduced the number of church members and residents within the Church Hill neighborhood. In the recent decades, St. John’s Church and its surrounding neighborhood have experienced a resurgence in prominence. St. John’s Episcopal Church was designated a National Historic Landmark on January 20, 1961, designated a Virginia Landmark on June 2, 1970, and added to the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing member of the St. John’s Church Historic District on September 15, 1970.
Possibly the second-oldest home in Richmond, this historic home was constructed for the family of Adam Craig in the 1780s. At that time, Craig was a clerk in the local courts. Craig left the property - the house and lot where his family resides in Richmond - to his widow upon his death in 1808. One of Adam Craig's daughters has ties to the famous poet, Edgar Allen Poe, whose home is nearby. The Adam Craig House was saved from demolition and restored in the 1930s by a group of local citizens spearheaded by Mary Wingfield Scott, a local architectural historian. The group became a chapter of APVA and rented out the house. The house is privately owned.
The Poe Museum of Richmond, Virginia has been in operation since 1922 and was made possible by a sixteen-year effort of the Poe Memorial Association. Considered "America's Shakespeare," Poe is best known for his short stories and poetry; and established in 1906, the Poe Memorial Association sought to create a monument to the author. Sixteen years later in 1922, the Poe Museum opened to the public in Richmond’s oldest known home, the circa 1754 Old Stone House. Today, the museum holds the largest and most comprehensive collection of Edgar Allan Poe artifacts, memorabilia, and documents. The Old Stone House was designated a Virginia Landmark on October 16, 1973 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 14, 1973.
Egyptian Revival architecture is quite uncommon in the US, but Richmond’s Medical College of Virginia boasts its own Egyptian Building. Although the style chosen for this structure may seem bizarre at first, there is a perfectly logical reason behind it. When the Medical Department at Virginia Commonwealth University decided that they needed a space created for the specific purpose of medical education, architecture Thomas Somerville Stewart proposed using the Egyptian architectural style, arguing that the origins of medicine could be traced back to ancient Egypt. Specifically, he was referring to the famous Egyptian physician Imhotep, the first healer recorded in written History.
Richmond’s famous Monumental Church came into existence out of tragedy. The night of December 26, 1811, the Richmond Theatre caught fire during a theatrical performance. In all, the death toll reached 72 and included the Virginia Governor George William Smith and his wife. Richmond’s civic leaders decided to honor the deceased by erecting both a monument and a church at the location of the former theater. In 1812, the committee chose a design put forth by Roger Mills. Mills, once a student of Thomas Jefferson and draftsman for Benjamin Henry Latrobe at the time, is considered by many as the first American-born professional architect. Mills’ design combined both monument and church within a single structure, being one of the country’s earliest and most distinct examples of the burgeoning Greek Revival architecture. Notable congregants of the Monument Church were Notable members were Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, John Wickham, and John and Frances Allan, foster parents of Edgar Allan Poe. The Monumental Church survived the Civil War and continued to serve an active congregation until its de-consecration in 1965. In 1983, Historic Richmond purchased the church and has worked to restore and rehabilitate the building and surrounding property. The Monumental Church was designated a Virginia Landmark on November 5, 1968, added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 16, 1968, and designated a National Historic Landmark on November 11, 1971.
Constructed between 1886 and 1894, this High Victorian Gothic building served as Richmond's City Hall from 1894-1971. It replaced the earlier City Hall and Courthouse buildings on the same site (1816-1875) after the original hall's gallery collapsed. After an architectural competition, internationally noted Detroit architect Elijah Myers' design was chosen for the building. Today, the first floor is open to visitors, while the upper floors house offices leased by Historic Richmond.
Designed by Thomas Jefferson and in operation since 1788, this is the oldest state capitol in the United States and even predates the United States Capitol in Washington. The capitol building is the 8th home of Virginia's government which began in the colonial era with the establishment of the House of Burgesses in 1619. This building also served as the Capitol of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Capitol Square includes monuments and statues honoring Virginians such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, John Marshall, Stonewall Jackson. Newer statues honor leaders of the Civil Rights Movement such as Barbara Johns.
Constructed in 1818, what became known as the White House of the Confederacy began as a sophisticated Neoclassical style private residence constructed by Robert Mills. The City of Richmond later acquired the house and leased it to the Confederate government as the executive mansion for President Jefferson Davis. After the war, the house served as military headquarters and then a public schoolhouse. In 1896, the Confederate Memorial Literary Society saved the house from demolition and opened the Museum of the Confederacy, becoming the nation’s premiere repository for Confederate artifacts. Throughout the 20th-Century, the museum outgrew the house and a new, contemporary museum building was constructed next door to host the majority of the exhibits. In 2013, the Museum of the Confederacy merged with the American Civil War Center at Tredegar and formed the new American Civil War Museum. The goal of the new museum is to offer a wider interpretation of the war from all sides. In late Summer of 2018, the Museum of the Confederacy closed its doors in preparation for its move to the new consolidated museum at Historic Tredegar. The American Civil War Museum is set to open in 2019. The Confederate White House is remains open to the public for daily tours. The White House of the Confederacy was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960, designated a Virginia Landmark on October 15, 1966, and added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.
The Valentine, Richmond’s oldest private museum, was created in 1898 with funding, art, and artifacts donated by Mann Valentine II after his death in 1892. In addition to exhibition spaces, a Federal period mansion known as the Wickham House can be found at the museum. This house gives a glimpse into what life was like for a wealthy 19th century Richmond family. The Valentine also manages the First Freedom Center at the corner of S 14th Street and E Cary Street, the same location where Virginia's General Assembly met in the American Revolution. The First Freedom Center includes a monument and exhibits dedicated to the history of religious freedom.
The John Marshall House is located in the Historic Court End of Richmond. Built in 1790, John Marshall and his family lived in the home until his death in 1835. This historic home of the Supreme Court's most influential Chief Justice is open to the public as a Preservation Virginia historic site. Visitors to the home can enjoy guided tours and exhibits related to the influence of John Marshall and the historical significance of many of his court decisions. Visitors also have the opportunity to take a self-guided tour of the Justice Gallery, a rotating gallery space highlighting current judicial issues through exhibits and art. Marshall was a slave owner and this home and its large estate operated similarly to large plantations, yet the website for the home makes no mention of slavery in contrast to the homes of other Virginians of the Founding generation such as Jefferson and Washington. For those who ask questions, however, the tour can include discussions about the enslaved women and men who lived at the home as well as John Marshall's legal decisions related to slavery. Visitors might also request information about Marshall's decisions related to the rights of indigenous peoples.
Otherwise known as the "Hipp," this theater was the heart of the Second Street entertainment district known as "the Deuce." The Hippodrome theater was one of Richmond's premier theaters following its 1914 opening and evolved from a vaudeville theater to a movie theater in its early decades. It was also part of the Jackson Ward district in Richmond that earned the nickname "The Harlem of the South." The theater served African American patrons and provided a dignified space for Black performers in the era of segregation. Since its establishment, the "Hipp" has survived adversity including a 1945 fire and declining business that might have spelled the end of the historic building. Thanks to local community members and preservationists, the Hippodrome operates as a restaurant and a venue for live performances and private events.
Linden Row is a set of eight Greek Revival style rowhouses constructed between 1847 and 1853. Prior to the houses’ construction, Charles Ellis owned a formal garden on the property which became famous for its rose bushes and jasmine and linden trees. A young Edgar Allan Poe became a frequent visitor to the garden, where he courted his first fiancé Elmira Royster Shelton and took influence for his poem “To Helen.” By 1853, ten rowhouses were constructed by Fleming James and Samuel and Alexander Rutherfoord. These rowhouses later served as notable schools for girls’, producing famous pupils such as Irene and Nancy Langhorne. Mary Wingfield Scott purchased the remaining eight rowhouses in 1950, and gave the property to the Historic Richmond Foundation in 1980. In 1988, the rowhouses were restored and converted into a 70-room inn renamed the Linden Row Inn, and continues to be one of the nation’s finest surviving examples of Greek Revival style architecture. Linden Row was designated a Virginia Landmark on July 6, 1971 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 23, 1971.
The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond, Virginia is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond. Consecrated in 1906, this is the only cathedral at the time whose construction is known to be entirely financed by the exclusive patronage of a single family. This cathedral is considered to be Virginia's finest ecclesiastical example of Italian Renaissance Revival style. Today, it continues to serve the Richmond parish as a place of worship, community, and ministry.
The Columbia House, also known as the Philip Haxall House, is a historic home that was constructed between 1817 and 1818. This two-story, three bay Federal-style brick dwelling is one of about ten outstanding examples from this architectural period. After its sale in 1834, it was used as the main academic building of Richmond College. From 1917 until 1954, the structure housed the T.C. Williams School of Law of the University of Richmond. The Columbia house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Registry in 1982.
Constructed in 1838 by Thomas Talley, a local grocer and former plantation owner from Hanover County, the house known as Talavera became one of the first houses constructed in Richmond’s famous Fan District. Talley’s writer daughter Susan Archer Talley, later Weiss, became friends with Edgar Allan Poe, and entertained Poe at the house during the Summer of 1849. Poe allegedly gave his last reading of his poem “The Raven” in the front parlor of the home. Conrad Frederick Sauer, founder of the C.F. Sauer Company, became the next owner of the house and prevented it from being demolished. Since then, the house was moved from Broad Street to its current location on Grace Street and saved by preservationists in the 1970s. Talavera remains privately owned and is not open to the public.
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture is operated by the Virginia Historical Society. It is the only organization dedicated to collecting and preserving all of the state's history. It houses a large collection of nine million items dating from prehistoric times to today. These include manuscripts, business and organizational records, books, photographs, newspapers, maps, weapons, and furniture. The Society was established in 1831 and is the country's fourth oldest state historical society. It features permanent exhibits, including "The Story of Virginia," in which 500 artifacts and objects are displayed—the earliest of which dates back 16,000 years—and several traveling and changing exhibits. The Society also hosts lectures, classes, tours, social events, film series, and other activities for people of all ages. The Society also operates the Virginia House, which is an English manor house that was moved to Richmond in 1925.
Built in 1928 as one of the area’s grand movie palaces, the Byrd Theatre is still used for what it was originally intended, the showing of movies on a daily basis in a palatial atmosphere. Named for one of the founders of Richmond, William Byrd II, the theatre showed its first movie on Christmas Eve of 1928 and as been doing so almost continuously ever since. Designed by Richmond architect, Fred Bishop, the Byrd features a vintage Wurlitzer Theatre Organ, Italian and Turkish marble, gilded archways and eleven crystal chandeliers. It was designated a Virginia Historic Landmark in 1978 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
Maymont is a 100-acre Gilded Age estate that was built by Major James Dooley and his wife Sallie May in 1893. The 12,000 square-foot, 33 room mansion is surrounded by numerous gardens, ponds, bridges, gates, gazebos, a nature and visitor center, various wildlife exhibits, an arboretum, and meandering walking paths. It has been open to the public since 1926 and has remained largely intact since that time. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. The grounds and gardens are open daily and the mansion offers guided tours every half-hour during normal operating hours.
The Carillon, Virginia's War Memorial for World War I, was erected by the Commonwealth of Virginia to commemorate those who served. Designed by noted Boston architect Ralph Adams Cram, it is an interpretation of the Italian campanile in Georgian classicism. A commission was formed about 1922 to study a design and a site but public campaigns altered the initial proposal and delayed construction until 1931. The tower was completed and dedicated on 15 October 1932. The Carillon reaches a height of 240 feet and its bells were originally intended to ring out patriotic concerts.
This Elizabethan home, built during the latter portion of the 15th century, once stood on the banks of the River Irwell in Lancashire, England. For hundreds of years it belonged to the Langley and Dauntesey families, until it was bought, dismantled, and shipped to the United States in the mid-1920s by businessman T.C. Williams Jr. Once in the States, the home was relocated to the banks of the James River, named after one of England's many medieval rulers. It is now a house museum that reveals what daily life was like for a wealthy, landed gentry living in Tudor England.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This driving tour of Richmond, Virginia includes stops at buildings and landmarks that offer numerous examples of unique architecture. Starting at Agecroft Hall and the Carillon, and ending at John's Church, this tour includes architectural styles ranging from to Tudor, to Victorian Gothic, to Egyptian Revival. Also included is the Virginia State Capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson in the late 1700s.
