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Capitol
Square
District Boundaries: 9th Street to Governor Street & Broad
Street to Bank Street
Virginia's
State Capitol was moved from Williamsburg to Richmond in 1779.
Shockoe Hill was selected as the new location, providing the Capitol
with a panoramic view of the James River. It was the dominating
feature of Richmond's cityscape until the construction of the
tall buildings that today surround the square. When the Capitol
building was occupied in 1788 the grounds were ungraded and crisscrossed
with gullies and overgrown with vines. In 1816, Maximilian Godefroy
was chosen to landscape the square. During this time the cast-iron
fence that still encircles the grounds was put into place. This
fence is one of the earliest and largest surviving cast-iron fences
in the country. In 1850, John Notman was selected to redesign
the grounds. His design reflected the taste of the day for natural
and romantic landscapes. He added the fountains and wide, curving
paths. His ideas are the basis for the grounds today.
| State
Capitol
Capitol Square, 1785-1792
Architects: Thomas Jefferson & Charles-Louis Clerisseau
Neo-Classical.
While in France, Jefferson was inspired by the first-century
Roman temple "La Maison Carree" in Nimes. Jefferson,
an amateur architect, enlisted the help of Clerisseau, an
expert on ancient buildings. Clerisseau directed the creation
of a plaster model for the new building and Jefferson drew
plans. The front steps and wings were added in 1906. The
exterior is stucco on brick. The Capitol is the first full-scale
building in the form of a classical temple since antiquity. |
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1001
East Broad Street
Old City Hall, 1887-1894
High Victorian Gothic. Elijah E. Meyers, architect.
In complete contrast to Jefferson's calm, classical Capitol,
this building is a paean to Victorian architecture. Its
highly articulated roof-line explodes with turrets, towers
and finials. The building is made of Richmond granite. The
interior is as highly decorated as the exterior and contains
cast iron stairs and arcades made by Richmonder Asa Snyder.
Threatened by demolition in the 1970s, the building was
aquired by the state and leased to Historic Richmond Foundation.
The Foundation sublet the building to developers who have
created office spaces. |
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East Franklin Street
Stewart-Lee House, 1844
Greek Revival. Built by wealthy merchant Norman
Stewart. Robert E. Lee's family lived in the house during
a portion of the Civil War. The general resided here for
two months after Appomattox. Once part of a row of town
houses in a residential neighborhood, this is the lone survivor.
It has been renovated for use as office space.
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219-223
Governor Street
Morson's Row, 1853
Italianate. Built as rental property by James Morson, this row of bowfront town houses is the only remaining evidence of the residential neighborhood that once surrounded Capitol Square. The buildings now contain state offices. |
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The
Governor's Executive Mansion
Capitol Square, 1811-1812
Neo-Classical.
Designed by Alexander Parris, noted Boston architect. It is
the oldest continuously inhabited governor's mansion in the
country built for that purpose. In 1906 an oval dining room
was added on the back of the house. The mansion survived the
evacuation fire of 1865 and a Christmas tree fire in 1926.
The surviving outbuilding, the kitchen and servants' quarters
have been restored. The mansion recently underwent a $5 million
interior and exterior renovation. |
800 East Grace Street
St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, 1835
Classical Revival. The paired Doric columns on the portico emphasize the church's tall proportions. The early congregation consisted of Irish and German immigrants who worked on the canal. This building served as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond until 1905. |
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815 East Grace Street
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 1844-1845
Greek Revival. The locally-made cast-iron fence and Corinthian capitals are wonderfully ornate. The interior boasts elegant plaster work on the ceiling and Tiffany stained glass windows.
Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis worshipped here.
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Historic Richmond Foundation - The William Byrd Branch of APVA
Preservation Virginia
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