This week our Architecture City Guide heads to Richmond, Virginia. Admittedly, it was Richmond’s pair of Cinderellas in this year’s NCAA Tournament that first caught our attention. However, with our interest peaked, we spent the last week exploring its architecture and found much to be admired. Richmond is by far the smallest city we have featured; with only 200,000 residents, the next closest on our list is twice its size. Architecturally, this Cinderella city can compete in her own way with the architectural powerhouses we have previously featured. Richmond’s architectural appeal comes from the city’s ability to keep its rich historic fabric intact while experimenting with new modes of design. While the city strongly embraces the gritty manufacturing buildings of its past, Richmond has resisted the imitation trap and has promoted modern interpretations of the older forms and materials. The majority of the buildings we chose to feature are emblematic of Richmond architecture, rehab/addition projects. We couldn’t possibly fit all our favorites in our list of twelve, so please take a look and add ones that visitors should not miss in the comment section below.
The Architecture City Guide: Richmond list and corresponding map after the break!
- Dovetail Construction Company Headquarters / Walter Parks | Architect
- Richmond City Hall / SMBW Architects
- Library of Virginia / Skidmore Owings & Merrill
- UNOS Building / SMBW Architects
- Richmond CenterStage / Wilson Butler Architects
- Tredegar Iron Works / 3 North
- VCU Brandcenter / Clive Wilkinson Architects with Baskervill
- Virginia War Memorial / Samuel J. Collins
- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts / Rick Mather Architects with SMBW
- Richmond Ballet / BCWH Architects
- MWV Headquarters / MSTSD
- WRVA Building / Philip Johnson
