Virginia House - Details

This is the home stretch at the Virginia House, just some lovely images of details within the house. After this I'll be back to regular content about my comparatively sad little hovel of a home. Enjoy because you won't be seeing anything as lovely in my place!

Leaded stained glass window

Elaborate wooden clock in the Great Hall

Three-quarter suit of ceremonial armor from 1681, also displayed in the Great Hall

 

19th c. Spanish rolled iron sconce/lamps with shades constructed of pages from a 18th c. choir book.

Brass light switches

Detailed wooden chair (origin unknown to me)

Adorable green wooden leafed kitchen table and uniquely shaped chairs




Built-in shoe closet in Virginia Weddell's powder room w/ examples of shoes from the 1920's

Images: My own photographs

Virginia House - The Rooms

Virginia House

Main Floor

The Great Hall

Withdrawing room with oak paneling and coffered plaster ceilings


Withdrawing room

Amazing fireplace outside the Withdrawing room


Dining room

Kitchen sink #1

Kitchen sink #2

Second Floor





The Library



Alexander Weddell's bedroom and study

My favorite room; however, the pic of the other side was blurry. Sorry.

Images: My own photographs

Virginia House - Building and Grounds

Virginia House

(Richmond News Company, K3954)

Architect: Henry Grant Morse, William Lawrence Bottomley (Loggia)

Landscape Architect: Charles Gillette

It was fascinating to find that the plan of Virginia House was based on the owner's wish that someday their home would be the headquarters of the Virginia Historical Society, who now owns and operates the structure.

Two separate houses supplied the inspiration for these roof sections


Views of the leaded glass windows

Loggia and small balcony

(Capitol News Agency, 68024)

This glass door leads from the house to the gardens shown below

Images: Historical postcards along with other historical postcards of Richmond, VA are available here ; all photographs are my own

A Proper Cup of Tea, My Lady?

This post is just a teaser. I still have over twenty pictures I need to clean up in Photoshop first but I wanted you to see where I spent my office holiday party.

Yup. Can you believe it? The Virginia House, also known as the former home of Ambassador Alexander and Virginia Weddell, is listed on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places as DHR ID #127-0255. Built in the style of European manor homes it is actually a reconstructed composite of many native English structures, spanning in age from the 12th century to 1940s Classical Revival. It is complete with medieval leaded glass windows, dark oak paneling, hidden passages, plaster coffered ceilings, and a Tudor garden. To read more about the house and its architecture, check out the 1989 National Register of Historic Places nomination here. More pictures coming soon.

* The Virginia Historical Society owns and manages the property.

This Town Is Testing Me

Another building is being "refurbished" near me, and yeah, I'm scared. How could I not be?


814 W. Broad Street

Also known as the Richmond Glass Factory since the 1950s, this is what it has looked like ever since I've been in Richmond. Lovely, wasn't it? Not. For some reason a lot of Richmond buildings were covered in this type of aluminum siding. I'm now curious about the "real" look of a lot of buildings in this town.

I can't remember when or where, but some time ago I saw a picture of what this building looked liked years ago and it was gorgeous. I'm sure I saw the picture at work but I haven't been able to track it down since. Which is bad because someone working on the new construction in that area came into work to see pictures of what this block looked like decades ago and we had none. Our pictures were from surveys taken after all of this "urban revitalization" crap was done to the facade. I gave them some organizations to get in touch with, the Virginia Historical Society, the Library of Virginia, the Historic Richmond Foundation. I SO hope they contacted them because it didn't seem that they had an architectural historian working on the project at all.

I forget to show you what the building looked like before. Here you go:

In 1952

And in 1907.

Believe it or not it was actually a electric rail station, the Richmond and Chesapeake Bay Railway station, in fact. See that great staircase through the door, all gone. And that Italian Renaissance/Beaux Arts architecture has all been hidden under stucco panels and aluminum siding for more than twenty years.

The building is part of the 2004 Broad Street Commercial Historic District's Boundary Increase on the National Register of Historic Places. More information about the building (and the district) can be found on the nomination form.

Flickr user F33 is on the case and photographing the changes being made to this building. We can watch the progress (fingers crossed) here.

Images: VA Department of Historic Resources, "Rails in Richmond" via deadlouisville's Flickrstream