Richmond City Hall, 1001 East Broad Street, Richmond, Independent City, Virginia

Significance: The Richmond City Hall was built in 1886 thru 1894 from the competition winning design of nationally known Architect, Elijah E. Myers (1832-1909) in 1883-1884. The building occupies an entire city block near the Virginia Capitol grounds and measures 170 feet by 140 feet. Stylistically, the structure is High Victorian Gothic, four stories in height. Its rugged silhouette has four corner towers of varying designs culminating at the northwest corner with the clock tower which rises to 195 feet. Constructed of stone, brick and cast iron, the exterior effect of the style is achieved by contrasting the texture of the locally quarried granite. The main facade of the structure faces north while the interior is organized to be entered from the west. The most notable interior feature of the structure is a rectangular skylighted courtyard, bridged across the center and surrounded by arcaded galleries. The west light well is open through the full four stories while the east is filled with the grand staircase. Almost all the original fixtures remain intact. "Among American municipal buildings of its size and style, the Richmond City Hall has no superior in similarly unaltered condition " (NHL Forum). The building is presently occupied and in the process of being adaptively reused. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.
Survey number: HABS VA-34
Building/structure dates: 1894 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1894 Initial Construction
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 69000327