57 replies to this topic

[damus]

TBurban, on May 1 2006, 09:57 PM, said:

Thanks guys!  A little history on it.  It was constructed in 1894 and its style is considered Victorian Gothic, a combination not often used anymore.  It escaped two destructions, the Richmond burning in the Civil War and demolition in the mid 1900's.  Haha, thank god  

Did you mean it was built in 1794? 1894 is about 30 years too late to have been burned in the civil war....

[TBurban]

damus, on May 1 2006, 10:34 PM, said:

Did you mean it was built in 1794? 1894 is about 30 years too late to have been burned in the civil war....

Ahh, so it turns out my history is a little rough     Im pretty sure 1894 was the date, so it was after the Civil War, during the Reconstruction.  My bad about that  

[andrew.w]

Compare towers on the Richmond city hall:



...and the Grand Rapids, MI city hall built in 1888 and sadly demolished in 1969:

Edited by andrew69@ltu, 02 May 2006 - 04:08 AM.

[TBurban]

Thats a pretty even comparison, both even being built within 10 years of eachother     Its a shame it was demolished.  Here in Richmond, we're history junkies.  Our Old City Hall (the above picture) and our Main Street Station(pictured below) have been fully restored thanks to our Historical Society and Chamber of Commerce.  Our state capital is even under enovation, getting ready for 2007.



Capitol Building

Edited by TBurban, 02 May 2006 - 06:46 AM.

[Cadeho]

TBurban, on May 1 2006, 09:57 PM, said:

Thanks guys!  A little history on it.  It was constructed in 1894 and its style is considered Victorian Gothic, a combination not often used anymore.  It escaped two destructions, the Richmond burning in the Civil War and demolition in the mid 1900's.  Haha, thank god  

Um... hate to correct you, it's only been in danger of demolition once during the 60s I believe. And the Civil War ended in 1865. At that time, on that spot was the even older old City Hall designed by Robert Mills which was demolished for fear it was unstable after the 1870 floor collapse in the Capitol across the street.  While demolishing it, they found out it was superbly built and was in nowhere near danger of collapse.

I have a pic of it (and so do most Richmond history books) but I'm not sure I'm allowed to post it.

And T, why does everyone think Richmond was nearly destroyed? It wasn't, only a few blocks burned mainly near the river. There were only a few structures in one block on Franklin that were affected and that is as far north as it went.

[TBurban]

Cadeho, on May 2 2006, 11:25 PM, said:

Um... hate to correct you, it's only been in danger of demolition once during the 60s I believe. And the Civil War ended in 1865. At that time, on that spot was the even older old City Hall designed by Robert Mills which was demolished for fear it was unstable after the 1870 floor collapse in the Capitol across the street.  While demolishing it, they found out it was superbly built and was in nowhere near danger of collapse.

I have a pic of it (and so do most Richmond history books) but I'm not sure I'm allowed to post it.

And T, why does everyone think Richmond was nearly destroyed? It wasn't, only a few blocks burned mainly near the river. There were only a few structures in one block on Franklin that were affected and that is as far north as it went.

Thanks Cadeho, my history is a little rusty in the whole Civil War area.  Thats all they used to teach us in middle school, and then in high school it was nothing but world history, no VA history.  Not that Ive forgotten it or anything, just slipped my mind   Now thats thats all in the past, its not been of much use quite yet....Thanks for correcting me, I wasnt even aware that we had an even older city hall.

About the fire, I remember that part.  Mainly warehouses that were storing supplies were burned, which then spread to some other buildings.  But I couldve sworn it spread more into the city.  Aw well, dont get me started on history again, for everyones sake  

[TBurban]

Really quick, this picture is of Richmond's "burned district"  Courtesy of, The Library of Congress and the Civil War site.  Link here.



If I didnt know any better, Id say that looked a lot like a European city bombed in WWI or II.  But it's Richmond....

Edited by TBurban, 03 May 2006 - 07:40 AM.

[destijl]

andrew69@ltu, on May 2 2006, 06:08 AM, said:

Compare towers on the Richmond city hall:



...and the Grand Rapids, MI city hall built in 1888 and sadly demolished in 1969:

Both by the same architect, Elijah Myers. He also designed Michigan's Capitol building.

[1ajs]

winnipegs city hall

[BHCav]

Cotuit, on Apr 6 2004, 10:53 PM, said:

Fall River, Massachusetts City Hall

I like this one.

[MJLO]

Phoenix city Hall

[BHCav]

Tallahassee's city hall


The "new" Florida state capital building towers over the the building it replaced

[FromCityToRural]

There's a city hall or something like that in Asheville, NC I think that I really like. It's supposed to be one of the better art deco architecture pieces in the nation, if not the world...?

There's a city hall or something like that in Asheville, NC I think that I really like. It's supposed to be one of the better art deco architecture pieces in the nation, if not the world...?

[coyotetrickster]

San Francisco City Hall

Looking west across plaza and the old federal bldg/UN Plaza  Founders monument iand Homage to Simon Bolivar are the two major statues in the center

Interior shot, grand rotunda

[dan326]

19th Judicial Courthouse  

[TBurban]

More of Richmond's old City Hall

[richyb83]

Cool pic...outta ole Europe, they don't make em like that anymore !

[cheeriokid61]

Wow, I really like San Francisco's. Can't quite say the same about Winnipeg's though.