First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory

First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory

First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory, March 2011
Location 122 W. Leigh St., Richmond, Virginia
Coordinates 37°33′0″N 77°26′30″W / 37.55000°N 77.44167°W / 37.55000; -77.44167Coordinates: 37°33′0″N 77°26′30″W / 37.55000°N 77.44167°W / 37.55000; -77.44167
Area less than one acre
Built 1895 (1895)
Architect Cutshaw, Wilford Emory
Architectural style Late Victorian
NRHP Reference # 09001158[1]
VLR # 127-5676
Significant dates
Added to NRHP December 23, 2009
Designated VLR September 17, 2009[2]

First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory, also known as the Leigh Street Armory, Monroe School, and Monroe Center, is a historic armory building located in Richmond, Virginia. It was built in 1895, and is a two-story. Late Victorian style brick structure. It features four brick towers, two circular turrets, a rectangular tower over the center front entrance, and a square tower, with crenellation along the roof parapet. The interior was rebuilt after a fire in 1985, and a 1940s gymnasium removed in 1998. The building originally housed the armory for an African-American militia company until 1899. It then housed a school for African-American children until World War II, when it again was used as a reception center for servicemen of color. It returned as a school for Africa-American children until 1954 and desegregation. For a period it housed The Black History Museum of Richmond. It is the oldest of three identified African-American armories in the country. It is currently home to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, which finished construction in May 2016.[3]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  3. ↑ Selden Richardson (May 2009). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. and Accompanying four photos


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