Robinson House, also known as The Grove, Main Building, and Fleming Hall, is a historic home located in Richmond, Virginia.
Robinson House | |
 Robinson House in 2016 | |
   | |
| Location | 200 North Blvd., Richmond, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°33′25.6″N 77°28′27.0006″W / 37.557111°N 77.474166833°W |
| Area | Less than 1 acre |
| Built | c. 1845-1859, 1884 |
| Architect | Fleming, Robert I. |
| Architectural style | Italianate |
| NRHP reference No. | 13000993[1] |
| VLR No. | 127-0741 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | December 24, 2013 |
| Designated VLR | October 1, 2013[2] |
Description edit
The house is located on the present-day campus of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) and on property that also bears the designation of the R. E. Lee Camp Confederate Memorial Park. It is a three-story, 7,900 square foot, brick Italianate style building.
History edit
Originally built in the late 1820s by Richmond banker Anthony Robinson Jr. (1792-1861) as a modest one-story summer home, it was expanded in the late 1850s to a two-story mansion for year-round residency by the Robinson family. In late 1884 it was sold along with 36 acres by Robinson's son, Channing, to the newly formed R. E. Lee, Camp No. 1, Confederate Veterans organization to create a home for indigent and disabled veterans. The R. E. Lee Confederate Soldiers’ Home, funded primarily by the Commonwealth of Virginia after 1892, grew to a large complex of over 30 buildings, including residential cottages and a hospital. Robinson House—then called Fleming Hall for the architect/donor who contributed the third floor and pyramidal belvedere in 1886—served as the home's administration building, library, and war museum. When the Soldiers’ Home closed in 1941, the Commonwealth of Virginia transferred the care of the building to the state Department of General Services, and, in 1993, to VMFA which still owns and maintains it today.[3] After extensive renovations the refurbished house now features a Richmond regional tourism center and a history exhibition, open to the public daily, admission free.[4]
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Virginia Landmarks Register in 2013.[1]
See also edit
Further reading edit
- Elizabeth L. O'Leary, Across Time: The History of the Grounds of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond: VMFA, 2019).
References edit
- ^ a b "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 12/23/13 through 12/27/13. National Park Service. 2014-01-03.
- ^ "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Robinson House" (PDF). Elizabeth L. O’Leary, Marc Wagner, and Kelly Spradley-Kurowski. Virginia Department of Historic Resources. July 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "Robinson House Reopens at VMFA after Extensive Renovation and Expansion - VMFA Press Room". www.vmfa.museum. Archived from the original on 2021-04-10.
External links edit
Media related to Robinson House (Richmond, Virginia) at Wikimedia Commons
