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Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont » Richmond Metropolitan Area » Franklin Street from Capitol Square to Monroe Park » Woman's Club (Bolling Haxall House)

Woman's Club (Bolling Haxall House)

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Bolling Haxall House
1858. 1915, auditorium addition, Carneal and Johnston. 1984, renovation, Wright, Cox and Smith. 1999, interior, C. Dudley Brown. 211 E. Franklin St. Open on request

Who designed this sophisticated Italianate building for Bolling Haxall, one of Richmond's leading businessmen just before the Civil War, remains a puzzle. Obviously it was someone very up to date, possibly an out-of-town architect, though the local builders George and John Gibson have been credited with the design. The central bay projects slightly from the main facade and is set off by a one-story entrance portico with Roman Doric columns. The central bay rises to an ebullient arch at the roofline. A cupola tops the roof. Highly ornate cast ironwork adorns the small balconies that accentuate the main floor and the window caps, and is used in the elegantly patterned fence that runs along the sidewalk. Inside, the rear ballroom, built in 1915 for the Woman's Club, is furnished in a highly decorative, Greek-inspired Beaux-Arts classical style. Much of the interior has been restored.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Richard Guy Wilson et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

St. Alban's Hall
Media General Building
Richmond Public Library
Linden Row Inn (Linden Row)
Media General (Richmond NewsLeader Building, Richmond TimesDispatch Building)

Citation

Richard Guy Wilson et al., "Woman's Club (Bolling Haxall House)", [Richmond, Virginia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-01-RI156.

Print Source

Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont, Richard Guy Wilson and contributors. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, 220-221.

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