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Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont » Richmond Metropolitan Area » Downtown Riverfront » Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

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1978, Minoru Yamasaki and Associates. 701 E. Byrd St.
  • Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond (Pierre Courtois)

The headquarters for the Federal Reserve Bank's Twelfth District sits confidently like a gleaming, vertical silver radiator at river's edge. Yamasaki, who designed the Space Needle for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair and the World Trade Center in New York, created a sleek and decorative modern style very popular with corporate clients but less so with critics, who frequently panned his work. For Richmond he was perfect, and this is arguably one of Richmond's few truly impressive late twentieth-century buildings. Materials, craftsmanship, and the building's isolated parklike setting combine to create a sense of icy elegance. A pool in the front entrance court is the setting for a delicate sculpture by artist Harry Bertoia, which “hums” like soothing wind chimes.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Richard Guy Wilson et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

Riverfront Plaza
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Citation

Richard Guy Wilson et al., "Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond", [Richmond, Virginia], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-01-RI108.

Print Source

Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont, Richard Guy Wilson and contributors. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, 208-208.

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