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Virginia's Oldest Armory Building Remains Vacant
The First Virginia Volunteers Battalion Armory, more commonly known as the Leigh Street Armory, is an enormously important building for both African-American and architectural history. Built in 1895 for an African-American military battalion of local militia, the building is the oldest armory still standing in the state of Virginia. With its turrets and parapet livened by terra-cotta crenellations, and magnificent terra-cotta band of floral decoration runs around the second story, this gem is an absolutely unique and important survivor of this era. This is one of the last unrestored major structures in the Jackson Ward neighborhood, and it represents one of the last restoration projects of this importance and scale that is still available.
INTERIOR PHOTOGRAPHS
OF THE STABILIZED ARMORY
(by Selden Richardson at the November '05 developer walk-through)
“The Leigh Street Armory is an incredible building – architecturally and historically. Its construction in 1895 for an African-American militia here, in the former capitol of the Confederacy, is a story that defies imagination. I know of no comparable building or story like this anywhere in Virginia and possibly in the United States.”
-Selden Richardson, architectural historian, Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods
This historic African-American landmark will soon - upon the selection of an approved developer - enjoy another century in Richmond's Jackson Ward neighborhood. Look for signs of renovation construction soon!