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Historic site out of options
Confederacy site's deficit is $400,000, administrator says
BY JANET CAGGIANO
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
The future looks bleak for the Museum and White House of the Confederacy.
Facing a current deficit of about $400,000, Executive Director Waite Rawls is certain the situation will only get worse.
During his presentation yesterday to a General Assembly subcommittee studying the cost and feasibility of relocating the White House and the 108-year-old museum, Rawls said the historic institution is out of options.
"We either move the White House or consign it to a fate of an alternative use or very few visitors," he said.
Museum officials are considering a move because the White House site is being swallowed up by the expansion of Virginia Commonwealth University.
When audited figures are completed in a few months, Rawls said, they will show a loss of more than $600,000 for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
Should the White House, a National Historic Landmark, stay at 12th and East Clay streets, its home since 1818, that deficit is projected to climb to $761,000 by fiscal year 2008-09. Visitation is projected to fall from 54,000 to 30,000.
Moving the White House and museum to a more accessible venue, one with ample parking and one where synergies exist with neighboring institutions, would increase the visitation forecast to 80,000 for the same period and decrease the deficit to $8,000, Rawls said.
His first choice for a new home is behind the Science Museum of Virginia. The state-owned land, he said, was at various times the site of a Civil War training camp, hospital and prisoner processing operation.
Moving might prove difficult. The White House cannot relocate without approval from the Richmond Commission of Architectural Review, Nita Parry, the commission's chairwoman, told the subcommittee. That's because the White House site has been designated an Old and Historic District.
"Relocation is an infrequently used option," she said. "There must be absolutely no other alternative."
Subcommittee members want to examine other possibilities. They have yet to hear from the City Council or the mayor.
The subcommittee will hold a public hearing Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. For information, call (804) 786-3591.
Contact Janet Caggiano at (804) 649-6157 or jcaggiano@timesdispatch.com