Patrick Henry Building (Richmond)
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Virginia State Library
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Patrick Henry Building, August 2005
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| Location | 1111 E. Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 37°32′22″N 77°25′55″W / 37.539358°N 77.431825°WCoordinates: 37°32′22″N 77°25′55″W / 37.539358°N 77.431825°W |
| Built | 1938-40 (interior rebuilt 2003-2005) |
| Architect | Baskervill & Son; Carneal, Johnson & Wright; Alfred Morton Githens & Francis Keally. |
| Architectural style | Modernist |
| NRHP Reference # | 05000867 |
| Added to NRHP | August 9, 2005 |
The Patrick Henry Building is a historic building located in Richmond, Virginia. Formerly designated simply as the Old State Library or the Virginia State Library and Archives and Virginia Supreme Court, it was renovated, then rededicated and renamed for the founding father and former Virginia Governor Patrick Henry on June 13, 2005.
The limestone-sheathed steel-core building was built in a modernist style for government buildings sometimes called Art-Deco or Stripped Classicism. The minimal exterior ornamentation was intended to direct attention to the nearby Virginia State Capitol. The two main entrances refer to its original two functions, as do the quotations from famous Virginians inscribed on the four sides (all-caps removed; periods for original colons):
The extensive 2003-2005 renovation retained the original entrances and many inside details (such as wood paneling, marble features and copper light fixtures), but modernized the plumbing, HVAC and electrical systems (removing hazardous materials). It also replaced the library stacks which had served as supportive core for the steel-frame building with modern core amenities. Some elements of the building's expansion in 1970 were also removed.
Constructed by the Works Progress Administration during the New Deal, the building served as the home of the Virginia Supreme Court (formerly known as the Supreme Court of Appeals per the inscription above the Broad Street entrance) until it moved to the renovated former Federal Reserve Building in 1978. The entrance facing the Capitol refers to the Virginia State Library, now known as the Library of Virginia, which moved to a new building at Ninth and Broad Streets (as well as an offsite storage annex) in 1996. The Supreme Court and Library had moved from the Virginia State Library-Oliver Hill Building in 1939. This building's former reading rooms also temporarily housed Virginia General Assembly sessions in 2006 and 2007, during renovations to the Capitol.
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