Leigh_Street_Armory

First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory

First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory

United States historic place

First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory, is a historic armory building located in Richmond, Virginia. It was built in 1895, and is a two-story. Late Victorian style brick structure. It also is known as the Leigh Street Armory, the Monroe School, and the Monroe Center.

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It features four brick towers, two circular turrets, a rectangular tower over the center front entrance, and a square tower, with crenellation along the roof parapet. The interior was rebuilt after a fire in 1985, and a 1940s gymnasium removed in 1998. The building originally housed the armory for an African-American militia company until 1899. It then housed a school for African-American children until World War II, when it again was used as a reception center for servicemen of color. It returned as a school for African-American children until 1954 and desegregation. For a period it housed The Black History Museum of Richmond. It is the oldest of three identified African-American armories in the country. It is currently home to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, which finished construction in May 2016.[3]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.[1]

References

  1. [1]
    "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. [2]
    "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  3. [3]
    Selden Richardson (May 2009). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. and Accompanying four photos


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