Scott Shipp Hall (c1918), is one of the core academic classroom buildings at the Virginia Military Institute. This facility, originally constructed in 1918 and expanded in 1955, serves the Institute’s academic programs in the Liberal Arts including the departments of English, International Studies, Economic/Business, Modern Languages, and History. With the Corp of Cadets growing at VMI, G&HA was commissioned to complete a rehabilitation and expansion of the facility, including renovation and rehabilitation of approximately 66,840-square-feet, and a five-story 28,000-square-foot addition. Work included a complete redesign of the 1955 wing while restoring much of the original 1918 character. The new addition is designed with a compatible Gothic Revival style to match the original structure and the overall character of VMI’s academic facilities.
The building includes five stories on a heavily sloping site and is located on a key corner of the main access road through the Post. Among the challenges in the project included developing a phasing plan to allow a portion of the building to remain operational for classes throughout the project construction. The compact site area also required careful design consideration to integrate the facility and create better accessibility for the facility, without impacting the adjacent Letcher Avenue or overwhelming surrounding facilities. The facility includes the addition of new classrooms, interactive learning spaces, faculty offices, a photo lab, and significant new space for Cadet study areas. A new Front Entry Terrace will serve as the review stand for Cadet leadership to review the daily parade of Cadets down Letcher Avenue. New technology has been integrated throughout the project to provide state-of-the-art learning spaces for the next generation of VMI Cadets.
In the revitalized downtown district of Roanoke Virginia, Glavé & Holmes Architecture worked with Balzer & Associates to design the adaptive re-use of an iconic 1910 bank building. 52 keys will be built into this 8-story building of just under 40,000-square-feet and includes a grand lobby space with a bar, lounge, and social space. G&HA built off of the identity of the structure, integrating historic bank-oriented design accents into contemporary and elegant guest rooms. With details varying from “bank passbook” room cards to local Roanoke signage, a unique experience welcomes each guest.
The grand lobby has been reimaged as a new destination in Roanoke for coffee, cocktails, and light meals. While the project does not accommodate a full-service kitchen, we worked with local restaurateurs to develop a menu that cooperates with the local food and drink scene, rather than compete with it. We continue to work with the development team and with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources on this tax-credit-eligible project.
Designed by architect Stanford White and constructed in 1909, Carr’s Hill is home to the President of the University of Virginia and provides meeting and entertainment space for University events. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register, this signature historic property has been renovated for the first time. Glavé & Holmes, in collaboration with Associated Architects John G Waite Associates, prepared a feasibility study to provide programming and a site study for a new entertainment pavilion. The study included site analysis, massing studies and the development of a site plan. The team was subsequently awarded the full project to restore the exterior and interior of the historic house, as well as provide outdoor event space.
The renovation work was designed and executed to high preservation standards and in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. The landscape was also sensitively redesigned to support events in an unobtrusive way. The goal was to minimize permanent change to significant features of the buildings and site while making it more functional for modern use. Restoration design was also completed for the out-buildings located on the Carr’s Hill site.
Carr’s Hill was awarded first place for Historic Preservation at the IIDA Virginia & West Virginia Chapter/ASID IDEAS Awards, AIA Virginia’s Excellence in Design Historic Preservation Honor Award as well as the Historic Preservation Merit Award from AIA Richmond. This project is LEED Certified.
THE VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS engaged Glavé & Holmes for the complete rehabilitation of the Robinson House, originally erected ca. 1820 as a family farmhouse. The structure was converted into the R.E. Lee Camp No. 1 before it became part of the VMFA in 1964. The museum’s goal was to restore the facility and adapt it for use as a regional visitor center. The Robinson House was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 and is one of the oldest buildings in the Boulevard Historic District of Richmond. The reimagined building houses the Richmond Region Tourism Center, VMFA’s Human Resources Division, and a first-floor gallery featuring an exhibition about the story of the site from the 17th century to the present.
The project has added 3,200 additional square feet to the original 7,600- square-foot structure. The addition complements the former home’s style and introduces an accessible entrance. The expansion houses an elevator, stairway, and three floors of glass-enclosed porches that connect to the original structure. Interior work included restoring the space to reflect historical accuracies. New mechanical and electrical systems are among other building updates.
Poised on the northern edge of campus, the new Admissions Office & Visitor’s Center at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia is designed to sensitively respond to two different contextual fabrics: Longwood’s campus and the Town of Farmville. This building site was strategically chosen because it is directly across High Street from Ruffner Hall, the honorific “old main” of the campus. As the only University-commissioned building on the north side of High Street, it serves as an intentional hinge between town and gown, institution and neighborhood.
Longwood University also commissioned the architectural team to design a monument to the expansion of American liberty. It celebrates the consequential history of Farmville, and honors founding father Patrick Henry, the freed-slave community of Israel Hill, and courageous Civil Rights pioneer Barbara Johns, along with the generation of students who sacrificed years of public education in their legal fight to defeat school segregation.
The building extends the University’s Jeffersonian Classical tradition, offering a recognizable front door to the campus experience and making a strong visual connection with the character of the historic campus. The building’s scale, massing, and details also respond to the adjacent historic residential fabric. The building’s wings, pitched slate roof and chimneys evoke a residential quality and a welcoming first impression, while the main “house” draws upon Palladian-Jeffersonian inspired civic proportions which relate to the scale of the historic campus.
On the interior a dramatic double-height space greets visitors while flanking sitting areas, each with fireplace, provides a more intimate setting. Expressive detailing and visual displays introduce potential new students to Longwood’s history and mission. Two presentation rooms provide a place for Longwood to address prospective students and their families. Overall, the building communicates the school’s vision to ‘develop citizen leaders prepared to make positive contributions to the common good.’
THE NATIONAL D-DAY MEMORIAL is located on a 50 acre site in Bedford, Virginia. G&HA was commissioned by the National D-Day Memorial to assist in coming up with a conceptual master plan for the complex. The site consists of a well-developed, landscaped memorial, serviced by several utilitarian structures originally intended to be temporary in nature. The Memorial is beautifully conceived, but the visitor experience is diminished by the quality of the support structures, lack of clear organization, and a lack of indoor space.
The goal of the Master Plan is to plan for the evolution of the property and its development to become the center for learning and teaching. As a result, the Master Plan considers prospects for new enhancements including an education center, visitor services, a welcome center, event facilities, service areas, and additional exhibition space. G&HA went through a six month planning process, including research, design charrettes, discussion with key stakeholders, design and analysis of multiple alternatives for future development and enhancements. Our team analyzed existing code and site restrictions and the existing structures to determine viable options. The next phase prepared conceptual designs, including a site plan, as well as general cost estimates for the various options.
THE VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS holds one of the foremost collections of Fabergé objects outside of Russia with over 150 pieces including five Imperial Easter eggs. Previously housed in a much smaller square room, the redesign of the Fabergé Gallery celebrates this significant collection by expanding and reorganizing the collection into five gallery spaces. Each of the gallery spaces showcases specific assortments from the collection, from enamels to hardstones to Russian icons. These are housed largely in recessed picture window display cases. The Imperial Easter eggs are the centerpiece of the new permanent exhibit at the museum. Arranged in a round room, the eggs are displayed in individual cases so that the visitors might appreciate the intricate splendor of these objects from all sides.
The architecture of the space was designed to support the detailed quality of the objects, articulating the space with a classical motif of painted columns, cornice and trim. The detail of the trim work increases as you move through the exhibit, from simply wainscoting and cornice in the entry galleries to engaged doric pilasters and pedestals in the interior galleries. The detail grows to its maximum crescendo with three-quarter round fluted doric columns and an intricately detailed chair rail in the central round egg gallery. The central gallery is accentuated with a shallow, elliptical dome ceiling, bearing out some of the same drama that is revealed with the Fabergé eggs themselves when they are opened and unfolded. The simple color palette, warm stained wood floors, and symmetry throughout the galleries serve to complement the objects themselves and celebrate their artistry. The architecture of the galleries was designed in close collaboration with the Virginia Museum of Fine Art’s curators, lighting designer, and exhibition design staff to create an inspiring exhibition. Opened in October 2016, the result has been a dramatic success for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and their permanent collections.
Photos: Travis Fullerton © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
FORT MONROE is a National Monument managed by the Fort Monroe Authority (FMA) in collaboration with the National Park Service (NPS). Glavé & Holmes Architecture recently completed the conversion of Building 138 at Fort Monroe into a new Visitor Center. Building 138, also known as Wisser Hall, was originally built in 1909 as a military library and is a contributing structure to the Fort Monroe National Historic Landmark District.
This project is a unique example of a State and Federal collaboration at this significant historic site. The Visitor Center welcomes visitors to Fort Monroe and orients them to the significant history of this property in addition to providing a welcome center for NPS staff to greet visitors to the National Monument. As a key component of the new permanent exhibit, this building tells the story of the arrival of the first African slaves in the continental U.S. to the site of Fort Monroe (Point Comfort) in 1619 and connects that story to the “Contraband of War” decision in 1861 that eventually led approximately 10,000 enslaved people to obtain their emancipation at Fort Monroe. The visitor center builds upon the additional historical exhibits in the Casemate Museum and entices visitors to the museum using the postern gate into the original masonry Fort. The new Visitor Center contains visitor facilities, a staffed visitor desk, exhibits, classrooms and archival storage space. A new addition makes the building fully accessible, by adding a new elevator and grade level entry for visitors.