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Monday, July 16, 2012

The Jefferson Hotel - 1915

The Jefferson Hotel was only about 20 years old when this picture was taken around 1915.

Click the photo below for the high resolution image.

Photo courtesy of The Library of Congress

4 comments:

  1. I wonder what the building to the left of the Jefferson was? Long gone now, as there seems to be a parking lot and an entrance over there.

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  2. The building to the left was the Archer Anderson house, built in 1815, enlarged and remodeled in the 1890's. It was torn down to make room for the present Franklin Street entrance court of the hotel

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  3. Thanks for the info. Though, in the small bit of info I've found about the house, it seems that it stood until 1970 and was then demolished? I thought by that time we'd started to learn not to demolish historic buildings that happened to be "in the way" of something. Kind of ironic that a hotel that is today one of the very well preserved examples of 19th century architecture would, in its not-too-distant past, be responsible for the destruction of a grand home that was at the time 155 years old. Even if it was in poor repair (and I have no indication of whether it was or wasn't) still somewhat astonishing.

    I suppose that's not the only example in the area though. For what I've heard termed as "once one of Richmond's most fashionable residential neighborhoods" there seem to be an unfortunately high number of 70's high-rises and parking lots in comparison to the remaining residential structures.

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  4. Unfortunately, "Urban Renewal" was the way of many US cities until the 1980s. And by Urban Renewal they meant "tear down anything old."

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