Must-See RVA! — Highway Building Annex

AKA, Virginia Department of Transportation Annex
1401 East Broad Street
Built, 1961
Architects, Carneal & Johnson

Cold!

A high-rise addition to the east is connected to the original building with a bridge. [ADR]

May 2018

So says Robert Winthrop in his book Architecture of Downtown Richmond. He was speaking principally about the Virginia Department of Highways Building next door, but that’s ALL he had to say about the Annex. (He had issues with the Highways building too)

(3DWarehouse) — modeler, Jim R.

Robert Winthrop stands in the pantheon of the great Richmond Architectural Historians, right next to Mary Wingfield Scott. He is no less opinionated, and we are the richer for it, but sometimes, you have to wonder.

(Emporis)

The Annex was the last of a planned semi-circle of state office buildings, and while its early modernist style is not for everyone, it is monumental, has clean lines, strong verticals (Frank Lloyd Wright, anyone?), and just enough texture and variance to the symmetry to keep it from looking like a filing cabinet.

May 2018

It also acts as a gateway to the downtown, prominently positioned at the crest of the hill at Fourteenth Street, overlooking I-95. Considering that it still serves the greater mission of VDOT, the Annex’s location is purposeful and apt.

It does need a power wash around the parapet, but seeing how the other two VDOT building are getting makeovers, one can only hope this is coming.

(Highway Building Annex is part of the Atlas RVA Project)

Must-See RVA! is a regular series
appearing on rocket werks – check it out!