Asa Snyder & Co. Proprietors. Thirty-five years ago this establishment was founded by the late Asa Snyder in a very moderate way, but it gave genuine evidence of enterprise from the start, and in a few years it became a noted landmark of business industry. War, fire, and financial strife, have battered at its doors, but it still stands a monument to the enterprise of its founder.
[AAA] — advertisement for Snyder & Irby’s architectural ironworks
Its contributions to the trade reflect the greatest credit on the mechanical skill of those employed in its several constructive departments. They find a large and steady demand from Virginia and West Virginia, North and South Carolina, for their beautiful and reliable goods of architectural designs. They employ sixty hands, and have a cupola capacity for making five tons of castings per hour.
Their specialties are all kinds of galvanized, cast and wrought iron used in building, which embraces vault doors, elevators,. fence and balcony railings, verandas, skylights, cornices, window hoods, steeples, &c. They are also manufacturers of Hayes’ Patent Skylight, Hyatt’s Patent Area Light, for which they control Virginia.
(Chronicling America) — advertisement for Asa Snyder & Co. — The Jewish South — Friday January 13, 1899
Messrs. Asa K. Snyder and Benj. J. Atkins comprise the present firm of Asa Snyder & Co. They were both members of the firm at the time of the death of Mr. Asa Snyder, in 1884, and have continued under the same firm name.
(Virginia Memory) — letterhead for Architectural Iron Works, Asa Snyder & Co.
Mr. Asa K. Snyder was born and raised here, and was brought up in the iron trade. He is also in the pig iron and foundry supply brokerage business.
Mr. Atkins resides in Manchester. He has been connected with this house for twenty years, and has been a partner in the concern since 1877. [IOR]
Snyder may have been well-known, but he was not the biggest game in town.
Mention has been made of the three great iron works here, the Tredegar, the Old Dominion and the Richmond Locomotive Works, employing probably 2,500 hands between them. Of this class, there are, besides, two big stove works, the Richmond Spike Works and the Johnson forge, for car axles, in Manchester; electric light, and electrical construction companies and establishments, and half a dozen carriage and wagon and agricultural implement works, of more than local note and business, not to mention the minor shops and smithies that are here in scores. [RVCJ93]
Despite this, Snyder’s work was arguably longer-lived and more visible than any of the big three.
March 2020 — Asa Snyder ironfronts on the J. P. Winston Building, which as originally 101-107 South Fourteenth Street, no matter Kaplan Voekler Cunningham & Frank PLC’s current address
A number of partial facades were provided by Richmonder Asa Snyder. Snyder, along with the constellation of firms associated with his name, seems to have had several standard designs. Several buildings used a squared-off, classical colonnade with capitals made up of what looks like slightly over-ripe fruit. Others used a more geometrically precise rectangular ornament. Snyder provided a full range of architectural ornaments for his buildings which also possess cast iron window caps and cornices.
March 2020 — Asa Snyder ironfronts at Sam Miller’s — 1210 East Cary Street
Snyder also provided the ironwork for the 1871 Columbian Building, now Sam Miller’s Exchange Cafe. The building possesses galvanized cornices and cast iron window caps. The most impressive use of iron in the building is the attenuated Corinthian columns used to support the roof of the third floor Exchange Room. The Columbian Building was Richmond’s corn and grain exchange and the Exchange Room is one of the most important early commercial spaces remaining in the city.
March 2020 — Asa Snyder ironfronts at Baldwin & Jenkins — 1321 ½ East Main Street, the skinniest building in Richmond
The man got around. Or rather men. As noted above, Asa Snyder died in 1884, leaving the business to his son, Asa K. Snyder. The son himself would die in 1892 at the tender age of 32, and despite a Richmond Times advertisement from 1894, the end of the company was nigh.
March 2020 — looking towards 1008-1012 East Cary Street
The block where the foundry stood would be substantially altered with the construction of the First & Merchants National Bank Building in 1973, which eliminated the portion of Eleventh Street that used to run through it. The image above is an approximation of where Eleventh Street would have been (right), putting Architectural Iron Works somewhere in the center.
Snyder also made contributions to Old City Hall. The Shockoe Examiner has an excellent article on old spiral staircases, which includes the iron staircase in the clock tower. Good reading!
[AAA] Allison & Addison’s Handbook of the Garden, Seed Catalog, and Almanac for 1868.
[CAW] Cast and Wrought. Robert P. Withrop. 1980.
[IOR] Industries of Richmond. James P. Wood. 1886.
[RVCJ93] Richmond, Virginia: The City on the James: The Book of Its Chamber of Commerce and Principal Business Interests. G. W. Engelhardt. 1893.
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Combining protean forces from the forbidden Zero Serum with the unbridled power of atomic fusion, to better probe the Wisdom of the Ancients and their Forgotten Culture.
The rumor was bouncing around and yesterday it became official with an Instagram post. Citizen Burger is no more.
What an amazing run! After 7 years in this location, it is time for someone new to give it a go. Things have changed so much since we opened, including buying this historic building, opening new concepts in Cville, partnering on more projects here, getting married, having a kid, going through a pandemic…just about everything that can change has.
The staff here was actually some of the best I have ever seen, and anyone would be lucky to partner with them. I thank you all. Sincerely.
It’s no secret that after Covid we went through a challenging period. It was so so hard. There’s no right answer in these transition situations, nothing is real until it is already done, but I know for sure that this decision had nothing to do with this staff.
While I am proud of everyone, it would be inappropriate not to single out Ernesto Gonzalez. When you’ve been doing this a long time, you know when someone is special and is going to go far, and this is one of those people. There were so many stand outs, but Kyle, Travis, Tony, Alex, Sam, and Ruthie helped make the place. I know people were drinking during our sendoff, but they gushed about all of you and I was so proud.
A number of the staff recently announced that they have an exciting new concept in the works, an idea that will be new to Richmond and I can’t wait to see it. As I told many of you, if I had a new place right now I would pitch this entire team to move to it. I apologize for not being able to.
We also want to thank our amazingly supportive guests. Carytown has been a special place for us. Thank you so much for the support over the years.
Most of you know what we try to do here with local and responsible products, and thanking hard working local suppliers is always warranted. Our 100% grass finished Timbercreek beef is second to none. The completely natural buns from ABC are the perfect compliment to the pasture raised beef. The Mountainview farm cheese always makes me smile. And what hasn’t been said about Sugar and Salt. Lastly, the local beer support was super strong with this one. There are many more, I thank you all, we thank you all. We thank everyone.
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Vinyals Returns – Nil Vinyals came off the bench last Saturday so barring a training setback he should be in the starting lineup. With the midfielder back in action expect the midfield to look better and hopefully more in control of the ball. In theory that control should lead to more transition into attack and more goals.
Everyone Scores – So far this year seven different Kickers have scored, with midfielder João Silva leading the pack with 3. The latest goal was a beautiful Olympico but Sukow that must be seen to be believed. Don’t whine at me that it was a cross. It goes into the books as a goal and will be celebrated as such. So far 8 goals have been produced by the midfielders and defenders. Meanwhile our forwards, you know the guys paid to put the ball in the net have racked up 4 goals.
Hot Ticket – It does my jaded heart good to see the amount of support in the stands the team is getting this year. Every game so far has had over 5,000 in attendance. This is well over the 3,500 or so we averaged last year. I’m not sure what switch flipped in the community but I’m glad to see it happen. The drawback is longer lines for food and drink but the Kickers are addressing that with more trucks. If you’re looking for a drink don’t forget there are multiple beer stations you don’t have to go straight for the building in the center of the concourse.
Prediction
The Kickers had a tremendous season last year until their first playoff game. In that game, despite being a man up for the majority of the game they ended up losing to Chattanooga by a goal. The fans, coaches and certainly the players remember the night a little too well. A win would have meant hosting the Championship Game in City Stadium, instead, it ended with a crushing defeat. Revenge will be on everyone’s mind and Chattanooga is not having a great season. The Red Wolves sit in second to last place and have a -8 goal differential. If ever there was a time for the Kickers to rack up some goals and get their scoring mojo flowing this is it. I predict it will happen.
Kickers 3 – Chattanooga 0
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Sea Suite Cruises RVA is thrilled to announce the launch of its latest cruise experience, Tiki Club RVA (seasuitecruises.com/tiki-club/richmond-va), officially debuting on the James River at Rocketts Landing for the summer and fall season on Saturday, June 3, 2023 — which also happens to be the start of National Fishing and Boating Week across the country. Following the success of the first season of Paddle Club RVA (seasuitecruises.com/paddle-club/richmond-va) in 2022, the team behind Sea Suite Cruises RVA is excited to bring this fun and unique recreational boating experience to residents and visitors of Richmond.
Tiki Club RVA offers a one-of-a-kind “tropical vibes” excursion on the scenic and historic James River. Step aboard the custom-built, 40-foot tiki boat, complete with bamboo trimmings, a thatched roof, and a tiki bar that you can stock with your favorite BYOB drinks and snacks. Available for private charters and public tours, Tiki Club RVA is built for 30 passengers, and accommodates both single-passenger or small group tickets as well as private parties. Similar to Paddle Club RVA, Tiki Club RVA cruises are an hour and 45 minutes in duration.
With music, drinks, and water views of nature and the city skyline, Tiki Club RVA is a memorable way to sight-see along one of Richmond’s biggest attractions – the James River – with friends or family. “With the addition of Tiki Club RVA, along with Paddle Club RVA, we can’t wait to give Richmonders even more fun and relaxing ways to soak up the sun and experience the water,” said Mike Scearce, General Manager of Sea Suite Cruises RVA.
Whether you’re looking for a day out with friends, a unique date idea, a festive way to celebrate a birthday party, an outing idea for a bachelor or bachelorette party or corporate gathering, or just want to get out on the James River, Tiki Club RVA and Paddle Club RVA are where it’s going to be in 2023.
ABOUT SEA SUITE CRUISES: Sea Suite Cruises co-founders Jack Maher and Jack Walten (“The Jacks,” as they are known) were born and raised in Arlington, Va. and have been best friends since they were two years old. The business-side of their journey began in 2018 when the then 24-year-old Jack and Jack launched Potomac Paddle Club, the first pontoon “cycleboat” in Washington, D.C. After adding more boats in Washington, D.C., they built on their success further in 2022 by partnering with local Richmond-based investors to launch Paddle Club RVA and form the parent company, Sea Suite Cruises. Sea Suite Cruises’ mission is to connect exciting people in exciting places around a suite of water-based offerings. After a successful first year in Richmond, the company has now expanded to further locations in the Mid-Atlantic such as The Wharf, Navy Yard, and Alexandria, Va. in the D.C. area, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and Annapolis.
CRUISE DETAILS: Group Size: Up to 30 people (available for both single ticket purchases or to rent the entire boat for a private party) Duration: 1 hour and 45 minutes
PRICING*: Monday-Wednesday: $40/Person Thursday: $45/Person Friday-Saturday: $55/Person Sunday: $50/person *Pricing may change for holiday weekends and special events
PICKUP + DROPOFF LOCATION: 4708 Old Main St, Richmond, VA. 23231 | On the dock at Rocketts Landing beneath The Boathouse restaurant and Island Shrimp Co.
MISC: — Bathroom: The vessel comes equipped with a private bathroom on board — Boat is equipped with Bluetooth-speakers, party lighting for night cruises, and built-in coolers + ice — Tiki Boat RVA tours are BYOB (hard liquor not allowed, only beer, wine, seltzer, or canned cocktails) — All cruises are staffed by a licensed master captain and deckhand
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![[IOR] — looking toward the northwest corner of Eleventh & Cary Streets](https://rvahub.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Architectural-Iron-Works-2.jpg)
![[AAA] — advertisement for Snyder & Irby’s architectural ironworks](https://rvahub.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Architectural-Iron-Works-3-416x683.jpg)
![[IOR] — Tanner and Delaney Engine Company which became Richmond Locomotive & Machine Works after a hostile takeover in 1887](https://rvahub.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Architectural-Iron-Works-4-1024x622.jpg)
