Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 05/21/1974
NRHP Listing Date 11/05/1974
NRHP Reference Number 74002145
The historic core of Hollins College in Roanoke County is a complex of brick buildings enclosing a rectangular tree-shaded lawn. The school was founded in 1837 as the Roanoke Female Seminary. Charles L. Cocke took charge in 1846 and made it a leading woman’s college. Its name was changed to Hollins in 1855 to honor Mr. and Mrs. John Hollins of Lynchburg, who paid for East Dormitory, the quadrangle’s oldest building. Completed in 1858, the colonnaded structure is one of the region’s major Greek Revival works. Main Building [pictured above], at the north end, was begun in 1861. Bradley Chapel, a modified Romanesque Revival building was the school’s first post-Civil War structure. The octagonal dining hall, Botetourt Hall, was completed in 1890. West Dormitory, designed by H. H. Huggins, dates from 1900. Closing in the Hollins College Quadrangle is the 1908 neoclassical Charles L. Cocke Library, now administrative offices, designed by Frye and Chesterman of Lynchburg.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: September 20, 2022
