Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 05/18/1982
NRHP Listing Date 02/17/1983
NRHP Reference Number 83003292
Dating from ca. 1853, the J. W. Wood Building is the largest and best preserved of the small number of antebellum commercial structures remaining in Lynchburg. Its cast-iron storefront is the city’s sole surviving example of its type. The manufacturer of the storefront is unknown, but it possibly was made in Richmond, which was a center of cast-iron production. Noteworthy elements of the storefront are the Corinthian pilaster capitals and the foliated ornaments in the pilaster shafts. The Italianate J. W. Wood Building is also one of the few visual reminders of the city’s bustling commercial activity of the 1850s, the decade in which Lynchburg was declared by the U.S. Census to be the country’s second richest city on a per capita basis.
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: January 20, 2023
