Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 11/05/1968
NRHP Listing Date 06/04/1969
NRHP Reference Number 69000351
The opulence of America’s Gilded Age was given full expression in the hotel commissioned in the 1890s by Richmond tobacconist Maj. Lewis Ginter. Ginter engaged the New York firm of Carrere and Hastings, a leading practitioner of the Beaux Arts style, and charged it to provide the finest hostelry in the South. Completed in 1895, the Renaissance Revival masterpiece, inspired by Rome’s Villa Medici, exhibits an exuberance seldom seen in commercial buildings. The magnificent interior featured a regal progression of public rooms in addition to its 342 guest rooms. A fire destroyed the south half of the building, but it was sympathetically rebuilt in 1901 by Norfolk architect J. Kevan Peebles, who replaced the original glass-and-iron court with the present Edwardian Baroque lobby and its grand stair. A comprehensive rehabilitation has returned this architectural and social landmark to its former magnificence.
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: August 10, 2021
