Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 12/10/1998
NRHP Listing Date 01/29/1999
NRHP Reference Number 99000077
The Coliseum (Duplex Envelope Company Building), located on the south side of the 1300 block of West Broad Street in the city of Richmond, is a massive, red-brick, three-story, mixed-use building, constructed in 1922 for prominent local businessmen Gibson Worsham and Archer Jones. They developed it as the city’s first coliseum, and originally used it as a skating rink and performance hall. In the late 1920s, the building was converted into the headquarters of the Duplex Envelope Company, with a large part of the building set aside as space for an automobile dealership. The Duplex Envelope Company occupied the majority of the space from 1927-1975 and, while at this location, grew to become the world’s largest manufacturer of church-offering envelopes. Redeveloped into an apartment complex as the Coliseum Lofts, the building is located in the West Broad Street Commercial Historic District in Richmond.
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: May 20, 2021
