127-7044 Rockfalls

For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF

VLR Listing Date 12/15/2016

NRHP Listing Date 02/21/2017

NRHP Reference Number SG100000678

Rockfalls, built between 1936-37, is an early example in Virginia of the International Style in residential architecture. It is based on a “Model Home” plan, intended for middle- and upper-middle-class house buyers, published in 1936 in the then-popular Collier’s magazine. Designed by noted architect, Edward Durell Stone, the Collier’s model home represents the first time a mass-market American publication endorsed modern architecture in the U.S. Following the Collier’s model, Rockfalls featured a service area with a maid’s room at the front of the residence rather than in the rear or attic, to allow quick access to all parts of the house. A two-car garage, prominently placed at the front of the house, reflects the impact of the automobile on suburban development in the U.S. Typical of the International Style, Rockfalls’s masonry construction and design employs straight lines and simple curved shapes, emphasizing a horizontal plane through its window openings, railed balconies, and flat roof. The 5.9-acre wooded setting of Rockfalls includes an abandoned granite quarry and a natural stream, an original entrance road with a stone bridge, a granite stone wall, and a perimeter fence with fluted steel columns topped by ball finials. The house is one of a very limited number of International Style buildings ever constructed in the Richmond area. It was was owned in the 1970s by Haigh Jamgochian, who designed the landmark Markel Building.

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 6, 2021