Three new books uncover Richmond’s architectural past.

Fresh History

Three new books uncover Richmond’s architectural past. by Edwin Slipek Jr.

[Today's issue of Style Weekly has an article about three new books on Richmond history in its Arts and Culture section by Edwin Slipek, Jr. Here's the introduction]:

Three new soft covers that share the common thread of Richmond architectural history are available at local booksellers. The authors’ respective approaches to history are comparable to phases of matter in chemistry: solid, liquid and gas.

One author, T. Tyler Potterfield, in “Nonesuch Place: A History of the Richmond Landscape,” uses solid evidence — literally the actual landscape of the capital city — in his examination of Richmond’s physical development. With the configuration of the natural topography as his point of departure, he describes how various hills and valleys became streets, parks and cemeteries.

In their colorful book, “Greetings from Richmond,” Ray Bonis and Tom H. Ray use something much more fluid — 250 postcard scenes of Richmond and its environs — to create an often-changing snapshot from 1888 to the 1950s of many of Richmond’s best-known landmarks.

Finally, in “Memory Lane: Richmond, Va., Vol. 3,” author R. David Ross uses something altogether invisible (but equally potent a force in the telling of history) — his memory — as the basis for his slim volume. Although dozens of architectural history books have been published in recent years examining Richmond’s physical past, each of these works seems fresh.

Read the entire article at
Style Weekly Magazine.