Queen Anne Row, 212-220 West Main Street, five two-story rowhouses, built 1890. Image from Historic Richmond.
The row of five houses on the north side of the 200 block of West Main Street has been known as "Queen Anne Row" since at least the 1990s. The Queen Anne style of architecture was popular in the United States from the 1880s until the early 1900s. According to its nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places, Queen Anne Row's front exteriors are one of the "most interesting in Richmond. The
five houses combine seven contrasting colors of brick, granite, and limestone, with no
two houses being exactly alike. In addition, Queen Anne Row incorporates frequently
varying styles of bay windows, colored Glass, turrets, and porches to provide random
changes in the continuity of the facade. These features, taken together, provide a
very pleasing effect."
For a complete description of each of the five buildings, read the form HERE.
I recently came across a short newspaper item in the May 24, 1890 issue of the Richmond Dispatch that lists not only the architect but also the contractors of this row of houses. This
blog entry is the first time the makers of this Richmond landmark have been identified. The image of the newspaper item and its transcription are below. Included in this short essay are brief biographies of the architect who designed Queen Anne Row and the contractors who built it.
Online research of archived newspapers has opened a wealth of historic information, especially for architectural history. Newspapers.com, Chronicling America, and the Library of Virginia's Virginia Chronicle are excellent resources for this kind of research.
Before we explore who designed and built these buildings, here is an update on their status.
Built in 1890, the houses were initially occupied by middle-income workers. By the 1930s, the houses that made up Queen Anne Row had become rental units. In the late 1980s, the buildings were vacant. The row was purchased and renovated for apartment living in the early 1990s. Behind this effort was "Queen Anne Associates," consisting of Murray Bayliss, Randolph Smith, and John Hebberd. They formed a partnership to significantly transform the row into livable properties, thus saving them. An article about the renovation of the houses appeared in the Oct. 16, 1994 issue of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. It noted that:
The houses featured leaded glass, fancy brickwork and five different facades in a mixture of brick and stone. The developers saved all the surviving trim, doors, mantels, floors, and sashes. New millwork was ordered to match missing pieces.
Windows over fireplaces had been bricked over. In the renovation, one original window was found and taken to a stained-glass maker, Wanda Greenwood [Hollberg]. It was repaired and copied in 19th-century glass for use in the other four buildings.
Today, the buildings are rental units in an area dominated by parking lots and VCU buildings. The neighborhood has dramatically changed since the first owners of these buildings lived there in the 1890s. The houses that make up Queen Anne Row are the only surviving ones on the 200 and 300 blocks of W. Main St.
The north side of the 200 block of W. Main Street, Sanborn map, 1895, Library of Congress. Queen Anne Row is the five houses on the left side of the image, numbers 212 to 220. The other houses and the ones on the 300 block have all been demolished. We are lucky Queen Anne Row survived.
Who Built Queen Anne Row?
From the May 24, 1890 issue of the Richmond Dispatch.
The article transcribed:
Handsome Improvements on West Main Street.
The large lot at the northeast corner of Main and Madison
streets has been purchased by Mr. J. Cabell Brockenbrough, through J. B.
Elam, agent of the estate of the late James M. Estes, deceased, for $9,500 and
Mr. Brockenbrough has let the contract for the erection at once of five
handsome stone and brick dwellings thereon. The plans, drawn by Major Black,
and which have been adopted, show each house of different kind of stone up to
the second story and the best oil pressed brick above, three of them having
handsome towers, each having nine rooms and all modern conveniences. The
contract provides for completion by the 1st of October. Mr. John Amrhein,
general contractor; A. J. Brown, stone-work; J. T. Maynard & Son,
brick-work; Asa Snyder, galvanized iron-work, and T. M. Laundors, plumbing and
gas-fitting.
Mr. J. B. Elam is the agent for the rental of these houses.
The Architect.
Advertisement for B. J. Black, Architect, Richmond, VA, the 1879 Richmond city directory.
The architect of Queen Anne Row was Bernard J. Black (1834-1892). He is known to many Richmond historians for his proficient and varied architectural work. He designed houses, churches, commercial buildings, and other types of structures. Born in Pennsylvania, he was raised in Emmetsburg,
Maryland, about 60 miles northeast of Baltimore. The 1850 census lists his father, Frederick Black (1805-1893), as a "plasterer" in the "construction" business. In the 1860 census, Frederick is listed as a "hotel keeper." Black's mother was Margaret Black (1796-1879). It is not yet known where Bernard attended school or where he learned his trade as an architect. The Shockoe Examiner will publish a more detailed biography of Bernard J. Black in the future.
According to the genealogical website WikiTree, his first wife was Mary E. Bass, whom Black married in Petersburg in July of 1857. "Mary died on December 7 of that year, presumably in childbirth; an unnamed infant daughter died three days later." This places Black residing in Petersburg as early as 1857, when he was 27 years old. He married his second wife, Eliza Fletcher Hawkins, the following year, on Sept. 20, 1858, in Petersburg. Her father-in-law, John Hawkins (1802-1863), was a contractor. Did Black train as a carpenter with Hawkins?
Black's obituary lists the architect and his wife as having seven children, four daughters and three sons, at the time of his death in 1892. A son died in November of 1864, named Bernard, in Petersburg [Dec. 7, 1864 issue of The Baltimore Sun].
According to WikiTree, Black enlisted
in the Confederate Army in 1861 and "became the captain of Company C,18th. Battalion, Virginia Heavy Artillery. Eventually, he attained the rank of
Major. He was honorably discharged in 1865." In late 19th-century newspapers, he was sometimes referred to as "Major Black." He was most often identified as "B. J. Black" in newspaper and other periodical accounts.
Black advertised himself as "Architect and Builder" in the July 24, 1865 issue of The Progress Index, a Petersburg newspaper. By 1874, he began working in Richmond as well. He had many architectural commissions in Petersburg and Richmond. He designed structures in other localities in Virginia as well, including an early streetcar system in Roanoke in 1890.
Below are a just a few examples of Black's work as an architect:
The old City Market building in Petersburg, built 1878-1879. Image from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
Black's most well-known commission is for his design of the City Market building, also known as the Farmers Market, in Petersburg. Built 1878-1879, the building is an octagonal brick structure noted for its large decorated cast-iron brackets, located at 9 East Old Street. It currently houses the Croaker's Spot Restaurant.
The proposed facade for what became the Grace & Holy Trinity Church, 8 North Laurel St., opposite Monroe Park. The newspaper image is from the June 7, 1885 issue of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. While Black's plans for the back of the church were completed, his facade design was not.
One of several known church commissions by Black was for the Holy Trinity Church (now Grace & Holy Trinity Church) in 1885. As Donald R. Traser documents in Generation to Generation: The Art and Architecture of Grace & Holy Trinity Church (2024), only the rear of Black's church design was completed before funds ran out. "The first service was held in the new church on January 1, 1888." writes Traser. "Though the nave was completed, there were insufficient funds to finish the façade, and a temporary board front was constructed." By 1895, funds were available to complete the church, but Black had died three years earlier. The church then commissioned New York architect J. Stewart Barney , a native of Richmond whose mother was a member of the church, to complete the building.
This Italianate-style building was built for the Lichtenstein family, who used the ground floor as a store and the upper two floors as their residence. According to a March 20, 1878 article in the Richmond Dispatch, Black is listed as the architect and that the building will be
"furnished with hot and cold water, gas, bathrooms, an elevator, and all
other modern improvements, comforts, and conveniences. The parlor and other mantels,
fireplaces, &c., will be of the most elegant description. The front will be
of the best stock-brick, and the windows of French-plate glass. The windows
will be fitted up with granite arches and sills."
Below is the complete article (March 20, 1878, Richmond Dispatch) with more details about the house and its neighborhood.
Richmond Dispatch, March 20,1878.
Lichtenstein and Sons was founded by Lewis Lichtenstein (1826-1883). Before the family moved to their new building on 17th Street, Lichtenstein and Sons sold commercial fishing supplies. After they moved to the building designed by Black, they became sellers of "dry goods, clothing, boots, shoes," and all types of linens [June 28, 1878, Richmond Dispatch]. Recently, the building was part of a larger renovation of buildings on the block for use as apartment living.
----------------
In 1890, the same year that Queen Anne Row was built, a commercial building on Broad Street that Black designed was constructed. The new store for "D & E Mittledorfer," a dry goods firm, was located at 217 E. Broad Street. It was known for its "massive" granite front.
Rare real-photo postcard view of the "D & E Mittledorfer" dry goods store, 217 E. Broad St., early 1920s. It was designed by Bernard J. Black. The new building replaced a brick structure. Black described the building in an article in the Richmond Dispatch, published April 4, 1890. Black said:"Broad street added last year a number of handsome and costly
stores, and at present much finer and more imposing ones are being built.
Messrs. D. & E. Mitteldorfer are building one, which will be broken-range,
quarry-faced granite from ground to cornice line." -- From a newspaper item entitled
“Architects Active – What Some of These Gentleman Have to Say About the Outlook,”
Richmond Dispatch, April 4, 1890_
News item about the new Mitteldorfer store from the Richmond Dispatch, Nov., 5, 1890. Note that the Asa Snyder & Co. firm was hired for iron work, just as they had been for Queen Anne Row that same year. David and Ellis Mitteldorfer inherited the family store business from their father, Moses Mitteldorfer.
Newspaper advertisement announcing the opening of the new Mitteldorfer store. Richmond Dispatch, Sept., 21, 1890. The Mitteldorfer business was absorbed by the Kaufman Store in 1926 when the Mitteldorfer brothers retired. The Mitteldorfer building was demolished ca. 1929 to make way for the Central Fidelity Bank building and the Broad-Grace Arcade built 1929-1930.
Black also designed his own house, which stands at 1300 Floyd Ave. The house was originally numbered 1200 Floyd Ave. Built in 1888, newspaper accounts document that the family was living there by the end of 1889. Drew St. John Carneal (1938-2015), lawyer, civic activist, and architectural historian, writes about the building in his Richmond's Fan District (1996): Described
in the deed [of Black’s house] as being “in the form of a right-angle triangle,”
the lot must have challenged Black’s imagination as how to fill it with
something functional. His solution was generally to conform the footprint of
the house to the shape of the lot, thus producing in effect a “right-angle triangle” house. In addition to its unusual shape, 1300 Floyd Avenue exhibits
clean, sharp lines accentuated today by the loss of its porch. It was a modern
building for 1889 Richmond, and exudes some hint of the Queen Anne style, which
at the time was becoming very popular in Richmond.
Black died on March 23, 1892 at his home after a six-month illness. He was 57 years old. He was buried in Mount Cavalry Cemetery in Richmond. A longer essay on Bernard J. Black's life and work will appear in the Shockoe Examiner in the future.
Unfortunately, the newspaper article on Queen Anne Row from 1890 did not list which firm provided the millwork for the porches. This image of the center porch, 214 and 216 W. Main St., was provided by Dr. Charles E. Brownell, the former longtime head of the Architectural History Program at VCU. Charles's very informed perspective on the millwork is that it was most likely chosen by the architect, Bernard J. Black, from a local firm. The pattern of the porch design on Queen Anne Row could be found in millwork catalogs published at this time. The catalogs were widely circulated so local firms could easily produce them.
Charles explores in depth these types of architectural history topics each year at an annual lecture at VCU Libraries entitled "Artistic Mansions." The next "Artistic Mansions" is tentatively scheduled for 11 April
2026 and will take a good look at the Queen Anne style in Richmond. Many of the past lectures are available on YouTube. We appreciate his continued support and his willingness to share his knowledge in our investigations of Richmond's architectural history.
The Contractors
General Contractor
Advertisement from the 1889 Richmond city directory.
The general contractor of Queen Anne Row was John Amrhein (1857-1941). Building contractors were responsible for managing the building process, obtaining materials, and overseeing subcontractors.
Amrhein first appears in Richmond city directories in 1886 as a carpenter. By 1889, he was advertising himself as a contractor and builder. He worked with his brother Leonard Amrhein (1870-1942) in the contracting firm of Amrhein Brothers (or John Amrhein and Bro.) in the early 20th century. He was then one half of the firm "Hunt and Amrhein" (from his obit, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jan. 7, 1941). The "Hunt" in the firm was Aubrey L. Hunt (1870-1938), son of the well-known contractor Gilbert J. Hunt (1843-1921), who built his house at 901 Floyd Ave., now owned by VCU. More about Gilbert J. Hunt HERE.
Just of few Amrhein's major contracts for buildings include the Barton Heights Methodist Church, built 1893 on North Avenue (sold to the congregation of St. Paul's Catholic Church, which replaced the 1893 building in 1967), Highland Park Public School in 1909, and one of Hunt and Amrhein's last major commissions, the Walter Hines Page Library at Randolph-Macon College, built 1922-1923. The architect was Edward L. Tilton (1861-1933). Funding for the library was through the Carnegie Foundation.
Another example of Amrhein's work as a contractor was for the Van De Vyver School, a Catholic school in Richmond for blacks, 711 N. First St., built 1910. It was designed by Richmond architect Charles M. Robinson (1867-1932).
Stone Contractor.
Advertisement for Alonza J. Brown Stone Works from the 1891 Richmond city directory. Brown's first name was spelled "Alonza" but was often misspelled in newspapers and other publications as "Alonzo."
The
stone contractor, “A. J.
Brown, stone-work,” was Alonza J. Brown (1854-1937). By 1890, Brown had been a stone mason for twenty years and had established his own granite quarry. His work for the five houses on W. Main St included supervising the stone masons and supplying different types of stone, including grey granite, brownstone, and contrasting colors of limestone. Different combinations of stone were used in each building - read the detailed descriptions HERE.
Brown was born in Hanover County on April 23, 1854. Records indicate that he worked as a stone mason in Richmond from about 1880. He established his own granite works business in 1888. Six years after his work on Queen Anne Row, he began a partnership with Andrew J. Wray (1848-1918). Wray was already a well-established stone mason who specialized in monumental stonework.
Listing for Brown and Wray firm from the 1897 Richmond city directory.
Wray had a quarry in Chesterfield County with offices on Cherry Street near the entrance to Hollywood Cemetery. Brown and Wray primarily built stone and marble memorials. Wray was the senior partner, having worked in Richmond since about 1869.
An example of the Wray and Brown memorial work is the 25-foot-high obelisk placed in the plot of Dr. Hunter H. McGuire (1835-1900) in Hollywood Cemetery. The stone is blue granite from Wray's quarries in Chesterfield County. The excellent images were taken by Selden Richardson, architectural historian and one of the editors of The Shockoe Examiner.
Brown's work with Wray ended in 1902. Brown is listed as a grocer in the 1903 and 1904 city directories. He returned to work as a stone contractor by 1906, continuing through at least 1915, after which his appearances in city directories end. In the 1920 census, the 66-year-old Brown is listed as having no occupation. Alonza J. Brown died on October 18, 1934.
Brickwork.
Listing and advertisement for the J. T. Maynard & Son brick manufacturer firm of Richmond, from the 1892 city directory.
The J. T. Maynard & Son firm of Richmond was responsible for the brickwork of Queen Anne Row. John Temple Maynard (1894-1894) was listed as a brick mason in the 1870 census and a brick manufacturer in the 1880 census.
Each of the five houses of Queen Anne Row has different combinations of contrasting colored bricks - red and tan.
According to Maynard's obituary (Oct. 4, 1894, Richmond Dispatch), he died at his home in Fulton Hill in Henrico County. His adopted son, Alva W. Maynard (1866-1947), inherited the firm. He ran the Maynard brick yards located in Rockets through about 1900. Alva would become a successful contractor in Richmond, his work primarily in the gas, water, and sewer lines. At the time of his death, according to his obituary (April 9, 1947, Richmond Times-Dispatch), he was a vice-president with the Southern Bank and Trust Company.
Plumbing and Gas-Fitting
In the article on Queen Anne Row in the May 24, 1890 issue of the Richmond Dispatch, it lists "T. M. Laundors, plumbing and gas-fitting." Launders is misspelled. The correct spelling of the name is "T. M. Landers" or Thomas Michael Landers (1851-1926).
Listing and advertisement for Thomas M. Landers from the 1889 Richmond city directory.
Landers was the son of John Sanders (abt. 1803-1884), a native of Ireland, and Ann Sanders (abt 1809-1888), born in Virginia. The 1870 census lists John's occupation as a gardener, and that his three children are living in the Sanders household: Morris, age 23, Mary, age 21, and Thomas, age 19. In the 1871 city directory, Morris is listed as a plumber and his brother Thomas as a laborer. By 1873, they are both listed as plumbers. Morris died in 1875. In the 1877 directory, Thomas is listed as both a grocer and a plumber, working in the firm of George & Anthony Bargarmin ("machinists, plumbers, gas and steam fitter's supplies"). By 1885, he is listed as "plumber and gas fitter,"
In 1895, the Richmond City Council appointed Landers the city's inspector of plumbing. The path to this position is a long tale that played out in the city newspapers. The story concerned Landers' clash with long-time city official Charles E. Bolling (1852-1929), then the superintendent of the city water works (and later director of public works). Bolling had refused to renew Landers' plumber's license because of an issue involving work in one building that Landers had performed some years earlier. Landers fought back against what he perceived as an injustice. His permit was renewed and he ended up suing Bolling (and won) over the matter.
Image of Landers that appeared with the obituary of the long-time city plumbing inspector in the May 15, 1926 issue of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The same image was previously published in the April 17, 1921 issue of the RTD credited to Foster Studio.
Landers died on May 14, 1926 after serving 30 years as head of plumbing inspection. His obituary, published May 15, 1925 in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, notes that Landers was the:
... chief plumbing inspector for the city of Richmond,
and connected with that office for three decades, died yesterday morning at
5:05 o'clock at the home, 2016 Hanover Avenue. The funeral will be from Sacred
Heart Cathedral at 10 o'clock Monday morning, and burial will be in Mount
Calvary Cemetery.
Mr. Landers, is survived by a widow, formerly Miss Nellie Enright,
and the following children: Mrs. Thomas L. Cox, of Chester; Mrs. Charles
Halbleib, of Norfolk: George and Thomas Landers, and Mrs. Philip Bannister, of
Richmond. His first wife, who died many years ago, was Miss Lena Roscher, of
Richmond. Mr. Landers was born in Richmond in 1851, and lived here all his
life. He devoted his early business career to the plumbing business in
Richmond.
The late inspector was for many years active in public
matters, and was interested in fraternal and church affairs throughout his career.
He was a member of Richmond Lodge of Elks, the Knights of Columbus, St. Mary's
Social Union, Holy Name Society of Sacred Heart Cathedral, and was a member of
the American Society of Sanitary Engineers, frequently representing Richmond
city at the annual conventions of that society. He was considered an
expert in his business and was frequently called upon for expert opinions. The
various heads of the Department of Welfare and the City Health Board have
frequently commended the late inspector for his loyalty and the efficient
handling of the duties in connection with his office.
Sanders' son, Thomas M. Sanders, Jr. (1887-1936) was appointed chief of the Bureau of Plumbing Inspection a week after his father died. The younger Sanders died ten years later after serving in that position the entire time.
"Asa Snyder, galvanized iron-work"
Of the five contractors of Queen Anne Row listed in the May 24,1890 issue of the Richmond Dispatch, the Asa Snyder & Co. firm was the most widely known. If you are a Richmonder, you may have seen their work on iron front store facades on many Richmond buildings, including stores on Broad St. and Main St. Or you may have seen their name on coal chute hatch doors on buildings throughout the city. Their work is found in many Richmond buildings. One of their major commissions was for the ironwork for Old City Hall completed in 1894. Architectural historian and City of Richmond city planner, the late Tyler Potterfield (one of the founders of the Shockoe Examiner) wrote about Snyder's iron work in the Old City Hall building: "Another
specialist, Richmond iron founder, Asa Snyder, cast the grills and fencing
along with the magnificent cast iron atrium, a masterpiece of cast iron
architecture. Snyder, a New York immigrant, was a leader in the development of
architectural cast iron in Richmond."
"...the atrium is an outstanding example of and a high point for cast iron
architecture in Richmond."
The cast iron atrium in Richmond's Old City Hall was produced by the Asa Snyder & Co. firm. In 2024, Quin Evans, a historic preservation firm, restored the atrium. From their
website:
The building’s last renovation, which took place in the 1980s, superimposed a polychrome paint scheme throughout the major historic spaces. Based on historical finish analyses, our design restores the original palette: off-white plaster walls and ceilings, oak woodwork, and painted wood graining on cast iron elements in the atrium. We also restored the atrium laylight and replaced the skylight above with an energy-efficient reproduction.
The attractive cast-iron fence that surrounds Old City Hall was produced by the Asa Snyder & Co. firm. Image from the "Richmond Iron" website of the O. K. Foundry Co.
Due to their long history and contributions to the city's architectural heritage, Asa Snyder & Co. probably deserves its own blog post (or better yet, a book-length study). The Shockoe Examiner will explore their history at length in the future. But for now, the goal of this essay is to keep their profile as concise, but still complete, as possible.
Advertisement for Asa Synder & Co. from the 1889 Richmond city directory. The ad. was published a year before Queen Anne Row was built.
The firm was founded by Asa Snyder (1825-1884), a native of New York, who moved to Richmond in 1851. His firm was detailed in an article entitled "Ironwork in Richmond" published in the Sunday magazine section of the Oct. 23, 1938 issue of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The article focused on the research that Richmond architectural historian Mary Wingfield Scott had compiled for the Valentine Museum in the 1930s. Her research materials are housed in the museum's library collection. On Snyder, the article wrote:
Born in 1825,
he early clerked in his farmer father's country store, went to school at an
academy, worked in New York City, was in business in Pennsylvania, and
returned home to farm a while.
In 1851, he
visited Richmond with his brother-in-law, Foundryman A. J. Bowers. Charmed with
the city, they leased a lot opposite the Tredegar Iron Works on the James and
Kanawha Canal for 10 years, built and began to make stoves.
In 1855, they
branched out to do ornamental iron work. Their first effort, and the first in
Richmond, was the lavish iron-decked facade of old Ballard House hostelry,
which they adorned with cast-iron pillars, veranda, balconies, cornices, fence,
and gate. Between '59 and '60, Snyder similarly trimmed the Spotswood, another
fashionable hotel, and later many Main Street business houses, which still wear
Snyder designs on their much-painted facades, whose scrolls, cornices, and
trimmings have come to look wooden with many years and much paint.
Two
branches - stoves and iron work - were too much for the firm and Mr. Snyder and
Mr. Bowers dissolved it in 1856. But Snyder continued at stove-making until
1865, at Tenth and Cary Streets. He continued through the war, when his
foundry, "being the only works in the Confederate States, prepared to make
outfits for the camps, he was employed by the Confederate government and did
faithful work for the cause of his adopted State," according to his
obituary of August, 1884, in the Dispatch. His daughter, Miss Annie Lee Snyder, explained to Miss McCormack [Helen McCormack (1903-1974), then head of the Valentine
Museum] that he made iron utensils,
kettles and such for the Confederate army, was paid largely in produce, built a
supplementary warehouse adjoining his Fourth Street home and shared his
earnings of produce with his neighbors.
In 1873, Snyder separated the stove-making company from the architectural production works. The announcement by the firm shown below from the Richmond Dispatch, Jan. 31, 1874, gives a snapshot of the large variety of architectural iron work they produced.
Richmond Dispatch, Jan. 31, 1874
Thirty-five years ago this establishment was founded by the
late Asa Snyder in a very moderate way, but it gave genuine evidence of
enterprise from the start, and in a few years it became a noted landmark of the
business industry. War, fire, and financial strife, have battered at its doors,
but it still stands a monument to the enterprise of its founder. Its
contributions to the trade reflect the greatest credit on the mechanical skill
of those employed in its several constructive departments. They find a large
and steady demand from Virginia and West Virginia, North and South Carolina,
for their beautiful and reliable goods of architectural designs. They employ
sixty hands and have a capacity for making five tons of castings per hour.
Their specialties are all kinds of galvanized, cast and
wrought iron used in building, which embraces vault doors, elevators, fence and
balcony railings, verandas, skylights, cornices, window hoods, steeples,
&c. They are also manufacturers of Hayes' Patent Skylight, Hyatt's Patent
Area Light, for which they control Virginia.
Messrs. Asa K. Snyder and Benj. J. Atkins comprise the
present firm of Asa Snyder & Co. They were both members of the firm at the
time of the death of Mr. Asa Snyder, in 1884, and have continued under the same
firm name.
Mr. Asa K. Snyder was born and raised here and was brought
up in the iron trade. He is also in the pig iron and foundry supply brokerage
business.
Mr. Atkins resides in Manchester. He has been connected with
this house for twenty years and has been a partner in the concern since 1877.
Image of the Asa Snyder & Co. foundry and works located at 1008, 1010, 1012, and 1014 E. Cary St. from the Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Richmond, 1886, Library of Congress.
A profile of the firm in Richmond, the Pride of Virginia (1900) noted that: Its record includes the furnishing of structural iron for
the following buildings, among the many extensive orders of the past few years:
City Hall, Masonic Temple, All Saints' Episcopal Church, store of Julius Meyer
& Sons, Richmond; library in the new State Department building, Washington,
D. C.; Enterprise Building, Fredericksburg; First Presbyterian Church, Hughes
Building, the Wither's Building, and the Post Building, Newport News; True
Reformer's Hall, and a theatre at Norfolk; Bachelor's Quarters, Fortress
Monroe; W. P. Dickerson's Hall, Farmville, Va..
Asa Snyder & Co. provided the ironwork for the roofs that top the turrets found on three of the houses of Queen Anne Row. Galvanized iron, where a zinc coating is applied to the metal to prevent rusting and decay, was one of the firm's architectural products.
Each of the galvanized metal roofs is shaped differently. On 212, the pattern is a pointed hexagonal shape; 216 has a rounded hexagonal pattern; and on 220, there is a dome-shaped roof. Each roof is topped with a metal finial.
In 1895, after the death of his brother, Asa K., George J. Snyder (1861-1950) headed Asa Snyder & Co. Six years later, in May of 1901, there was a large fire at the foundry on E. Cary St. The damage was extensive. They built a new, smaller foundry on the 700 block of E. Cary Street. In 1905, the company became part of the newly formed Richmond Manufacturing Company, which produced "architectural and ornamental iron works and wire." By 1908, that company ceased operations, thus ending the decades-long history of Asa Snyder & Co. Fortunately, its legacy in Richmond can still be seen in numerous buildings and on the city's streetscape.
One last look at Queen Anne Row. This is the back of 220 W.
Main St. It brings to mind something my friend Edgar MacDonald told me once or twice when talking about Richmonders and the city's architecture. Sometimes they try to show off by putting on makeup and a pretty dress or a good suit. But in reality, we are all the same behind our facades. He'd say: "Richmond
is full of houses with Queen Anne fronts and Mary Ann behinds."
- Ray Bonis
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