The Blues Armory is a large brick armory in downtown

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. Housing the Richmond Light Infantry Blues, the castle-like structure originally served multiple purposes, with a food market on the ground floor and a drill hall for the National Guard of the United States on the top floor. The Richmond Spiders played their home basketball games at the site for a period of time. The level between housed suites of offices for each individual National Guard company. In 1985, the ground floor was converted to retail and restaurant space, part of the 6th Street Marketplace. The composite steel-reinforced structure is clad with brick and heavily rusticated stone masonry. Completed in 1910, it was designed by the Washington, D.C. firm of Averill and Hall. The castellated design was not entirely whimsical, as the structure was designed to withstand attack during riots. The ground floor was entirely separated from the military upper floors. The structure extends over the sidewalks, forming an arcade at ground level, with five bays on the Marshall Street side and seven bays on Sixth Street. The corners are marked with projecting turrets or

bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging, wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of late medieval and early-modern fortifications from the ...

s, while the upper level is

machicolated A machicolation (french: mâchicoulis) is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water, hot sand, Calcium oxide#Weapon, quicklime or boiling cooking oil, could be dro ...

. The roof of the drill hall rises above the parapet. The Richmond Light Infantry Blues existed from 1789. They were called in 1800 to deal with Gabriel's Rebellion, led by the slave

Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር� ...

. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

the unit was part of the Army of Northern Virginia. From 1894 the Blues were a battalion, then a regiment after World War II. A 1968 reorganization of the National Guard disestablished the Blues and the armory fell into disuse. By the 1990s the lower level was incorporated into the Sixth Street Market development. The upper floor offices and first floor food court closed in 2002. The Blues Armory was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on May 17, 1976.

References

{{commons category, Blues Armory Armories on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Government buildings completed in 1910 Buildings and structures in Richmond, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Richmond, Virginia Richmond Spiders basketball