The Belgian Friendship Building or Belgian Pavilion is the former exhibition building for

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

from the 1939/1940

World's Fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It now serves as Barco-Stevens Hall on the campus of

Virginia Union University Virginia Union University is a private historically black Baptist university in Richmond, Virginia. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. History The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) founded the school as Richm ...

(VUU), in

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 ...

Design

It was designed by Belgian architects

Victor Bourgeois Victor Bourgeois (29 August 1897 – 24 July 1962) was a Belgium, Belgian architect and urban planner, considered the greatest Belgian modernist architect. Bourgeois was born in Charleroi and studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts, Roya ...

and

Leon Stynen Léon Stynen (15 July 1899 – 13 May 1990) was a Belgian architect, urban planner and designer, from Antwerp. Some of his buildings have been categorized as "refined" Brutalist architecture and modern architecture. He has been called one of Be ...

under

Henry van de Velde Henry Clemens van de Velde (; 3 April 1863 – 15 October 1957) was a Belgian painter, architect, interior designer, and art theorist. Together with Victor Horta and Paul Hankar, he is considered one of the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium.'' ...

, and is notable as an early example of

Modernist architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

in the United States. Due to the outbreak of World War II, the Pavilion could not be returned to Belgium. The Belgian government sponsored a competition to determine the building's new home. VUU won, and the Pavilion moved to Richmond in 1941 as VUU's Belgian Friendship Building. Through 1997, the university's library was also located in the Belgian Friendship Building. The building was damaged by

Hurricane Isabel Hurricane Isabel was the strongest Atlantic hurricane since Mitch, and the deadliest, costliest, and most intense hurricane in the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Isabel was also the strongest hurricane in the open waters of the Atlanti ...

in 2003. It is now VUU's gymnasium.

Relocation

In 1942, an African American architect named Charles Thaddeus Russell's supervised the move and reconstruction of the Belgian Building on the

grounds. 27 institutions wanted the building but it was granted to Virginia Union University.

Gallery

File:The_Belgium_Pavilion,_New_York_Worlds_Fair.jpg File:OBLIQUE_VIEW_FROM_SE_-_Belgian_Building,_Lombardy_Street_and_Brook_Road,_Richmond,_Independent_City,_VA_HABS_VA,44-RICH,110-4.tif File:GENERAL_VIEW_FROM_SE_-_Belgian_Building,_Lombardy_Street_and_Brook_Road,_Richmond,_Independent_City,_VA_HABS_VA,44-RICH,110-3.tif File:PIERS_OF_ARCADE_-_Belgian_Building,_Lombardy_Street_and_Brook_Road,_Richmond,_Independent_City,_VA_HABS_VA,44-RICH,110-5.tif File:VIEW SHOWING TOWER - Belgian Building, Lombardy Street and Brook Road, Richmond, Independent City, VA HABS VA,44-RICH,110-2.tif File:SCULPTED_CORNERSTONE_AT_BASE_OF_TOWER_-_Belgian_Building,_Lombardy_Street_and_Brook_Road,_Richmond,_Independent_City,_VA_HABS_VA,44-RICH,110-6.tif File:CLOSE_UP_VIEW_OF_CORNERSTONE_-_Belgian_Building,_Lombardy_Street_and_Brook_Road,_Richmond,_Independent_City,_VA_HABS_VA,44-RICH,110-7.tif

References

External links

Belgian Building, Lombardy Street & Brook Road, Richmond, Independent City, VA
7 photos, 1 color transparency, and 2 photo caption pages at

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Belgium–United States relations Buildings and structures in Richmond, Virginia 1939 New York World's Fair World's fair architecture in the United States Architecture in Belgium Virginia Union University Relocated buildings and structures in Virginia Modernist architecture in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Richmond, Virginia Sports venues in Richmond, Virginia Henry van de Velde buildings {{RichmondCityVA-NRHP-stub