The Pythian Castle is a historic three-story brick-and-stone
Knights of Pythias building located at 610-612 Court Street in
Portsmouth, Virginia. Built between 1897 and 1898 for the Atlantic Lodge, Knights of Pythias, it was designed by architect
Edward Overman in the
Romanesque Revival
Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...
style of architecture. Like many multistory urban fraternal buildings built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its street floor was rented out for retail and office spaces while the upper floors were reserved for lodge use. In 1908 a single-story brick-and-stone Romanesque Revival addition was built to the north of the original building. In 1979 the Pythian Castle was sold by the knights. On October 30, 1980, it was added to 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 ...
. Today the ground floor is a Mexican eatery.
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It is located in the Downtown Portsmouth Historic District
Downtown Portsmouth Historic District, also known as the High Street Corridor Historic District, is a national historic district located at Portsmouth, Virginia. It encompasses 229 contributing buildings, 1 contributing site, 4 contributing st ...
.
References
Knights of Pythias buildings
Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
National Register of Historic Places in Portsmouth, Virginia
Buildings and structures in Portsmouth, Virginia
Romanesque Revival architecture in Virginia
Houses completed in 1898
Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Virginia
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