The Lewis F. Powell Jr. United States Courthouse, also known as the U.S. Post Office and Customhouse, is a historic custom house,

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

and courthouse located in Richmond, Virginia. Originally constructed in 1858, it was for decades a courthouse for the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (in case citations, E.D. Va.) is one of two United States district courts serving the Commonwealth of Virginia. It has jurisdiction over the Northern Virginia, Hampton ...

and the

United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maryland ...

. A new federal district courthouse opened in 2008, but the Powell Courthouse still houses the Fourth Circuit. The

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

renamed the building for Supreme Court justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., in 1993.H.R.1513 -- To designate the United States courthouse located at 10th and Main Streets in Richmond, Virginia, as the 'Lewis F. Powell Jr. United States Courthouse'
It is 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 ...

as U.S. Post Office and Customhouse.

Building history

The courthouse is one of only two buildings in the historic core of Richmond to survive the devastating 1865 fire that marked the evacuation of the Confederate Army during the last days of the Civil War. It is the oldest courthouse in GSA's inventory. Constructed as the U.S. Custom House, Post Office and Courthouse, the original portion of the building was completed in 1858 to designs of

Ammi B. Young Ammi Burnham Young (June 19, 1798 – March 14, 1874) was a 19th-century American architect whose commissions transitioned from the Greek Revival to the Neo-Renaissance styles. His design of the second Vermont State House brought him fame and su ...

, then Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department. The building received additions that were completed in 1889, 1912, and 1932, all three of which hewed closely to the imposing Italianate forms that characterized the original building. The building played a significant role in 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 ...

when the Congress of the new Confederate States of America selected Richmond as its capital. The courthouse provided offices for Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Following the conflict, the federal government reoccupied the building. Then, in 1866, the Grand Jury of the United States District Court met on the third floor and indicted Davis for treason. Davis returned to the courthouse in 1867 for a hearing, but was granted amnesty and never stood trial. Pressure to enlarge the courthouse began in the first decade of the 20th century, when the antitrust policies of President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and associated legislation created an expansion of judicial oversight. In 1910, construction began on a massive expansion of the courthouse, which increased the size of the original building twelve-fold. Matching wings on the east and west were constructed between 1910 and 1932. An

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

Annex was constructed in 1935–36 adjacent to the courthouse. In 1993, by which time the building housed only judicial functions, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

dedicated the building as the Lewis F. Powell Jr. United States Courthouse in honor of the retired Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Lewis F. Powell Jr., a native Virginian.

Architecture

The building is an impressive example of the Italianate architecture that became popular in this country during the third quarter of the 19th century. Originally sited in the middle of the block between Tenth and Eleventh Streets, the two primary facades of the courthouse faced Main and Bank streets. Constructed between 1855 and 1858, the original block of the courthouse was designed by Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department Ammi B. Young. Five round arches formed an arcade marking the entrance on Main Street, and a heavy granite portico of three arches, reached by three granite steps, fronted the Bank Street entrance, which was set back from the property line. The three-story exterior of the courthouse was clad in ashlar granite on the first floor and ashlar limestone on the second and third floors. The remaining elements of the original construction can still be seen on the lower levels of the Bank and Main street facades, including the Main Street arcade and the Bank Street portico. The Courthouse exhibits an early use of iron as a structural material in a federal building. As noted in a letter from Secretary of the Treasury James Guthrie, the use of "wrought iron beams and girders" in federal building construction at that time was "wholly new." The structural system employed groin vaults to support upper floors, with cast-iron columns supporting beams and girders.

The 1887–89 additions to the building, completed under the direction of Supervising Architect

Mifflin E. Bell Mifflin Emlen Bell (October 20, 1847 – May 31, 1904), often known as M.E. Bell, was an American architect who served from 1883 to 1886 as Supervising Architect of the US Treasury Department. Bell delegated design responsibilities to staff mem ...

, consisted of one-by-one-bay wings attached to each of the building's corners, giving the courthouse an I-shaped plan. The Bank Street facade, including its portico, was moved forward to the property line, and a classical pediment added to the Main Street entrance. Federal courts expanded the range of their oversight at the beginning of the twentieth century, requiring an expansion of court facilities. The Richmond courthouse was enlarged in 1910–12 and 1930–32, expanding to fill the entire city block. Once again the designs emanated from the

Office of the Supervising Architect The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939. The office handled some of the most important architectural commissions of the nineteenth ...

under

James Knox Taylor James Knox Taylor (October 11, 1857 – August 27, 1929) was Supervising Architect of the United States Department of the Treasury from 1897 to 1912. His name is listed ''ex officio'' as supervising architect of hundreds of federal buildings bu ...

for the earlier addition, and under

James A. Wetmore James Alfonso Wetmore (November 1863 – March 14, 1940) was an American lawyer and administrator, best known as the Acting Supervising Architect of the U.S. Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department from 1915 through 1933 ...

for the latter. The enlargement called for demolition of the courthouse interiors, the addition of a fourth floor and expansion to Tenth and Eleventh streets. While maintaining the general features of the original design, stylistic changes evolved in the additions: the cornice was extended along Bank and Main streets with restrained classical motifs to encompass the new wings, and the Italianate windows were replaced with windows featuring semicircular transoms. So precisely was the work carried out that today it is nearly impossible to distinguish between the four phases of construction. The courthouse was listed in the

in 1969. By 1991, the U.S. Postal Service had vacated the building and only judicial functions remained. The courts undertook a master plan for the renovation and preservation of some of the most significant spaces within the original building, hoping to restore the finishes to their 1858 appearance. The first phase of the work, which took place in 1996–99, included the restoration of a part of the Greek Revival Main Street Lobby and office space on the third floor.

Significant events

Richmond Federal Appeals Court and skyline VA2

*1855–1858: The Custom House, Post Office and Courthouse is constructed to designs produced in Office of Supervising Architect of the U.S. Treasury Department, headed by Ammi B. Young. *1887–89: One-story wings are added at building corners under direction of Supervising Architect Mifflin E. Bell. *1910–12; 1930–32: The courthouse is expanded to fill the entire block. *1969: The building is listed in the

. *1991: The U.S. Postal Service vacates the building. *1993: President William J. Clinton dedicates the courthouse as the Lewis F. Powell Jr. U.S. Courthouse, after the former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. *1996–99: The Main Street Lobby and third floor offices undergo renovation.

Building facts

*Architects: Ammi B. Young; Mifflin E. Bell; James Knox Taylor; James A. Wetmore *Construction Dates: 1855–58; 1887–89; 1910–12; 1930–32 *Landmark Status: Listed in the

*Location: 1000 East Main Street *Architectural Style:

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

*Primary Materials: Steel, granite, and limestone *Prominent Features: Bank Street porticoes, restored Main Street lobby, 1910 Courtrooms

References

Attribution

* {{Head courthouses of United States courts of appeals Buildings and structures in Richmond, Virginia Courthouses in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Richmond, Virginia Italianate architecture in Virginia Government buildings completed in 1858 Federal courthouses in the United States Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Post office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Ammi B. Young buildings Custom houses in the United States Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Virginia Custom houses on the National Register of Historic Places