National Register of Historic Places

Robinson House

Richmond (Independent City), Richmond County, Virginia
Listed
December 24, 2013
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
13000993

About this property

Robinson House, also known as The Grove, Main Building, and Fleming Hall, is a historic home located in Richmond, Virginia. The house is located on the present-day campus of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) and on property that also bears the designation of the R. E. Lee Camp Confederate Memorial Park. It is a three-story, 7,900 square foot, brick Italianate style building. Originally built in the late 1820s by Richmond banker Anthony Robinson Jr. (1792-1861) as a modest one-story summer home, it was expanded in the late 1850s to a two-story mansion for year-round residency by the Robinson family. In late 1884 it was sold along with 36 acres by Robinson's son, Channing, to the newly formed R. E. Lee, Camp No. 1, Confederate Veterans organization to create a home for indigent and disabled veterans. The R. E. Lee Confederate Soldiers’ Home, funded primarily by the Commonwealth of Virginia after 1892, grew to a large complex of over 30 buildings, including residential cottages and a hospital. Robinson House—then called Fleming Hall for the architect/donor who contributed the third floor and pyramidal belvedere in 1886—served as the home's administration building, library, and war museum. When the Soldiers’ Home closed in 1941, the Commonwealth of Virginia transferred the care of the building to the state Department of General Services, and, in 1993, to VMFA which still owns and maintains it today. After extensive renovations the refurbished house now features a Richmond regional tourism center and a history exhibition, open to the public daily, admission free. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Virginia Landmarks Register in 2013. National Register of Historic Places listings in Richmond, Virginia Elizabeth L. O'Leary, Across Time: The History of the Grounds of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond: VMFA, 2019). Media related to Robinson House (Richmond, Virginia) at Wikimedia Commons

Location

200 North Blvd.
Richmond (Independent City), Richmond County, Virginia
37.55908, -77.47419

Categories

SOCIAL HISTORYARCHITECTURE
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Overview
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The Land
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Geology
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Conflict & War
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The Civil War
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The Soldiers
The men who marched from here in the Civil War, named and traced where the record allows.
Native Heritage
The Native nations who held this land, mapped across time from before European contact to today.
Settlement
Who claimed and held this ground, from Indigenous homelands through the colonial powers to the United States.
The Community
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Rivers & Rail
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Notable People
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Finds & Access
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Nearby Historic Sites

Boulevard Historic District
Listed
0.1 mi
United Daughters of the Confederacy Memorial Building
Industrial
0.1 mi
Home For Confederate Women
Civil War
0.2 mi
Confederate Memorial Chapel
Civil War
0.2 mi
2900 Block Grove Avenue Historic District
Listed
0.3 mi

Nearby Battles

Engagement at Seven Mile Ford
1863Civil War
2.1 mi
Dahlgren Raid (Richmond Raid)
1864Civil War
2.4 mi
Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid
1864Civil War
2.4 mi
Battle of Bloody Run
1656Colonial
2.4 mi

Questions about this property

When was Robinson House listed on the National Register?

Robinson House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 24, 2013.

What type of historic resource is Robinson House?

Robinson House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Robinson House?

The period of significance for Robinson House is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Robinson House?

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