Newtown and the Wharf Historic Districts
TJ Collins & Son
Perhaps no single
person influenced Staunton’s physical appearance more than T. J. Collins.
From 1891 to 1911, Collins designed and remodeled over 200 buildings
in
Staunton and many others in Virginia, including Harrisonburg, Lexington,
Waynesboro, and Orange County.
Collins worked within a wide range of styles.
His office was housed in the Romanesque Revival Style Marquis Building
(right).
His designs can be seen
in the Second Empire style Eakleton Hotel (now the Smith Center
for History & Art), the
Chateauesque C.W. Miller House (left), the Richardsonian Romanesque
Arista Hoge House (see Walking Tour page), St.
Francis Catholic Church, Switzer Building, C&O Train Station, and Stonewall
Jackson School (below).
More
TJ Collins designs include the White Star Mills building and the Augusta
County Courthouse (right).
After retiring , his son Sam went on to
design and remodel hundreds of buildings in the Staunton area and beyond until
his own retirement in the 1950s.
Joseph Johnson, grandson of T. J., recently retired the family firm and in 1997
donated the Collins’ architectural drawings and historic support materials to
Historic Staunton Foundation. (see
HSF's Resources & Services page)
Historic Staunton Foundation is in the process of conserving the TJ Collins
& Son architectural drawings (over 1,100 project files) in our archives.
Tax-deductible donations made to this effort and
gratefully accepted.
TO link to our Architecture page, part 2
(Historic Districts)
