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at the R.R. Smith Center for History and Art 20 - 22 South New Street Staunton, Virginia 24401 (540) 885-7676
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Leadership, Education & Advocacy |
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Staunton's five historic districts:
General Architectural info
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Staunton's Architecture
Staunton is blessed to have a vast collection of eclectic architecture spanning its boom period from frontier settlement to 19th century commercial center. Staunton has a rich core of downtown commercial buildings surrounded by cohesive neighborhoods and public buildings. Examples of Staunton's vast range are sampled below. (see Blackburn and TJ Collins for more examples).
(left) 1792 Smith-Thompson House (right) 1800 stagecoach stop (now Frazier Associates office)
(left) 1839 Main Hall at the Virginia School for the Deaf & the Blind (right) 1855 American Hotel (now multi use facility)
(left) 1866 Board n Batten Sears House (right) back of Wharf warehouses 1870 - 1910
(left) 1893 Oakdene residence (right) 1914 YMCA bldg (now condos) For more information, check one of our historic districts links to the left, or join one of our Saturday free walking tours or check the City's link. Spotlighting two of Staunton's fine architects: Thomas R. Blackburn Thomas R. Blackburn worked in Staunton from 1830 to 1852. He is best known for his work at the Western State Lunatic Asylum and was instrumental in the building of Main Hall at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind. He designed the fourth Augusta County Courthouse which stood from 1835 to 1900, the 1844 addition on the Stuart House, and several other prominent buildings within Staunton and Augusta County. For more information, we suggest you reference In Jefferson's Shadow: The Architecture of Thomas R. Blackburn by Bryan Clark Green.
Above Old Western State Lunatic Asylum, now the Villages of Staunton in process of re-development by Miller Associates of Richmond
left Alexander H.H. Stuart House 1791 (Blackburn 1844 addition is to the left )
T.J. Collins & Sons 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 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 (see below). His designs can be seen in the Second Empire style Eakleton Hotel (now the Smith Center), the Chateauesque C.W. Miller House, the C&O station and the Richardsonian Romanesque Arista Hoge House (all pictured below). 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. 10 examples of TJ Collins work:
The Marquis Building (left) R.R Smith Center for History & Art, formerly the Eakleton Hotel (right)
C & O Train Station (above) C.W. Miller House (left)
Augusta County Courthouse (above) Arista Hoge House (left)
(left) Stonewall Jackson School (now multi use facility) / (right) Switzer Building
St. Francis Church (left) Valley National Bank (right) see drawing & link to Collins archives
Special thanks to Prewitt Scripps for many of these photos
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The Wharf
Stuart Addition
Newtown
Gospel Hill
Beverley (downtown)
