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Architectural Details of the Anderson House

1000 West Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia.

Built ca. 1898, the house at 1000 West Franklin Street built for William J. Anderson (1839-1911) was designed by an unknown architect in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The building's most distinctive feature is the sculpted masonry of figures in the two bands of the corner tower. This work was executed by William R. Mason (1848-1921), a local stone mason.

The text below includes a short biography about William J. Anderson. It will then be followed by a discussion of the architectural details of 1000 West Franklin Street.

William J. Anderson (1839-1911)

William Joseph Anderson was born in Lynchburg, Virginia on January 3, 1839. Although no information has yet been found concerning his early life, the 1860 Virginia census places 21-year-old William and his younger brother, John T. Anderson (1844-1906), living still in Lynchburg, Virginia. The two apprenticed under a "Colonial Blifs", a local tin-ware merchant. With the onset of the Civil War in 1860, William J. Anderson enlisted into the Confederate Army and served in the ordinance department, after which he and his brother John came to Richmond. In the early 1880s, Anderson began his association with the Richmond Stove Company. He became president in 1883, serving in that post until his death in 1911. Click here for more information about the Richmond Stove Company

Some information about the life of William J. Anderson is from a graduate research paper about 1000 West Franklin Street written by Mary H. Arturo for Dr. Charles Brownell's ARTH 502 class, Spring 2001.

1000 West Franklin Street, built ca. 1898

In 1867, the boundaries of the City of Richmond were extended; from Monroe Park to Lombardy Street. Many grand town houses were erected in what would become known as the Fan District from the 1870s through 1910s, all in a blend of architectural styles. By the 1890s, the Richardsonian Romanesque was a popular style to build in Richmond. Romanesque Revival architecture was popularized by the New York and Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson in the mid-1800s. Some major characteristics of the style included corbelled archways, cylindrical towers, monumental stone construction, which was ornamented in terra-cotta and brownstone, squat columns, and deeply recessed windows. Although, H.H. Richardson never practiced in Richmond, several buildings were erected in this style. In 1898, William Joseph Anderson moved from 405 West Clay Street to Richmond's new and fashionable West End. The Anderson residence, located at the corner of West Franklin and North Harrison Street, was completed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style.

The Anderson house is a two and one half story brownstone dwelling that sits on a brick basement. Many characteristics of the style are incorporated into the building. For instance, an asymmetrical facade is sheathed with masonry walls that alternate rock faced and polished brownstone. To have the entire facade composed of brownstone was rare for Richmond. This may have been due to the expense of shipping from quarries in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Those houses that do incorporate brownstone into the facade use it sparingly, usually on the lower half or quarter of the building.

Wide, rounded (Romanesque) arches are a key identifying feature of this style , which occur over the window and entryway. Two doors are present today. The door on the left was once a window, changed later when the home was converted into apartments in 1939. The entryway arch rests on a set of engaged 'milk-bottle style' Tuscan orders that are topped with foliate capitals. In addition, two semi-circular fanlights rest over the entryway and window. Although they are clear today, early photographs of the house allow us to see the original stained glass.

1000 West Franklin Street -- ca. 1926. This image courtesy of the Valentine Richmond History Center.

A covered porch or loggia is located on the 2nd story that sits below a ridged roof and polygonal dormer. Noteworthy is the balustrade, which is topped with alternating leaf patterns. The same motif can also be found on the first story porch balustrade. At the base of the loggia is a sunk relief decoration in a basket weave and foliate design. Examples of the base and the balustrade can be found on Ginter House, 901 West Franklin, and the lost Brown-Allison-Moore House, previously 819 West Franklin Street. Although in theory decoration is placed in areas which it can be seen, this house is ornamented the west side of the house with a wooden bracketed crown, which rests over a side entryway, acting like an awning. The use of crowns over doorways and windows is a dominating characteristic among the Italianate style, which also was developing in Richmond townhouses at the turn of the century.

The most distinctive element of the Anderson House is the three-storied cylindrical tower, which is topped with a conical or cone-like roof. The corner tower continues in the Romanesque style with the ornamentation that is carved out of the brownstone facade onto two rinceau bands, which are above the first and second stories. Themes of swirling foliage and fantastic fantasy creatures of griffins, zephyrs, and organic beings interlace along the carved band of sculpted masonry. Although many suggestions have arisen concerning the origin of the characters, there are little to no certainties to give.

Below are images of the two bands taken by Jennifer Watson of VCU's Creative Services .


1. Bottom band view.	2. Bottom band view.	3. Bottom band view.

4. Top band view.	5. Top band view.	6. Top band view.	7. Top band view.

The attribution of William R. Mason as the stone mason for the William J. Anderson House, 1000 West Franklin Street, is from architectural historian Drew St. J. Carneal, author of Richmond's Fan District (1996). While Mr. Carneal has yet to determine the architect of the building, he recalled in the Fall of 2002 to a Special Collections and Archives staff member that he has documentation that the stone work for the building came from a firm that had a quarry Lombardy and Marshall Streets -- which Mason did by 1900, two years after 1000 West Franklin Street was built. Attribution also comes from the distinct similarities between the William J. Anderson House and that of the Brown-Allison-Moore House which we learn from both Richmond on the James (1893) and Richmond: The Pride of Virginia that Mason was the stone contractor.