Richmond’s West Broad Street Commercial Historic District comprises approximately 5.5 acres between the 1300 and 1600 blocks. The District is lined with 20 excellent contributing examples of commercial architecture, built between 1900 and the late 1930s. The buildings reflect a wide variety of styles from Art Deco to Italianate and are largely two-to-four stories in height. The wide spatial ratio of Broad Street in this District accommodated a trolley line that ran down the center of the street. Many of these buildings were at one point in history associated with Richmond’s automotive industry.
National Theatre (1922)
704 East Broad Street
The National Theater is located outside of the Broad Street Historic District. It features an Italian Renassaince Revival exterior with Adamesque interior. The architect of the theater was C.K. Howell. The interior plaster work was done by Ferruccio Legnaioli. Vaudeville, silent movies and talkies have all been showcased at the National. The National was one of three theaters on this block. One was demolished and the facade of the other was incorporated into a modern office building. Historic Richmond Foundation and Preservation Virginia purchased the building and saved it from demolition in 1989. Twenty years later it was bought and restored into a concert venue for the city of Richmond.
{Photo Credits: Exterior and Interior shots, Richard Cheek for Historic Richmond Foundation}