Monroe Ward / Oregon Hill

[Brent114]

Gen Z (college aged folk) is a smaller generation too.  Fewer students in general. 

[I miss RVA]

Another downtown bank branch is shuttering - this time the Wells Fargo branch on the northwest corner of 2nd and E. Grace. While Michael Schwartz' report did not indicate exactly what Wells Fargo plans to do with the property (they are the owners) - I'm wondering what the over/under is that they might possibly sell it to a developer who could put up something with some height and density in the burgeoning Grace Street corridor? 2nd and Grace would be the PERFECT place for a large residential building.

Thoughts?

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/09/06/wells-fargo-closing-downtown-branch-at-2nd-and-grace/

 

[ancientcarpenter]

1 hour ago, I miss RVA said:

Another downtown bank branch is shuttering - this time the Wells Fargo branch on the northwest corner of 2nd and E. Grace. While Michael Schwartz' report did not indicate exactly what Wells Fargo plans to do with the property (they are the owners) - I'm wondering what the over/under is that they might possibly sell it to a developer who could put up something with some height and density in the burgeoning Grace Street corridor? 2nd and Grace would be the PERFECT place for a large residential building.

Thoughts?

From today's Richmond BizSense:

https://richmondbizsense.com/2023/09/06/wells-fargo-closing-downtown-branch-at-2nd-and-grace/

 

Shame to lose a banking branch in that area... it really was useful to have it. However, I think this is more indicative of the times we live in than the actual area; big banks are shuttering their physical locations as tech goes more and more "in the internets!"

[Brent114]

I’m glad it’s closing.  I’m still mad at them for tearing down the beautiful Jefferson National Bank (monolithic, international style marble building) building  to make way for this piece of crap. 
 

But for real, sad to see services leave downtown but bank branches  are unnecessary now  

[Icetera]

1 minute ago, Brent114 said:

bank branches  are unnecessary now  

As VACU keeps pouring them out, finally (appreciated as a member).

[wrldcoupe4]

Good redevelopment site, but I suspect another bank will drop in.

[ancientcarpenter]

19 hours ago, Brent114 said:

I’m glad it’s closing.  I’m still mad at them for tearing down the beautiful Jefferson National Bank (monolithic, international style marble building) building  to make way for this piece of crap. 
 

But for real, sad to see services leave downtown but bank branches  are unnecessary now  

Having trouble finding a picture of this Jefferson National Bank building pre-demo. Care to share with us? I really want to get angry as early as possible this morning...

[RiverYuppy]

I honestly have no idea what people do in physical branches other than get charged more fees and lower interest to pay for those physical branches. I've been digitally banked for over a decade now.

I hope it gets razed and the lot developed into something more useful.

[I miss RVA]

10 minutes ago, RiverYuppy said:

I honestly have no idea what people do in physical branches other than get charged more fees and lower interest to pay for those physical branches. I've been digitally banked for over a decade now.

I hope it gets razed and the lot developed into something more useful.

To your two points:

1.) I haven't darkened the door of a brick and mortar bank in close to eight years. I do everything digitally as well.

2.) From your keyboard to God's eyes, my friend. While I do think @wrldcoupe4is right - another bank will occupy the space (which leads me to believe that Wells Fargo would simply lease the space rather than sell the property), I'd love it if an out-of-town developer rolled in with enough Benjamins to pry the parcel from Wells Fargo's hands and put up a double-digit-story residential building on that corner. Much as we want awesome height, at this point, I'd be satisfied with something 12 to 15 stories to get a larger influx of people living directly adjacent to Broad Street. The only way to eliminate the "ghost town" look and feel of downtown RVA in general and Monroe Ward in particular is to build for density and to draw residents in. One building alone won't change things - but if one building leads to another, leads to another, lather, rinse, repeat - in five to ten years, we'll se a significant change.

[Icetera]

2 hours ago, RiverYuppy said:

I honestly have no idea what people do in physical branches other than get charged more fees and lower interest to pay for those physical branches. I've been digitally banked for over a decade now.

I hope it gets razed and the lot developed into something more useful.

Businesses and other organizations need physical branches for a lot of things.

[Brent114]

This is the best that I can do for now….

 

[I miss RVA]

5 hours ago, Brent114 said:

This is the best that I can do for now….

Let me add what I have to the mix - I believe this is the bank building in question - up close and personal, northwest corner of 2nd and E. Grace. Photo courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, August 1964.

[Brent114]

Yes.  It was gorgeous. 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Brent114

[ancientcarpenter]

14 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Let me add what I have to the mix - I believe this is the bank building in question - up close and personal, northwest corner of 2nd and E. Grace. Photo courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, August 1964.

Now that would have been iconic to Monroe - a concrete building built for a concrete parking lot of a neighborhood!

Very interesting building... Any architecture nerds know the architecture style and why it was popular to limit light into the building? I know it's a bank and there's a safety aspect to it but it's still an unusual design to have no windows on most of the building. Would this be brutalist architecture?

[Rooster]

wow thats really cool but pretty brutal - no windows? Looks very "modern" (50's) but is probably older - anyone know?  I did a quick look and saw that Southern Bank and Trust was established in 1916 and headquartered there - theres no way that building was that old is there? Interesting history of name changes and mergers from Southern Bank and Trust (1916) > Southern Bank (1978) > Jefferson National Bank (1985) > Wachovia (1998) > Wells Fargo (2010). Its a shame it didnt make it - would look great with some big tapestries/murals on the front/sides

 

[eandslee]

43 minutes ago, ancientcarpenter said:

Now that would have been iconic to Monroe - a concrete building built for a concrete parking lot of a neighborhood!

Very interesting building... Any architecture nerds know the architecture style and why it was popular to limit light into the building? I know it's a bank and there's a safety aspect to it but it's still an unusual design to have no windows on most of the building. Would this be brutalist architecture?

Definitely brutalist architecture.  I may make a seemingly unpopular statement here, but I think that building was one of, if not, THE ugliest building on the planet!  Sorry. Don’t like brutalist architecture.  The shape looks like frickin’ Frankenstein!

Edited September 8, 2023 by eandslee

[I miss RVA]

37 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Definitely brutalist architecture.  I may make a seemingly unpopular statement here, but I think that building was one of, if not, THE ugliest building on the planet!  Sorry. Don’t like brutalist architecture.  The shape looks like frickin’ Frankenstein!

Very typical for mid-century architecture. I'd be willing to be this was not an "original" building - it may have been new construction (no idea what year it was built) - or it could have been re-skinning of whatever was originally there. There was a whole lot of this happening in the late '40s through the late '60s. Witness the re-skinning (and expansion) of the Woolworth building at 4th and Broad, Peoples Furniture on Broad, G.C. Murphy at 5th & Broad and, of course, Thalhimer's flagship store on Broad between 6th and 7th.

Personal note: This was the architecture that I most vividly remember as being emblematic of downtown RVA's retail core from when I was little in the mid-to-late '60s through the early '70s.

Edited September 8, 2023 by I miss RVA

[Shakman]

16 hours ago, I miss RVA said:

Let me add what I have to the mix - I believe this is the bank building in question - up close and personal, northwest corner of 2nd and E. Grace. Photo courtesy of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, August 1964.

I may upset someone for the rest of the weekend by saying I'm glad that is gone.

Edited September 8, 2023 by Shakman

[I miss RVA]

4 minutes ago, Shakman said:

I may upset someone for the rest of the weekend by saying I'm glad that is gone.

I don't miss it. It's time came and went. What I DO miss, however, is the fact that way back when, the downtown RVA retail core was NOT a ghost town. I miss the big flagship stores (Thalhimer's, Miller & Rhoads), I miss the "big" Woolworths and Murphys. The crowds of people. The beehive of activity. Different world - man. I've long-since lamented the ghost town that downtown RVA became in the '70s and '80s. Would love to see that REALLY get turned around.

[Brent114]

It’s international style and that’s just about the sexiest style ever (city hall before the cheap cladding and weird awning).   And like city hall, it was white marble that glistened in the sun, not concrete.   The base was polished black granite. 

 

It was a stunning building and a great example of its style/ time  

 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Brent114

[I miss RVA]

11 minutes ago, Brent114 said:

It’s international style and that’s just about the sexiest style ever (city hall before the cheap cladding and weird awning).   And like city hall, it was white marble that glistened in the sun, not concrete.   The base was polished black granite. 

 

It was a stunning building and a great example of its style/ time  

 

I remember the black polished granite base. And I'm with you on the redux of City Hall's current cladding - ugh... it's awful. Ironically, the gorgeous skin that you and i remember from the first three decades or so that City Hall stood was NOT the original design. Ironically, what's there now WAS how the building was originally designed. I'm not sure how/when the architecture was changed to what was actually constructed - but I recall as far back as the late '70s seeing photos of what the original design looked like - and it's what we have now. And I'm with you. Beyond fugly. The way the building looked in 1971 when it first opened was FAR superior to what's there now. 

[Brent114]

That’s cool stuff about the original design for city hall.

On a somewhat related note, I just learned last night that there is part the of fencing around the Old City Hall that bears the scares of a man who fell to his death, from  the clock tower, way back in the 1890’s!

 

Apparently a local news station ran a story about it a few years ago? 
 

Just when you think you’ve lived here too long and that the city isn’t big enough, it keeps surprising you….

[ancientcarpenter]

1 hour ago, I miss RVA said:

I remember the black polished granite base. And I'm with you on the redux of City Hall's current cladding - ugh... it's awful. Ironically, the gorgeous skin that you and i remember from the first three decades or so that City Hall stood was NOT the original design. Ironically, what's there now WAS how the building was originally designed. I'm not sure how/when the architecture was changed to what was actually constructed - but I recall as far back as the late '70s seeing photos of what the original design looked like - and it's what we have now. And I'm with you. Beyond fugly. The way the building looked in 1971 when it first opened was FAR superior to what's there now. 

Does anyone have pictures of the timeline iterations of the design of city hall? I would love to see this!

[HRVA]

On 9/6/2023 at 5:02 PM, wrldcoupe4 said:

Good redevelopment site, but I suspect another bank will drop in.

Wells Fargo will typically attach a two-year deed restriction on bank branches for properties they own when they sell them. Assuming they do the same here, it would need to be a bank that’s willing to pay up and then wait two years to open. 

[wrldcoupe4]

Starbucks with drive through it is then!