If you ever have a chance to check out the “Black Wall Street” that is 2nd Street in Jackson Ward then you will see a once booming capital of African American commerce from the late 19th and early 20th century. Many of the buildings that inhabited this once thriving section of the city were built by Charles T Russell (pictured at right).

Charles Thaddeus Russell was the first African american architect  in the city of Richmond.

He was trained in carpentry at Hampton Institute and worked as a teacher at the Tuskegee institute in Alabama, studying drafting and design, before taking a job at Virginia Union University, a historically black college, from which he was allowed to solicit designs from the community.

His entry into the fold coincided with a huge boom time for African Americans in Richmond. Largely disenfranchised and mistreated by White owned business, the African American community helped itself. This led to a lot of banks, insurance companies, community buildings, churches, halls, and houses for the newly affluent African Americans needing to be built.

Russel’s most notable design was Maggie L Walker’s famous St. LukePenny Savings Bank built in 1911. The success of this bank would continue on until Jackson Ward was split by a turnpike and then Highway 95.

Because so many of these new businesses sprung from fraternal organizations, the buildings in Jackson Ward at the time were increasingly built to have multiple functions.

One example is Charles T Russell’s 1910 design, a now demolished house for African american lawyer J. Thomas Hewin on North First St. which doubled as an apartment building. Not too outrageous, right?

Another of Russel’s designs was a Masonic lodge/funeral parlor/auditorium.

Yeah, that’s all in the same building.

Another example is the Richmond Beneficial Insurance Company, on North 2nd St. which doubled as apartment buildings and offices.

And, like so many historic buildings, it is apperantly apartment buildings once again.

This style of building is believed to have originated in Richmond.

He also designed River View Baptist church (left). This Neo-classical building was constructed with reused granite and bricks from the Southern Railway passenger depot that was demolished.

By the way, I got a lot of this information and the Baptist Church and Charles T Russel images  from:  “Built By Blacks: African American Architecture and Neighborhoods in Richmond”  by Selden Richardson. This is not an affiliate link, but I do own, have read this book, and highly recommend.

Also should shout out to the Richmond Black History Museum where I learned a lot about Jackson Ward.