An adaptation of the Queen Anne style, this pagoda-like building is the state’s earliest known municipal aviary and is an example of the civic amenities resulting from turn-of-the-20th-century private philanthropy. Designed by Frye and Chesterman of Lynchburg and opened in Miller Park in 1902, the Aviary was the gift of Randolph Guggenheimer, a Lynchburg native who became a New York businessman. The Aviary is also an expression of the nationwide enthusiasm for zoological parks and gardens in metropolitan areas that prevailed in the late-19th and early-20th-centuries. Here originally were housed cages containing monkeys, alligators, cockatoos, doves, parrots, and canaries. The interior was remodeled in 1931 when it was converted to a library. In 1975 the Aviary was leased by the city to the Lynchburg Council of Garden Clubs for a garden center.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia