Nomination Form
The congregation of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, successor to the colonial Bristol Parish, built its second downtown Petersburg church in the 1830s. This burned in 1854, necessitating the construction of the present building, dedicated May 19, 1857 by Bishop William Meade. Dominated by its broached steeple, this chaste Gothic Revival work with neo-Norman influences, was designed by the Baltimore firm of Niernsee and Neilson, which also supervised its construction. The partners, J. Crawford Neilson and John R. Niernsee, were leading designers of the period and provided works throughout Maryland and the South. Unlike the richly detailed contemporary northern churches built under the influence of the English Ecclesiological Society, St. Paul’s is a much freer interpretation of the Gothic style. Gen. Robert E. Lee worshipped here during the Siege of Petersburg and attended the 1867 wedding of his son “Rooney” to Mary Tabb Bolling. The church is located in the Petersburg Courthouse Historic District.
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
