Nomination Form
This nationally significant work of Federal architecture was designed by Alexander Parris with advice from Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Parris, a native of Portland, Maine, moved to Richmond ca. 1811 where he designed several houses, including this house on East Clay Street for Richmond lawyer John Wickham. Completed in 1812, Wickham’s house has an elegantly restrained neoclassical exterior. Inside is a resplendent suite of reception rooms arranged around a circular hall containing a graceful curved stair. Each room boasts remarkable long-hidden painted wall decorations carefully uncovered and conserved in a comprehensive restoration begun in the 1980s. Mann Valentine II purchased the house in 1882 and filled it with his collection of art, Indian artifacts, and historic objects. In 1892, he left the property and collections to serve as a museum of Richmond history and culture known today as the Valentine Museum and since expanded into adjacent historic buildings (such as the Decatur O. Davis House).
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
