205 N 19th St
Richmond, VA, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Pace-King House (The Charles Hill House)

Statement of Significant:

The Pace-King House survives as a rare example of the grand mansions erected in Southern cities on the eve of the War Between the States. Completed in 1860, it represents a final expression of taste in domestic architecture before the dissolution of the Old South. Of particular architectural interest is its festive cast-iron porch which ranks among the most outstanding examples of this art form in a city famous for its ironwork. The house is also a key element in the cluster of old buildings surrounding the late eighteenth-century Adam Craig House, one of the earliest remaining dwellings in Virginia's capital. This group of houses forms the nucleus of Shockoe Valley, Richmond's oldest neighborhood, the area laid off by William Byrd, founder of the city, in 1737.
Historically, the Pace-King House is associated with many personalities prominent in Richmond's commerce and government. The dwelling was erected in 1860 (on the site of an early frame house) as the residence of Charles B. Hill, an active member of the local Democratic party and a long-time alderman of the old Jefferson Ward. A descendant of Col. Humphrey Hill of King and Queen County, Charles Hill made his living as an auctioneer. His house stands as a measure of his professional success, as it was initially valued at $20,000.00, a considerable sum for its time.
Hill unfortunately did not long enjoy his new home, for by 1862, he was dead, and his property had been acquired from his estate by Philip K. White, who formerly had resided on Church Hill in the impressive townhouse now known as the White-Taylor House. A late nineteenth-century newspaper account stated that for a time the Pace-King House was lived in by Charles G. Memminger, Secretary of the Confederate Treasury. Confederate archives do not list the house as one of Memminger's official addresses; thus, it may be that he was a guest of either Mr. Hill or Mr. White until he found more permanent quarters. The account also reported that in the house ". . . some of the finest entertainments were given and most brilliant receptions held that distinguish the brief but brilliant days of 'Dixie'". With a reception room nearly forty feet in length, the house was well equipped to provide an appropriate setting for such functions.

Philip K. White died in 1865, and the property was sold at auction to James B. Pace, a prominent Richmond businessman. Pace owned and operated the J. B. Pace Tobacco Company whose factory was located nearby on North Twenty-Second Street. Pace also served as a president of the Planters National Bank and was one of the founders of the Virginia Trust Company. In addition to his business activities, he served as the Richmond City Treasurer from 1905 until his death in 1920.

Pace lived in the house until 1881 when he sold it to Mrs. Jane King. Mrs. King was an enterprising woman; she ran a fuel company and a wholesale and retail ice company founded by her late husband in 1856. It was during her ownership that two of the dwelling's out- buildings were enlarged for use in the ice business. Mrs. King's company was no small affair; whole shiploads of ice consigned to her were brought to Richmond from the north. The King family owned the property until 1911, when it was sold to the Richmond Methodist Missionary Association. The Methodists kept it until 1923, when it was acquired by Max Cohen, who in 1936 sold it to Samuel Seldes. It was from Seldes' son that the William Byrd Branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities bought the property in 1975. Prior to its acquisition by the A.P.V.A., the house and outbuildings had been used for tenements.

Architecturally, the Pace-King House is an outstanding example of Italianate domestic architecture of ostentatious scale and embellishment. Many fine town mansions of its type were built in Southern cities, but few survive, as most were located in the hearts of their respective communities, on valuable real estate that soon was commercialized. As this period of architecture was yet unappreciated by preservationists, the majority of the houses came down without protest or adequate study. The impending restoration of the Pace-King House by the A.P.V.A. will guarantee the preservation of a rare architectural document.