2501 Monument Ave
Richmond, VA, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Branch House

Statement of Significant:

Italian Renaissance furniture, woodwork, textiles, tapestries, armor and pike arms. Not surprisingly, the Italian Renaissance was Branch's first choice for the style of what was to become his winter residence. He summered at his wife's family home in Rhinebeck, New York, and spent spring and fall at his villa in Italy. He first explored the possibility of building a "palazzo" complete with cortile but found that such a scheme would consume too much land and be too expensive. Finally, he settled on another Renaissance style that was less consumptive of land: the Tudor.
Branch's choice of style reflected a conflation of social and aesthetic ideals of the wealthy Virginian of English descent during the first three decades of this century. As has been widely noted, there was a belief during this time period that the United States had a special relationship with the Renaissance and that Americans could rightly claim intellectual and spiritual kinship with the life and art of the 15th and 16th centuries. Wealthy men compared themselves to the Medici; artists favorably compared themselves to those of the Italian Renaissance. Additionally, there was, during this period, a renewed interest in the values and heritage of Anglo-Saxon society. It was a wistful romanticism precipitated by the harsh realities of modern warfare and industrial life, and the influx of southern and Eastern European immigrants. Compounded with these larger social and cultural issues was the need to express one's own distinguished lineage; particularly British lineage. The outcome of this desire was clarified by Howard Dwight Smith, who, writing in 1918, commented:
A wave of Phil Anglicism in architecture and decoration has been sweeping over America for the past decade. It is natural that we should look to England for precedent in domestic architecture, inasmuch as the problems to be met and solved in England are more probably nearly similar to our own than they are any others. This wave of Phil Anglicism is spending itself in the popular demand for Adam, Georgian and Tudor work.

Another author wrote, "The tenacity of this tradition has had a very beneficial influence on the domestic architecture of a country that was in danger of becoming french-fried. The trend had, in some areas of architectural design, become so pervasive that, as early as 1907, the Architectural Record wrote:
A contemporary American who wishes to build a brick house...is restricted to a choice between two styles-the Georgian and the Jacobean-and with the catholicity of taste which is his s most noticeable aesthetic characteristic he is as likely to choose one as he is the other.

The Architectural Record, continuing to extol the virtues of the Tudor and Jacobean styles for their picturesque qualities, stated that they were more suitable for the design of large houses whose numerous rooms often dictated rather loose massings.

Branch, as a collector of Renaissance artifacts, would have been naturally drawn to the Tudor style and was personally familiar with it as a result of his extensive travels in Europe. His house, which comprises twenty-eight major rooms, was the perfect size for a Tudor building and the Tudor style provided an excellent setting for his collection.
Although Tudor was quite popular in the northeast, particularly around Philadelphia, it was slow to catch on in the south. Aside from Meadowbrook (destroyed) in Chesterfield County and Nydrie (destroyed) in Albemarle County, there were few contemporary examples of this style in Virginia. This style became much more popular in the mid-20s with the reconstruction of Agecroft Hall and the development of the Windsor Farms subdivision in Richmond. The Branch House would appear to be Virginia's earliest extant example of this mode of architecture.
The Tudor mania was also manifested by the publication of several major works on the subject. The plates of these books served as modern-day pattern books for subsequent building in the style. The two most important of these were Garner and Stratton's The Domestic Architecture of England During the Tudor Period, first published in America in 1911, and J.A. Gotch's Early Renaissance Architecture in England, published in 1901.

Given the social and aesthetic context, it is not surprising that in the program presented to Pope by Mr. Branch at the outset of the project, both men showed a decided inclination toward the Early English as the preferred style of building.
Branch's choice of Pope as architect raises several questions regarding patronage which can only be answered by circumstantial evidence of Branch's knowledge of the architect and his work. First, Branch was involved with the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RF & P) and the Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) for which Pope had won the competition for the design of the station in Richmond. Second, during the period between 1912 and 1919, Pope had designed major Tudor houses for Reginald De Koven (New York), Stuart Duncan (Newport, Rhode Island), and Allan S. Lehman (Westchester County, New York). While none of these houses survive intact, all of them were derived from the same sources as the Branch House. Additionally, Pope was at work on a master plan for Yale that advocated adoption of the English Collegiate Gothic style by the university. In later years Pope continued to design in the Tudor style for domestic structures, including his own home in Newport, Rhode Island. Pope's residence for Duncan, "Bonnie crest," had been widely published since its completion in 1914. Given these credentials, a wealthy man with antiquarian tendencies, such as Branch, would logically look to a designer of wide renown such as Pope, with whom he undoubtedly had some personal acquaintance.
It appears, however, that Pope's involvement in the project was rather limited. Despite the fact that he built his own house in the Tudor style, the style was not Pope's primary interest, and by 1916, he was involved in several large public commissions designed in a Neo-Classical style. Branch family tradition notes Branch's chagrin at the fact that Pope never visited the building. The drawings themselves are signed by Otto R. Eggers, Pope's partner and a consummate designer in his own right. From what is known concerning the firm's working operation, there was probably a strong degree of collaboration between Pope and Eggers on this project, with Pope acting as the critic and Eggers as the actual designer.

According to city land records, the Branch family at the time of the house's construction owned the entire block on either side of Monument Avenue at the present location. Given the magnitude of such a holding, it becomes evident that a conscious decision concerning the siting of the building was necessary. Monument Avenue, Richmond's grand boulevard, was originally intended to terminate at Davis Street with the monument to Jefferson Davis. The placement of the Branch House at the corner of Davis Street and Monument Avenue guaranteed the building a location of prominence along the boulevard as the setting for the Davis Monument. building's long frontage along Davis also serves as a frame for the view north towards the Davis Monument and the Union Train Station, which was under construction at the same time as the Branch House. Infact the Branch House and the train station are on axis with one another and excellent views of the station may be obtained from the second floor-windows of the house. It appears, then, that the house's potential contribution to an undeveloped cityscape was thoroughly considered.
The Branch's involvement with the railroad would seem to confirm the assumption that the axial alignment between house and station was more than coincidental.

The Pope firm's handling of the massing and the decoration of the Branch House demonstrates their skill and familiarity with the style. In addition to the printed sources already cited, Pope also traveled extensively in Britain and photo- graphed buildings to use as aids in design and specification. Of the photographs that are known, a large number record Tudor buildings. That the design of the house is academically correct without becoming wooden is due in part to the fact that it borrows from several different sources in order to convey the impression of a completely new structure. Pope's absorption of the style and his ability to synthesize it into a new form is thus clearly demonstrated. To maintain the illusion of age, the architect had the building materials distressed and aged to add patina to the image of power and pedigree.

An intensely urban building with tight forecourt, the Branch House currently appears somewhat out of place in relation to its low-density urban neighbors. To the building's detriment, other property owners failed to transform Monument Avenue into the high-density urban boulevard of Branch's vision. As a result, the house's relationship to the street is extremely awkward. That the remainder of the block, left open by Branch for his sister, was never built upon adds to the disquieting siting of the house.

Since the house was intended as a winter residence, little attention was paid by Branch to Pope's garden designs. These designs were further altered in the 1960s when a gate was punched through the wall along Davis Street to facilitate the site's use by the residents of the surrounding neighborhood.
The residence at 2501 Monument Avenue remained in the Branch family until it was donated to the United Givers' Fund of Richmond in 1954. It was then con- verted insensitively into offices. In 1982 the house was sold to the present owners who restored the house to its previous state. It is currently used to house the offices of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.