William Barret was a wealthy tobacconist who built a Classical Revival styled house in 1844 in Richmond's Gambles Hill neighborhood. The house is situated on the southeast corner lot of 5th and Cary Streets.
The residence and its dependencies survived the 1865 Richmond evacuation fire at the end of the American Civil War and remain largely intact today. The house has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972.
Since it ceased use as a private residence, the house has been used by a variety of organizations. The Navy League Club used it as a social club for sailors during the Second World War. It later served as the offices for the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects Virginia Foundation for Architecture and an antique book store, both of which relocated in 2005.
Since 2009, the house has served as the corporate headquarters of Thompson Davis & Company, an asset management firm. It remains largely intact today.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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