Branch House Restoration / Adaptive Use

Between 1917 and 1919, John Kerr Branch built the largest, most expensive house on Richmond’s Monument Avenue. Designed by John Russell Pope, the Branch House borrowed its Tudor elements from Compton Wynyates of Warwickshire, England. Pope, with his partner, Otto Eggers, blended interior detailing with woodwork from 16th-century English houses to create stately reception rooms. The home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984, and currently functions as exhibition and office space for the Virginia Center for Architecture. 

Hanbury consulted with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to assist the Virginia Society AIA in adapting the home for multiple uses. Two large first-floor galleries now feature traveling exhibitions. A permanent exhibit, intended for the home’s chapel-like studio, tells the story of architect John Russell Pope, the Branch House, the Branch family, Monument Avenue (rich in its architectural heritage), and the Tudor Revival style. Offices for the Virginia Society AIA and INFORM magazine are accommodated on the second and third floors. In addition, the Branch House now features state-of-the-art mechanical, electrical, and security systems and full accessibility, while maintaining the architectural integrity of the period interiors.

“The high praise that comes from a building visited by such a cross section of the public and the architecture community is a fair measure of what Hanbury helped us accomplish.”

John Braymer, CEO, Virginia Center for Architecture Foundation