ChildSavers' WRVA Building

SA-118

Philip Johnson, one of the foremost architects of the 20th century, designed this building and its accompanying tower as a new headquarters for WRVA Radio. Dedicated in 1968, the structures were composed of poured concrete, and the windows simulated punches made by a machine. WRVA, founded by a local tobacco company in 1925, broadcast with a powerful signal and was known as the “Voice of Virginia.” ChildSavers, a nonprofit provider of mental health and child development services, acquired the WRVA Building in 2003. ChildSavers originated in 1924 when social reformer Martha Patteson Bowie Branch established the Children's Memorial Clinic in Richmond.

Department of Historic Resources, 2018

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

A Guide to the WRVA Radio Collection, 1925-2000 (Library of Virginia). WRVA Radio Building Dedication, May 1968. Washington Post, 31 Oct. 1926, 3 Sept. 1929, 12 Oct. 1968. Radio in Virginia, online exhibit, Library of Virginia (www.lva.virginia.gov/exhibits/radio/voice.htm) Caroline C. Morris, “The ‘Voice of Virginia’: WRVA and Conversations of a Modern South” (Ph.D. diss., College of William and Mary, 2012). Richmond Times-Dispatch, 29 June 1966, 13 April 1969, 11 Nov. 2003, 2 May 2008. Ninth Annual Report, Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court (Richmond, VA, 1925). John G. Zehmer, The Church Hill Old and Historic Districts (Historic Richmond Foundation, 2011). Philip Johnson, “Thoughts on Designing a Radio Station for WRVA-Radio” https://childsavers.org/