Monumental Church

The church is a memorial to the 72 people, including Virginia Governor George W. Smith, who died when the Richmond Theatre burned here in 1811. Several survivors owed their lives to the bravery of Gilbert Hunt, a slave blacksmith. A committee chaired by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall raised funds for the church's construction. Designed by Robert Mills and completed in 1814, the octagonal building served as an Episcopal church until 1965 and later as a chapel for the adjacent Medical College of Virginia.