Charles M. Robinson and Principals Architectural Records
Scope and Contents
The Charles M. Robinson and Principals Architectural Records consist of materials about Charles M. Robinson, and the office records, architectural and design plans, and project photograph files of the Charles M. Robinson, Architect firm and successor firms. The materials document the business operations of the firms, as well as their role in developing the city of Richmond, VA, and in developing various institutions and organizations across the state of Virginia. The works in this collection also demonstrate the significance of the firm’s activities on communities in these areas. It is divided into four series.
Series 1, Charles M. Robinson Files (1978, 2020, undated; 1 folder), includes copies of documents about Charles M. Robinson, such as a copy of his Architecture License. There is also a copy of a short essay about Robinson’s role in the construction of the ACCA Shrine, now known as the Altria Theater.
Series 2, Office records (circa 1935-1992, undated; 18 folders), includes office records, which are arranged in decreasing order of their significance/functionality to the firm’s operations. Most notably are the lists of commissions, index to the architectural drawings, and the commission notes. These records cover the majority of the timeline following Robinson’s death.
Series 3, Architectural drawings (1907-2012, undated; 3 oversized boxes, 93 flat file folders, 4 tubes, 1457 tube boxes), the largest part of this collection, consists of the firm’s architectural drawings and design plans, as well as the drawings and plans Robinson created in his role as the official school board architect for several cities and counties in Virginia, and as an architect for the Virginia State Board of Health. They span more than a century beginning in 1907 and ending in 2012 and represent over 1600 projects.
Included are drawings, designs, and plans for educational institutions, hospitals, churches, offices, retail stores, private residences, and plots across the state of Virginia. The series also includes topographic maps and site studies. There are original designs, proposed designs, voided designs, additions, alterations, and renovations. The designs are comprehensive, and include work on interiors and exteriors, plumbing and ventilation systems, and landscape works.
Primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools in locations across Virginia are very well represented by the plans in this collection. More well-known post-secondary educational institutions include the College of William and Mary, James Madison University, Raford University, University of Mary Washington, George Mason University, and Virginia Commonwealth University. However, the number of primary and secondary schools represented in the collection is even greater.
Of particular significance are the designs and plans the firm created for educational institutions for students from underrepresented, historically oppressed, and marginalized groups. These include the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, the Virginia State University, the nation’s first fully-state supported four-year post-secondary learning institution for Black Americans, and the HBCUs Norfolk State University and Virginia Union University.
The works that Robinson completed as an architect for the Virginia State Board of Health include plans and designs for the Catawba, Blue Ridge, and Piedmont Tuberculosis sanitoriums (rehabilitation center, hospice, etc.). Robinson’s work in this role also affected the lives of people from underrepresented groups, as the Piedmont institution was developed specifically for the care of Black residents of Virginia.
Series 4, Project photograph files (circa 1855-1999, undated; 9 boxes, 15 folders), includes many of the project photograph files from the architectural firm. Although there are some items from Robinson’s time with the firm, the large majority are dated and document the projects from after his death on August 20, 1932. The photograph file index introduces the rest of the series, which includes prints, negatives, photo documentation from John Binford Walford and Oscar Pendleton Wright’s photograph albums, and undated presentation photos.
Dates
- Creation: Circa 1855-2012
Creator
- Robinson, Charles M. (Morrison), 1867-1932 (Architect, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection ism open for research. Please note, part of this collection is housed at Ivy Stacks, an off-site storage facility. Requests for materials housed at Ivy Stacks require at least 72 hours' notice.
Some of the architectural works are brittle or torn and need to be handled delicately.
Photographic materials need to be handled with proper gloves.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection contains some in-copyright material. Visit our Permissions and Publishing page (https://www.library.virginia.edu/special-collections/services/publishing) for more information about use of Special Collections materials. The library can provide copyright information upon request, but users are responsible for making their own determination about lawful use of collections materials.
Biographical / Historical
Charles Morrison Robinson was born on March 3, 1867, in Hamilton, Loudoun County, Virginia. He was the eldest son of architect and builder James T. Robinson and Elizabeth Crockett Robinson. His family relocated to Welland, Ontario, where he completed his early schooling before beginning architectural training under D.S. Hopkins in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and John K. Peebles in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1889, he formed his first partnership—Smith & Robinson—in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He married Annie Custer in 1891, and their son, Charles Custer Robinson, was born two years later.
Following years of practice in Pennsylvania, including partnerships with George T. Smith, R.B. Crockett, and George Winkler, Robinson returned to Virginia in 1906, establishing Charles M. Robinson, Architect in Richmond. Robinson became a leading designer for a future comprehensive statewide public school system mandated by Virginia’s 1902 Constitution.
Between 1906 and 1932, Robinson’s practice produced plans for more than 400 public schools and many university buildings, including commissions in Richmond, Norfolk, Newport News, Portsmouth, and dozens of rural counties. Robinson’s standardized plans were paired with styles ranging from Arts & Crafts to Collegiate Gothic, Spanish Revival, and Art Deco. His schools featured ample light, logical circulation, and adaptable common spaces.
In 1908 he won the commission to design the campus of the State Normal School at Harrisonburg, now James Madison University, designing its first seven buildings and subsequent expansions through 1928. He designed foundational campuses for the institutions now known as the University of Mary Washington, Radford University, and Virginia State University, and oversaw more than sixty major projects for the College of William & Mary between 1921 and 1931, including the Sunken Garden and numerous residence halls, academic buildings, and the George Preston Blow Gymnasium.
His practice also extended beyond education. In 1918 he designed the tuberculosis sanitariums (sanatoriums) at Catawba, Burkeville, and Charlottesville for the Virginia State Board of Health. In Richmond, he designed civic and commercial structures, including the Times-Dispatch Building, Stuart Circle Hospital, Grace Hospital, St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, the Sunday School Building at Ginter Park Methodist Church, and (in partnership with his former apprentice Marcellus Wright, Sr.) the ACCA Shriner Mosque—today the Altria Theater. Residentially, his Laburnum Court development introduced an early twentieth-century model of middle-class housing arranged around a landscaped central park.
By the 1920s, Robinson had expanded his firm to include his son Charles Custer Robinson, Benjamin A. Ruffin, and John Binford Walford, who became partners in Charles M. Robinson, Architects in 1922. Although Robinson retired to his farm in Hampton in 1926, he remained professionally active, producing drawings at home and visiting construction sites. Robinson died on August 20, 1932, at age 66 in a Norfolk hospital, and the firm was formally dissolved the following day.
The practice he founded continued through multiple generations of architects, evolving through successive names—J. Binford Walford, Architect (1932–1946); Walford & Wright (1946–1962); Wright, Jones & Wilkerson (1962–1991); Wright, Jones, Wilkerson, Rothschild & Boynton (1991–1994); and finally Boynton, Rothschild, Rowland (1994–2020). The firm remained active for more than a century before being acquired in 2020.
Reference List:
Arlington County Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board. (2008, September). Historic District Designation Form. Arlington County Register of Historic Places. https://www.arlingtonva.us/files/sharedassets/public/v/1/projects/documents/wraps_localhistoricdistrictdesignation_wilsonschool_2009.pdf
Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA. (1932, August 22). Charles M. Robinson Prominent Architect, Dies; Burial Today. Newspapers.com by Ancestry. https://www.newspapers.com/article/ledger-star-charles-m-robinson-prominen/166469428/
Loth, C. (1999). The Virginia Landmarks Register. The University Press of Virginia. https://books.google.com/booksid=NJa_64aH1iMC&q=charles+robinson#v=onepage&q=charles%20robinson&f=false
Morgan, S.W. (2019, September 24). Virginia’s Unsung Architect. Richmond Magazine. https://richmondmagazine.com/home/latest/charles-robinson-branch-museum/
Moyer, L. (n.d.). Halls of History. University of Mary Washington Magazine. https://magazine.umw.edu/spring2013/features/halls-of-history/
Preservation Durham. (n.d.). Robinson, Charles M. Open Durham from Preservation Durham. https://www.opendurham.org/people/robinson-charles-m
Robinson, D.B. (n.d.). Charles M. Robinson: A Virginia Architectural History. https://www.charlesmrobinson.com/index.html
United States Department of the Interior National Park Service. (1992, October 31). National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form. Internet rchive Wayback Machine. https://web.archive.org/web/20101111233435/http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/MultipleCounty/127-0845_PublicSchoolsinRichmondMPS_NPS_final.pdf
Winthrop, R.P. (2015, January 27). Architects of Richmond: Charles M. Robinson. Architecture Richmond. https://architecturerichmond.com/architects-of-richmond-charles-m-robinson/
Full Extent
278.62 Cubic Feet (1768 rolls of architectural drawings housed in 1458 tube boxes, 4 tube rolls, 93 oversized flat file folders, and 2 oversized flat boxes. 11 legal document boxes, 1 oversized flat box, and 9 oversized flat folders of records)
Language of Materials
English
Metadata Rights Declarations
- License: This record is made available under an Universal 1.0 Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons license. The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library of the University of Virginia makes its bibliographic records and the metadata contained therein available for public use under the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Designation. (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into four main series:
Series 1 - Charles M. Robinson records, 1978, 2020, undated
Series 2 - Office records, 1935-1992, undated
Series 3 - Architectural drawings, 1907-2012
Series 4 - Project photograph files, 1855-1999, undated
Series 2 and 4 are further arranged into large files, and Series 3 is arranged first into subseries, then into files.
The files in Series 2, Office records, are arranged accoring to the significance of the documents to the firm's operations.
In Series 3, Architectural drawings, the subseries are named after each decade, beginning with 1900s and ending with the 2010s. The files below these subseries are project titles arranged in general chronological order grouped together by year.
The files in Series 4, Project photograph files, are arranged alphabetically.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from David Robinson, 2021-03-31
Content Warning
CONTENT WARNING: This material contains offensive or harmful language. This material contains references to outdated terminology for African Americans, as well as for Native Americans. The terms “Colored” and Negro”, in commom parlance when the drawings were created, are used throughout the architectural drawings to refer to Black people. The term “Indian” is also used to refer to Native Americans. These terms are primarily found in the titles of architectural drawings. Titles remain as they were found for historical context. The purpose of this note is to give users the opportunity to decide whether they need or want to view these materials, or at least, to mentally or emotionally prepare themselves to view the materials.
Conservation and Preservation
Some items in this collection sustained damage from pests and/or mold prior to coming to the Library. Preservation staff has frozen and stabilized the items to prevent further damage from pests or mold and cleaned the items to facilitate handling. 10/20/23
Subject
- Title
- Charles M. Robinson and Principals Architectural Records finding aid
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Joseph Azizi, Archivist; Rose Oliveira, Accessioning Archivist; Reece Meares, Student Accessioning Assistant; Nick Love, Student Processing Assistant; and Sanaz Tavalaeian, Processing Assistant.
- Date
- 15 December 2025
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library Repository
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
P.O. Box 400110
University of Virginia
Charlottesville Virginia 22904-4110 United States