Columbia, also known as the Philip Haxall House, is a historic home located in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

. A rare surviving Federal villa, Columbia was built in 1817-18 for Philip Haxall of Petersburg, who moved to Richmond in 1810 to operate the Columbia Flour Mills, from which the house derives its name. The building is a two-story, three bay Federal style brick dwelling on a high basement. The entrance features an elliptical fanlight opening sheltered by a one-story Doric porch that was added when the entrance was moved from the Lombardy Street side to the Grace Street side in 1924, when the building was expanded to house the T.C. Williams School of Law of the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

. In 1834 the Baptist Education Society purchased the house and it became the main academic building of Richmond College, later University of Richmond. It housed the School of Law from 1917 to 1954. an
''Accompanying photo''
/ref> In 1984 Columbia was purchased by the American Historical Foundation for its headquarters. The Foundation maintained its offices and a military museum at the property before selling Columbia in 2005. In 2013, Columbia was put up for auction and by late 2014 Thalhimer Realty Partners, Inc. (a Virginia-based division of

Cushman & Wakefield Cushman & Wakefield Inc. is an American global Commercial property, commercial real estate services firm. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois. Cushman & Wakefield is among the world's largest commercial real est ...

) had purchased the property, repurposing the historic home from office space into Columbia Apartments. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1982.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia Federal architecture in Virginia Houses completed in 1818 Houses in Richmond, Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Richmond, Virginia * Brick buildings and structures in Virginia {{RichmondCityVA-NRHP-stub