Jonah Wagers House

MASW-36
1000 West Main Street, Richmond
1925

The Jonah Wagers House is one of the largest Classical Revival dwellings in Richmond. Ornamentation of the two-story residence includes a repetitive use of certain features. For example, a one-story porch, spanning the width of the three-bay front facade, is supported by tripled Tuscan columns. A continuous entablature below the porch’s flat roof projects slightly at the center to emphasize a low pediment. The central frontispiece, which is recessed below the pediment, contains a stone arch framing a fanlight with sidelights flanking the entrance door. Three large gabled dormers with arched windows pierce the gable roof. Returns occur on the dormers and in a larger scale on the gable ends. A “porte cochere,” or carriage entry, located on the west facade, continues the same flat roof, entablature, and tripled Tuscan columns that appear on the main facade’s porch.The site of the Wagers House contains a special feature: a two-story brick carriage house with servants’ quarters. The Jonah Wagers House was recently donated to the First Methodist Church with a sustaining endowment by Grace Norton Law. It now serves as the church’s parsonage.