What should the city do with the historic Renwick Courthouse?

by Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT

A working group tasked by Fredericksburg City Council over the summer to study potential new uses for the historic Renwick Courthouse is suggesting adaptive reuse of the building, which was built in 1852, as an event space and artist studios.

Kate Schwartz, the city’s historic resources planner, and members of the working group presented recommendations to City Council at its regular meeting on December 12.

The working group identified adaptive reuse as an event space, under a public-private partnership, as the best future use for the historic building.

The Gothic-revival style building was designed by architect James Renwick Jr., and it served as the seat of Fredericksburg city government for over 150 years.

Renwick, born in New York in 1818, was one of the most successful American architects of his time, according to The Encyclopedia of American Architecture. He drew inspiration from the Gothic architecture that was prevalent in Europe from the 12th to 16th centuries and is credited with spurring a Gothic revival in the United States the mid-1800s.

Among Renwick’s other notable designs are the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, D.C.; St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York; and other major religious and municipal buildings in Minnesota, Connecticut, Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts and South Carolina.

The Fredericksburg building is “unquestionably significant at the state level and is highly likely to have national significance for its association with (Renwick) and events related to the Civil War” when it was used as a communications center, the working group’s report states.

Since the city’s new courthouse was completed in 2014, the Renwick Courthouse has been mostly vacant, occasionally used for storage, Schwartz told Council last week.

A condition assessment was conducted on the building in 2016 that revealed a degree of water infiltration in the bell tower, but the extent of the building’s needs is not clear—something Councilor Matt Kelly, a member of the working group, stressed.

“The concern here is the issues go well beyond the tower,” he said. “There have been a number of reports done on the building at different times and it’s been hard to bring those all together. We need to do a full assessment and then decide, are we going to just patch it and pass it on (to a developer) or do all the renovations and present it as something (a developer) can fix up on the interior.”

Schwartz said that the 12-member working group, which included members of city staff, City Council, the National Park Service, the Economic Development Authority, the University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg Main Street, the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, the Architectural Review Board and the Fredericksburg Arts Commission, was always in agreement that the building should remain in public ownership.

“The historic courtroom was the most important priority for preservation,” Schwartz said. “It is an important asset to be publicly available and public use should be maintained.”

In addition to the Courthouse, the Renwick complex includes the 1909 Wallace Library—which housed the city School Board offices until the Walker-Grant Center was completed in 2017—the 1928 Old Jail and an open green space at the corner of Princess Anne and George Streets.

Schwartz said there was “more flexibility” among working group members as to the other two buildings.

The suggestion is for the city to retain ownership of the Courthouse only and to use the other two as collateral with the developer or venue operator, though the working group recommends maintaining the three buildings together on one parcel.

“The first floor and wings of the Courthouse, the Jail, the Wallace Library, and the green space at the corner of Princess Anne and George Streets could enhance the viability of the site either by housing related uses to make a holistic complex, or through use as income-producing spaces to provide stable revenue sources for long-term maintenance,” the working group wrote in its report.

The city would rent the Courthouse to the developer “for a minimal amount” and the developer would be responsible for maintenance and capital improvements.

The working group’s recommendations also include seeking placement of the Courthouse on the National Register of Historic Places. The process by hiring of a qualified consultant to assess the building’s national level of significance.

“This research will inform funding options and evaluation of proposals and would ultimately contribute to an individual National Register nomination,” the group’s report states.

Schwartz said city staff will return to Council in the first quarter of 2024 to present a plan for moving forward on the working group’s recommendations.

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