Walking tour, Historic architecture of Petersburg

Willie Graham, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s Curator of Architecture, will lead a free walking tour through Old Towne Petersburg’s historic architecture explaining how the popular frame and brick technology changed and developed over the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The tour is sponsored by the Historic Petersburg Foundation (HPF) and will take place at 10 […]

April 1, 2008; 12:41 PM • by brenda p

Willie Graham, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s Curator of Architecture, will lead a free walking tour through Old Towne Petersburg’s historic architecture explaining how the popular frame and brick technology changed and developed over the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The tour is sponsored by the Historic Petersburg Foundation (HPF) and will take place at 10 a.m., Saturday, April 12.

Graham will begin the tour at HPF’s headquarters at 420 Grove Avenue. From there, participants will be led down Cross, High, Sycamore and Old streets before returning to HPF headquarters via Grove Avenue. The program is estimated to take one and a half hours.

The walking tour is limited to 25 participants. Reservations must be made in advance by calling HPF at 732-2096 and will be accepted on a first come, first served basis.

As the curator of architecture at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Graham oversees reconstruction and restoration efforts. His research focuses on traditional building construction technology. A recently completed project is a multi-decade restoration of Peyton Randolph’s townhouse and the reconstruction of its rear-yard domestic and work buildings. Another research effort currently underway is the research and design for the reconstruction of David Douglass’ 1760 Williamsburg theater. This project includes preparation of drawings for the creation of a virtual model of that building as an initial element of Virtual Williamsburg, the digital recreation of the town as it appeared on the eve of the Revolution. He has promoted the use of advanced technologies to probe buildings as a way to understand better how they were built and used. He lectures and conducts fieldwork on early buildings in America, the Caribbean and Europe.

HPF is a 41-year-old non-profit organization dedicated to serving as a catalyst in the preservation and development of Petersburg’s historic neighborhoods and commercial areas and promoting widespread knowledge of the city’s unique architectural and historical heritage.

For more information on the presentation, call HPF at (804) 732-2096.

April 1, 2008 12:41 PM 0