Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Carneal and Johnston, University of Richmond, Architectural drawings and plans, [cite specific plan, date]. Accession 40199, Business records collection, Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Ballou, Justice, Upton, Architects, Glen Allen, Virginia, 07 August 2002.

Biographical/Historical Information

William Leigh Carneal, Jr. and James Markam Ambler Johnston began their firm around 1908 after spending a year working independently out of the same office space. The firm went on to become one of the most prolific and long-established architectural practices in Virginia.

Carneal, born in Richmond on October 24, 1881, graduated in 1903 from the Virginia Military Institute. He began his architectural practice around 1906 following a three year stint as a clerk in his father's company, Sitterding-Carneal-Davis Company. Johnston, born in Rockbridge County on May 18, 1885, studied engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Cornell University before moving to Richmond in 1906. He worked at the Richmond Cedar Works for one year until he began his own architectural practice.

From 1908 until 1950, the firm of Carneal and Johnston (the firm was known as Carneal, Johnston, and Wright from 1928 through 1945, when Oscar Pendleton Wright was a partner) helped to mold the architectural environment of central Virginia, especially Richmond. Responsible for over 1300 buildings, Carneal and Johnston practiced in a wide-range of project types, from the mundane to the monumental. While they did execute some residential buildings, the firm generated a far greater number of public, commercial, and industrial structures. Some of their most notable structures include First Virginia Regiment Armory (1913), the Virginia Mutual Building (1919-1921), the Virginia State Office Building (1922-1923), Saint Joseph's Villa (thirteen buildings, 1930-1931), the Virginia War Memorial (1932), and various structures on the campuses of Richmond College (now the University of Richmond) and Virginia Military Institute.

The firm survived following the founders' retirements in the 1950s. Subsequent owners were Miles Cary Johnston, James Beck, and Raymond Browder who sold the firm to employees Carlos H. Costas, W. Fred Hughes III, and Kenneth E. Bunch in 1984. In 1999, the surviving firm of Carneal and Johnston merged with Ballou Justice & Upton, Architects, and ceased to exist as an architectural firm.

Scope and Content

The Carneal and Johnston University of Richmond architectural drawings and plans collections consists of 1210 sheets representing approximately forty-one distinct commissions as well as additional materials. The collection has been broken into two series. Series have been arranged for Commissions and Other Firms. The collection is housed in both rolled storage boxes and map cases. In some cases, due to the size of some materials, portions of a drawing set for a single commission may be located in both rolled storage and flat storage. The appropriate notations have been made to the finding aid in the form of a "see also" reference. The drawings have been organized by drawing title. Drawings without commission numbers have been noted as such and are identified only by their title. The date given on the container list is taken from the earliest date on the drawing and does not represent any revisions or addenda. This collection contains only architectural drawings and plans. No related correspondence or other documentary materials for the Carneal and Johnston firm are extant.

Series I- Commissions- This series is arranged by drawing title and represents work undertaken by the firm in its own right. The drawings sets typically consist of architectural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing drawings. Some drawing sets include full-scale detail sheets on very long tracing paper. Commission # 1472 (Dormitory # 3) includes tracings entitled "V.[irginia] P.[rofessional] I.[nstitute] School of Business Administration." It is unclear the inclusion of this drawing represents incorrect filing or that Carneal and Johnston used the V.P.I. building in its design features for the University of Richmond project.

Series II- Other Firms- This series is arranged by drawing title and represents blueprint copies of designs executed by other firms for University of Richmond. The Carneal and Johnston firm probably used these original design drawings in their planning for later additions to the buildings. The firm of Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson of Boston, Massachusetts and Richmond, Virginia, architect Charles M. Robinson are represented.

Arrangement

By drawing title.