The Unique History of the Byrd Park Pump House

Sometimes called the “Castle on the James”, the Byrd Park Pump House in Richmond, Virginia was built between 1881-1883 to replace the old pump house as Richmond grew in size after the devastation of the Civil War. According to Penn Markham, the president of the Friends of Pump House organization, officials in Virginia were worried about the old pump house, which would move water up from the river into the drinking reservoir, because it was too close to Hollywood Cemetery. People believed that the “dead people juices” could be leaking down into the water, so they wanted to move the pump house further away from the cemetery. The new building was stationed conveniently near the James River, Kanawha Canal, and its own smaller canal. The waterworks would take the water from these areas and pump it up to the Byrd Park Reservoir. At its peak time, it could move 12 million gallons of drinking water per day; that’s 17 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Despite being worried about the “dead people juices”, there were other devastating problems as many people got cholera and typhoid from the drinking water that was pumped into the reservoir, as it was not treated at that time.

What makes this place so unique, however, is its appearance. Despite most other buildings around Richmond (from that time) being made of brick, the Byrd Park Pump House was built in a Gothic Revival style with granite stones, a steeply pitched roof, and ornately beautiful windows. Even though it fell into disrepair after the building closed in 1924, it still has its own eerie beauty. Part of this is thanks to the restoration efforts of the Friends of Pump House. Over the last year, they cleaned up many of the windows, got rid of the boards, bringing natural light back into the space, and have spent quite a bit of time and energy to restore this unique building back to its glory.

The main room of the pump house used to have 9 pumps in total, divided into sections of 3. While most of the machinery is gone, there are still remnants of it in the old pump room, along with a gorgeous staircase that twists up and around in the corner. There’s a catwalk up near the top that allowed guests to walk by and watch the inner-workings of the pump house back when it was functional. But why would that be? Well, to make this even weirder, the Byrd Park Pump House used to be an event space. You heard right! There is a long balcony up on top of the pumping room, one that has beautiful open siding that perfectly displays the canal the Pump House is next to. Back in the late 1800s, it was likely you could see the James River from there, making it the perfect venue for the elite of Richmond. While no one can pinpoint many specific events that were held up there, there have been newspaper clippings from its time that speak of events happening up at the Pump House, so historians do know that it was a space designed for parties. Guests would arrive to the event space via boats on the canal and trains. Party guests would come down and walk the catwalk, watching the machinery when they wanted to step away from the hustle and bustle of the party for a while. Penn explained that people have said the sound wasn’t too bad; however, there were definitely vibrations in the building with the pumps down below, which may have added more life into a vibrant party.

Another interesting thing to note, on the second floor balcony where the parties took place, one side has boarded up windows with stained glass covering the top. This was added later to keep the wind and weather out of the parties. While nothing is there now, it was said to be put in on the side overlooking the water, too; however, there is no trace of any windows there now. Unlike the other areas that have fallen into disrepair, this side seems to exist as if the windows were pristinely cut out or just not there at all, making Penn wonder if the city had removed them and put them in storage somewhere.

The Friends of Pump House organization is looking to preserve the history of this grand building by making it an event space once again! They’re adding in a ramp to make the top floor ADA compliant, which will go over the water and lead to the second story balcony, where the events would be. They are looking to make the downstairs portion a museum that highlights the past of the Pump House, and he said the idea of making part of the downstairs a visitor’s center for the city was not out of the question. They were also looking to potentially have boat rentals or kayaking downstairs, as well. So, they know that in the future they want to draw guests in and have it be a place for recreation and fun once again, one that highlights the unique history of the Byrd Park Pump House and Richmond, Virginia, too.