Monumental Church
SA 38
MONUMENTAL CHURCH
The church is a memorial to the 72 people,
including Virginia Governor George W. Smith, who
died when the Richmond Theatre burned here
in 1811. Several survivors owed their lives to
the bravery of Gilbert Hunt, a slave blacksmith.
A committee chaired by Supreme Court Chief
Justice John Marshall raised funds for the church's
construction. Designhed by Robert Mills and
completed in 1814, the octagonal building served
as an Episcopal church until 1965 and later as
a chapel for the adjacent Medical College
of Virginia.
Department of Historic Resources, 1982