Bishop’s Chapel

by Bill Dickinson, Richmond, va www.SkyNoirPhotography.com

Several years ago in my trips across the Willey Bridge  in Richmond, I began to notice a very thoughtful little building rising up upon the north bank of the James River and assumed it was going to be another private custom home on a prized river lot. As time went on, I purposely drove slowly across the bridge as I’d go from my home in the Southwest of town to the West End along the far right lane heading northward. I realized as the little building took shape it would become a chapel, full of light by day and of outward glow by night. At a distant glance from the bridge below the hillside during construction and framing,  I could see a tall silhouette engaged in a thoughtful counterpoint of light and mass.

The massing is deliberate and clear. A Plinth – horizontal and of the ground – marking a Place upon it; an enclosure for gathering within – vertical lines of wood like the trees upon the hill of this Place; tall openings – of glass – a frame that projects the eye into the rolling Piedmont landscape; and a steeply pitched roof lifting the eye to the sky and beyond.

If authenticity is a measure of good architecture, this is a fine example.

Josh McCullar

Bishop’s Chapel at Roslyn Retreat was built in 2009 for the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. It is a truly remarkable building and a fine work of craft by Alexandria and Richmond based Bartzen+Ball Architects.

by Seton Droppers, Arlington, Va