First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory

First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Virginia Landmarks Register
First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory, March 2011
Location	122 W. Leigh St., Richmond, Virginia
Coordinates	37°33′0″N 77°26′30″W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1895 (1895)
Architect	Cutshaw, Wilford Emory
Architectural style	Late Victorian
NRHP reference No.	09001158
VLR No.	127-5676
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	December 23, 2009
Designated VLR	September 17, 2009

First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory, also known as the Leigh Street Armory, Monroe School, and Monroe Center, is a historic armory building located in Richmond, Virginia. It was built in 1895, and is a two-story. Late Victorian style brick structure. It features four brick towers, two circular turrets, a rectangular tower over the center front entrance, and a square tower, with crenellation along the roof parapet. The interior was rebuilt after a fire in 1985, and a 1940s gymnasium removed in 1998. The building originally housed the armory for an African-American militia company until 1899. It then housed a school for African-American children until World War II, when it again was used as a reception center for servicemen of color. It returned as a school for Africa-American children until 1954 and desegregation. For a period it housed The Black History Museum of Richmond. It is the oldest of three identified African-American armories in the country. It is currently home to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, which finished construction in May 2016.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.