201 E. Market Street

ca. 1906 photo. In the background is the steeple of the First Baptist Church.

The building at 201 E. Market Street was originally built as a Federal courthouse and post office. It is now home to the Central Library of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library. An addition was built on the east end of the building on the new façade. Although the gate entrance at the right is gone, the existing sidewalk with its checkerboard pattern still bears a trace of it.

Work on the new Federal Building at 201 E. Market Street began on August 10, 1904. The contract price of the building was $71,000 (equivalent to $1,507,000 in 2004). Situated on the corner of Market and North Second Streets, the brick structure, trimmed with marble, was of a Colonial design intended to harmonize with the new buildings at the University of Virginia. The new building was ready for occupancy on April 1, 1906.