401 Rivermont Ave
Categories
- Business
- Lower Rivermont
Address
401 Rivemont Ave
Property Name
The Trolley Barn Lofts
Date Built
1927
Architect
--
Contractor
--
Function
Business
Style & Architectural Description
Early 20th century commercial. 1-story, 3-bay wide, 5-bay long, gable-roofed, brick garage building formerly used as a trolley car barn. Front elevation has stepped gable with concrete caps. Central entrance on North facade has a rolling garage door. Building has an additional full basement with entrance on the rear. Building is sided with metal siding on three elevations. Through its transformation from a garage into apartments, it has lost its rolling doors in favor of a main door with windows along the front side of the building.
Owners
- 1900-1909 Carbarns for Lynch/River Street Railway
- 1909-1928 Unknown
- 1928-1930 Lynchburg Traction & Light Co.
- 1931-1966 Appalachian Electric Power
- 1966-2003 Reginald Q. & Augustus S. Phelps
- 2003-2016 Bobby L. & Gurley A. Johnson
- 2016-2019 Bobby L. Johnson TRS
- 2019-Present Victoria's Inventory LLC
Anecdotal Information
Built as a car barn and maintenance facility for streetcars, The Rivermont trolley line was an important factor in the ultimate success of the development of Rivermont, an area once considered a distant suburb of Lynchburg. Originally the transit company had planned to build a car barn across the street, but the objections from local residents, including the Jones family (donors of the library) forced the company to build its main garage downtown and this smaller satellite car barn instead. The building has been heavily remodeled and since 1966 has served as an automobile repair garage. It is one of the few reminders of Lynchburg's streetcar system and in particular, the Rivermont line which ceased operation in the late 1930s. For many years the building has been Reggie Phelps Auto Service but as part of an exciting reimagining of the last two blocks of Lower Rivermont, developer Tony West has proposed renovating the building into fourteen apartments, which are now known as the Trolley Barn Lofts.
