The Reynolds Metals Company International Headquarters is an International Style

International style (architecture)

The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...

 building complex set in a composed landscape near Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, completed in 1958. The low-rise Executive Office Building was designed by Gordon Bunshaft

Gordon Bunshaft

Gordon Bunshaft was an architect educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1988, Gordon Bunshaft nominated himself for the Pritzker Prize and eventually won it.-Career:...

 of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP is an American architectural and engineering firm that was formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings; in 1939 they were joined by John O. Merrill. They opened their first branch in New York City, New York in 1937. SOM is one of the largest...

, in collaboration with Richmond landscape architect Charles F. Gillette. The headquarters complex has been cited as a prototype for modern suburban office development. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 2000. It is presently the headquarters for the Altria Group

Altria Group

Altria Group, Inc. is based in Henrico County, Virginia, and is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, John Middleton, Inc., U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company, Inc., Philip Morris Capital Corporation, and Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. It is one of the world's largest tobacco corporations...

, formerly known as the Philip Morris Companies, Inc. The property is owned by the University of Richmond

University of Richmond

The University of Richmond is a selective, private, nonsectarian, liberal arts university located on the border of the city of Richmond and Henrico County, Virginia. The University of Richmond is a primarily undergraduate, residential university with approximately 4,000 undergraduate and graduate...

.

Description

The headquarters complex is set on a 121 acres (49 ha) site outside of Richmond, once a horse farm, that is now surrounded by suburban development. The Donovan Farm, also known as the "Horse Pen", gave its name to nearby Horsepen Road. The original site comprised the General Office Building (now the Executive Office Building), its podium, a service building and a greenhouse, as well as screened parking areas, formal gardens and a reflecting pool.

The principal element of the Reynolds headquarters complex is the Executive Office Building. Intended as a showcase for the products of the Reynolds Metals Company

Reynolds Metals

Reynolds Group Holdings is an American packaging company with its roots in the Reynolds Metals Company, was the second largest aluminum company in the United States, and the third largest in the world...

, the Executive Office Building incorporated aluminum, the company's principal product, wherever possible, principally in the building's exterior cladding, but even in interior furnishings and finishes, where carpets and draperies incorporated aluminum fibers.

The three story building rests on an elevated podium. The lowest level appears as an open loggia with slender aluminum-clad columns. Windows span from slab to slab at all three levels, more deeply inset at the first level to reveal the columns. An interior courtyard illuminates interior spaces. Deep fixed overhangs on the south shade the windows from the sun, and are matched by non-functional overhangs on the north side. The east and west elevations feature bright blue adjustable aluminum louvers for sun control. The louvers are motorized to provide daylighting without direct glare.

Use of aluminum

The Executive Office Building uses a total of 1235800 pounds (560,549.5 kg) of aluminum, 400000 pounds (181,436.9 kg) in the exterior cladding. The building retains much of its original furniture, such as built-in aluminum file cabinets, and other original furnishings are in use or in storage. Furniture was designed by Eero Saarinen

Eero Saarinen

Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...

, Florence Knoll

Florence Knoll

Florence Knoll Bassett is an American architect and furniture designer who studied under Mies van der Rohe and Eliel Saarinen. She was born in Saginaw, Michigan as Florence Schust and is known in familiar circles simply as "Shu"...

, and Hans Wegner

Hans Wegner

Hans Jørgen Wegner, , was a successful Danish furniture designer who contributed to the international popularity of mid-century Danish design. His work belongs to a modernist school with emphasis on functionality. He is probably best known for his chairs.-Early years:Born to cobbler Peter M...

. The carpet and draperies are woven with aluminum thread.

Other structures

The four story 1968 General Office Building, while sympathetic to the Executive Office Building, is not considered a contributing structure to the National Register property, nor are the 1978 Information Services Buillding and other support structures.