Terrace Club (night club)
Known Name(s)
Terrace Club (night club)
Address
1212 N. 26th Richmond, VA
Establishment Type(s)
Night Club
Physical Status
Demolished
Description
The 1952 Sanborn Map depicts a two-story brick "Club" at this address. It is square, 30' wide, with a non-combustible (slate or metal) roof. The club sits on a large lot and is freestanding, not connected to other buildings. This site is now a vacant lot behind Mount Olivet Church.
Detailed History
The business in this building prior to the Terrace Club may have also been a nightclub, possibly founded in 1941 bvy Lester Brown, a Post Office employee who later became an elevator operator downtown, The Terrace Club served beer and wine, and may have had a dance band. It also hosted a variety of community meetings. Mrs. J.P. Giddings, president of the Norfolk Division of the United Negro Improvement Assocation, spoke here in 1941. She later published an article, possibly based on this speech, entitled "Have I a Place in My Father's House?" She wrote: "Let us ask Him to hasten the day the Princes shall come out of Egypt, and Ethiopia shell stretch forth her hand to God; let us tell Him that we know now that our house is occupied by strangers, but are willing to take a chance to fight, yes even due, for a part of His house that He gave to the Black Race..."
In 1946, 500 members of the Benevolent Protective Order of Reindeetr met in the Terrace Club.
Local 38 of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union held a meeting in Richmond in 1947. After the meeting, white members retired to a party at the Hotel John Marshall. Black members met at the Terrace Club.
The East End Civic League and the George Mason Elementary School P.T.A. regularly held their meetings in the Terrace Club.
Many thanks to Christoper Graham for providing this excellent historical information!
