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# ‘Still classy but very modern’: Historic Woman’s Club home gets a $2.4 million makeover
- URL: https://www.richmonder.org/still-classy-but-very-modern-historic-womans-club-home-gets-a-2-4-million-makeover/
- Published: 2026-09-28T13:47:31.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-28T13:49:38.000Z
- Description: Before the current renovation, the space hadn’t been redone since 1988.
- Author: Sarah Vogelsong
- Tags: Local News, #lead

For over a century, the beating heart of Richmond’s Bolling Haxall House has been its auditorium — a place where women could gather to hear and discuss new ideas about art, culture, politics and the world. 

“An open mind,” reads the website of the Woman’s Club of Richmond, which since 1900 has called the historic building its home, “is a fulfilled mind.” 

This week, the 1,200-member club unveiled a major renovation of the space that leaders say will bring the auditorium into the 21st century while still honoring its legacy as a mainstay of intellectual life in the city’s downtown. 

“I believe that the 14 wise women who founded the Woman's Club back in 1894 would love this renovation,” said Sylvia Buffington-Lester, the club’s president. “And they would be glad to know that the house that they bought in 1900 is still being so well cared for.” 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/99/06/99067822-fdfd-42b1-ab19-555c33eefb89/content/images/2026/09/7E4ACC51-6244-4D15-85A7-E4F1EEE3C6D8_1_201_a.jpeg)

Founded in an era when a woman’s place was narrowly circumscribed, the Woman’s Club was an instant success, outgrowing a handful of gathering spaces before its members settled at the 1858 Italianate Bolling Haxall House at 211 East Franklin St. 

Because Richmond bankers were hesitant about backing such a major purchase by a group of women, the club had to get a loan out of Baltimore.

In 1915, [Richmond architecture firm Carneal & Johnston](https://architecturerichmond.com/architects-of-richmond-carneal-johnston/) added the original auditorium to the house, which ever since has been used for regular lectures, theater performances, weddings and other special events. The house as a whole is now listed on both the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register. 

Today, speakers come to the club to give talks in the auditorium almost weekly. But before the current renovation, the space hadn’t been redone since 1988\. 

“Ronald Reagan was president,” said Nita Enoch of Nita Enoch Interiors, which did the interior design of the latest revamp. In line with the fashions of the time, the wood used was dark; the colors were heavy on mauve with faux-classical detailing. 

“It was kind of dated,” said Buffington-Lester. “Now it’s still classy but very modern.” 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/99/06/99067822-fdfd-42b1-ab19-555c33eefb89/content/images/2026/09/7B6049B8-BBBE-40F4-A999-BE77D1993D8A_1_201_a-1.jpeg)

The newest design takes a lighter, more neutral palette and, crucially, not only includes acoustic upgrades to fix long-running sound problems but opens up long stretches of clerestory windows with a Union Jack design that allow in light from above but had previously been cloaked by painted shades. For further “architectural interest,” Enoch added rows of pilasters on the east and west walls and framed panels on each side of the stage. 

“We rent this space out for weddings and parties, so it had to appeal to brides and people having parties,” she said. “So that’s why I chose a neutral palette.” 

Of the $2.4 million needed for the renovation, $2.2 million has been raised. 

“We are close, but not yet there,” Susan Brewer, chair of the Bolling Haxall House Foundation, told members during a preview of the new auditorium. 

For the leaders of the Woman’s Club, the renovation is consequential not just because of the improvements it offers to the space where so many of its programs occur, but because it represents an ongoing commitment to staying downtown even while other groups and companies have decamped to the suburbs. 

“It's so much of our tradition and our history. It's preserving history. It's our investment in downtown Richmond. It's our continued commitment to educating women,” said Sally G. Schwitters, the club’s executive director. “That's what we do here. We open up this space and these women fill this room.”

*Contact Reporter Sarah Vogelsong at* [*svogelsong@richmonder.org*](mailto:svogelsong@richmonder.org)