RICHMOND, Va. -- Welcome to this private museum and residence hidden in a Fan alley, shrouded in ivy, mystery and history.
It was built as a carriage barn in 1890 and has become one of the most unusual houses in RVA, occupied by one of our most unusual characters, 66-year-old Richard Bland.
Mark Holmberg ventures inside Richard Bland's private museum.
"I'm probably the first person to live in here since the 1890s," Bland said during a recent tour.
It is completely filled with artifacts and curios that tell a somewhat secret history of Richmond.
You really want to know the real masterminds and players of early Richmond?
He's got the old letters and stories.
You want to know about the neighborhoods, springs, canals, reservoirs and promenades of Richmond?
Richard Bland
Ask Richard.
You want to see actual items used, worn, designed or drawn by the architects of modern Richmond?
Finagle a visit and be ready for a visual and historic smorgasbord.
Bland, a descendant by marriage of Continental Congressman Richard Bland, finds his treasures at flea markets, in antique stores, or they just show up.
"A lot of things were brought to me by people," he said. "They thought it would go to a good place and just stay here."
And stay it does.
His home is a museum.
A look at the "visual and historic smorgasbord."
For example, he has a super cool and rare collection of Richmond electric trolley memorabilia, and actual documents telling this world-changing story about suburbs and how we electrified our world.
The textures, the colors, are all over the map, literally. Everywhere you look there's something completely different and unexpected, but always filled with history.
For much of his life, Bland painted Richmond scenes, hundreds of them.
But then he started digging for the true stories behind those scenes.
One of Bland's paintings.
"What makes our city special and unique," he told me.
So come join us on a video tour of this most unusual Richmond place and character.
