From the Archives: The Capitol Hotel
The Capitol Hotel was located on 720 E. Grace St. Street in downtown Richmond. The 120-unit hotel was built in the early 1900s and served as a hotel for decades until the late 1980s when rooms were rented out as affordable housing.
When the structure started to decline, the property owner decided to raze the hotel and build a parking lot in its place. Advocates who sought to assist the homeless and poor rallied to stop the demolition but the effort to save the structure failed.
10-06-1988: The Capitol Hotel.
02-14-1958: Fire at Capitol Hotel.
02-15-1958 (cutline): Firemen spray water into burning hotel room at Eighth and Grace streets.
01-10-1991 (cutline): It's Almost Gone. Rubble is all that remains of the Capitol Hotel at 720 E. Grace St. as demolition, which began in mid-December, nears completion. The nearly 90-year-old structure was owned by Dr. Fred T. Shaia, who plans to convert the site into a parking lot. The 120-unit hotel, which has rented rooms to low-income people in recent years, became a symbol of the decline in affordable housing in the city and rallying point for advocates who sought assist the homeless and poor. The effort to save the structure failed.
01-18-1991 (cutline): The dilapidated Capitol Hotel was razed to make way for a parking lot and the first vehicle on the uncompleted lot has license number SHAIA 1. The property at Eighth and Grace streets is owned by Dr. Fred T. Shaia. It is managed by his son Lawrence, who has said they do not have detailed plans for the site but would entertain proposals from developers.
12-17-1990 (cutline): The Capitol Hotel played host to the wrecker's ball yesterday. The rundown hotel at Eighth and Grace streets had become a symbol of the decline in affordable housing in the city and a rallying point for advocates who pressed the housing needs of the homeless and poor. They failed however, to save the hotel from destruction. A parking lot will be built on the site.
Virginia had fair congressional district maps in 2024. Democrats received 52% of the two-party vote totals and 55% of the seats in Congress. The new maps approved by Tuesday’s constitutional amendment are expected to award the Democrats 91% of the seats, an increase of 36 percentage points from 2024, by cramming as many Republican votes as possible into the new 9th district and dividing Northern Virginia’s Democrat voters into five districts extending deep into the state.
