Look for a towering yellow-brick skyscraper with striking greenstone at its base, rising dramatically above Church Street-it’s so tall you might risk a stiff neck if you try to see the top without stepping back, so your safest bet is to gaze straight up from the sidewalk!
Right in front of you stands the Allied Arts Building, a real show-off in Lynchburg’s skyline ever since it first burst onto the scene back in the days of jazz and speakeasies. When construction started in 1929, imagine all the hustle: steel beams rising, bricklayers racing against gravity, and people below craning their necks, just like you are now! By 1931, this Art Deco beauty-complete with yellow brick and flashy greenstone, straight out of a movie set-became the tallest building around, towering 17 stories high. For over forty years, no other building in Lynchburg could catch up. It must have been Lynchburg’s skyscraper version of “King of the Hill,” at least until the Bank of the James arrived in 1972. Designed by the adventurous duo Stanhope S. Johnson and Addison Staples, it even shares its dashing looks with the Central National Bank in Richmond. Nowadays, the old offices and studios are getting a new life as apartments. Not too shabby for a landmark that’s witnessed nearly a century of change, laughter, and, probably, a few wild rooftop stories!
