Diamond Hill Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Sitting at the apex of Diamond Hill in Lynchburg, the hospital at 1503 Grace Street began in the home of S. W. McCorkle, built before 1871 and improved in 1875. Additions followed in 1897 and 1914, and the largest section, facing Grace Street, was completed in 1921. That section is a three-story, flat-roofed, 19-bay brick building with quoins, a central pavilion, a columned entrance and a panel carrying the date and a Masonic emblem. Inside, it had a marble foyer, a mahogany reception room, inlaid tile floors and patient rooms painted in yellow and light blue. The rear original section is brick with a standing-seam metal roof and a cupola. Local Masonic minutes place the hospital among the oldest in Virginia. The 1921 wing was designed by Lynchburg architects Craighill and Cardwell, both Masons. Its size, Neoclassical design and hilltop position make it a focal point of the neighborhood, and it was added to the Diamond Hill district in 1983.