| First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory | |
| Designated Other1: | Virginia Landmarks Register |
| Designated Other1 Date: | September 17, 2009[1] |
| Designated Other1 Number: | 127-5676 |
| Designated Other1 Num Position: | bottom |
| Location: | 122 W. Leigh St., Richmond, Virginia |
| Coordinates: | 37.55°N -77.4417°W |
| Architect: | Cutshaw, Wilford Emory |
| Architecture: | Late Victorian |
| Added: | December 23, 2009 |
| Area: | less than one acre |
| Refnum: | 09001158 |
First Battalion Virginia Volunteers Armory, is a historic armory building located in Richmond, Virginia. It was built in 1895, and is a two-story. Late Victorian style brick structure. It also is known as the Leigh Street Armory, the Monroe School, and the Monroe Center.
It features four brick towers, two circular turrets, a rectangular tower over the center front entrance, and a square tower, with crenellation along the roof parapet. The interior was rebuilt after a fire in 1985, and a 1940s gymnasium removed in 1998. The building originally housed the armory for an African-American militia company until 1899. It then housed a school for African-American children until World War II, when it again was used as a reception center for servicemen of color. It returned as a school for African-American children until 1954 and desegregation. For a period it housed The Black History Museum of Richmond. It is the oldest of three identified African-American armories in the country. It is currently home to the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, which finished construction in May 2016.[2]
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.