Monumental Church was built between 1812 and 1814 to commemorate the 72 people who died on the site in the December 26, 1811, Richmond Theatre fire.

The church is octagonal in form; its walls are constructed with brick faced with Aquia Creek sandstone and a stucco finish.

Chevalier Quesnay de Beaurepaire, a French officer in the Revolutionary army, had developed the idea for the academy but the plan was abandoned due to the war.

The Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788 was held in this building beginning on June 3 for three weeks "after first convening in the temporary capitol at Cary and Fourteenth streets.

[7] Famous parishioners included Chief Justice John Marshall, whose family occupied pew No.

The College transferred the building to the Historic Richmond Foundation, an affiliate of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.

The design of the Monumental Church generated a certain amount of controversy between the two architects, Benjamin Henry Latrobe and Robert Mills, who were consulted independently by the Committee.

To the east and west project corresponding bays; these contain stairways to the balcony that circumscribes the interior, except the pulpit apse on the north face of the nave.

The design also adopted large forms with least ornamentation with the brown colour of the Aquia stone sandstone accentuating the solemnity of the structure.

The documentary Saving Grace-Resurrecting American History, written and directed by writer/director Eric Futterman, follows the process of recreating the monument.

The data was sent by Internet to Ireland, where stonecutters used both high-tech computer equipment and old-fashioned stone-cutting created a new 7,000-pound monument.