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Historical Significance:

The Belgian Friendship Building on the campus of Virginia Union University is listed as a National Treasure by the United States Department of Interior and is listed as a Virginia Landmark by the Virginia Landmarks Commission. Originally designed for the 1939 New York’s World’s Fair by  Henri van de Velde, the Belgian Friendship Building is the only known van de Velde architectural structure on American soil. The building was originally the Belgian Pavilion of the 1939 New York World’s Fair.  Visited by millions of people in New York, the Belgian Pavilion was an early representation of modern architecture and exhibited van de Velde’s status as an Art Nouveau pioneer. Belgium’s gift of the Belgian Pavilion to Virginia Union University was a wonderful gesture that illustrated the theme of the 1939 World’s Fair of “Peace through Understanding”

The structure was intended to be dismantled and shipped back to Belgium to become the core of a new university in that country.  However, because of the onset of World War II and the exile of the Belgium government by Nazi Germany, the Belgian government decided to give the Pavilion as a gift to one of America’s institutions of higher learning. Twenty–seven schools and colleges expressed interest in obtaining this architectural gem and it was Virginia Union University who succeeded in securing the building with its 161 foot tower.  However, the carillon of 35 bells from the tower, did not accompanyits Pavilion.  It was awarded to former president, Herbert Hoover, in honor of his relief efforts in Belgium during World War I.  President Hoover had the bells sent to Palo Alto for placement in Hoover Tower of Stanford University his alma mater. 

The connection between the Hoover bells at Stanford University and Virginia Union University’s Belgian Friendship Building was not widely known until Alan Nelson and his sister, Dianne Watkins, uncovered this information in 2004.  Their finding resulted in the formation of a nonprofit organization entitled “Bells for Peace.”  Its mission is to replace the missing carillon in the Belgian Friendship Building and work to bring the building to pristine condition befitting the treasure that it is, promoting excellence in education. (See East-West Connection, Dianne Watkins at http://www.bellsforpeace.org)

Awarding the buildings to Virginia Union was only the first step in obtaining it. The amount of $500,000 dollars was needed to rebuild the Pavilion on the campus.  The efforts to raise the funds were spearheaded by Dr. John Ellison, the first African-American president of Virginia Union and an alumnus of the university. Dr. Ellison successfully directed fundraising and the negotiation and operations leading to the installation of the buildings in 1941.  Named, the Belgian Friendship Building, the 4 part complex was to be utilized as a gymnasium, natural science classrooms and laboratories and as the University Library. In addition, the building’s tower was named the Vann Memorial Tower in honor of distinguished former Union alumnus, Robert L. Vann, founder of the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper and a successful attorney, who became Assistant United States Attorney General during the F.D. Roosevelt administration.

In 2007, His Excellency Dominique Struye de Swielande, Belgian Ambassador to the Unites States, declared that the Belgian Government will award a four-bell peal to Virginia Union University for installation in the Tower due to the efforts of Bells for Peace.

Physical Description:

The Belgian Friendship Building exhibits clean lines and geometrical patterns that are very much reminiscent of the International style. The building is distinctly different from the older buildings made of Richmond granite and because of the two story building’s Modernist style it has become the one the University’s most well known features.  The exterior of the buildings is constructed of red tile with a black slate-faced water table. The building also features an expansive sandstone relief by Oscar Jespers and Henry Puvrez “evoking” Belgians at work. The Vann Memorial Tower of this building is 161 ft tall and contains the capacity for a 35 bell carillon. It was originally constructed of slate-black schist and lined with glass brick windows.  Over time the slate had to be replaced with other materials that included a corrugated armor of aluminum that diminished the architectural integrity of the tower. The tower also features an expansive sandstone bas relief which illustrates natives of the Belgian Congo at work. The ceramic sandstone sculptures featured on the Belgian Friendship Building are possibly the largest bas-reliefs created in ceramic since the creation of the bas relief entitled the “Archers’ in the Palace of Darius I of Persia c 500 B.C. The construction materials of the buildings were envisioned to symbolize Belgian unity.