Renovations to the Carillon in Byrd Park are expected to be completed sometime this summer.
After an eight-year silence, the bells of the Carillon will soon begin tolling again for celebration and remembrance.
Renovations to the 240-foot-tall Virginia World War Memorial Carillon at Byrd Park are expected to be complete sometime this summer, state officials say, after an extended period of repairs to the tower’s iconic bells, multiple roof levels, terrace pavers, restrooms and HVAC system, among other upgrades.
The Virginia Department of General Services, which manages the property, is partnering with the Virginia War Memorial to return the first-floor gallery spaces to their original purpose as a museum commemorating Virginia’s contributions to WWI. The installation will include exhibits and educational spaces and is expected to be completed in 2028.
The Carillon, a Georgian Revival-style tower featuring 53 bronze bells, is the state’s official memorial to the approximately 3,700 Virginians who died in the European conflict during 1917-1918. The tower is on the National Register of Historic Places and a Virginia Historic Landmark.
The Carillon has been restored numerous times, including a 1970 refurbishment that reduced the original 66 bells to the current 53. The last round of renovations occurred in 1982. The General Assembly transferred complete control of the Carillon to DGS in 2016 ahead of the centennial of the war’s end in 1918.
A big portion of the current undertaking involved repairing or replacing the 53 bells and updating their steel support structure, which was completed in 2024, says Jacilyn Lipford, a spokesperson for DGS. Together, the bells weigh more than 20 tons, with the largest bell exceeding 6 tons.
The Carillon, a WWI memorial featuring 53 bronze bells, first opened to the public in 1932.
“John Taylor & Co. of London, the original manufacturer of the bells, recast 21 bells and replaced bell bushings and clappers for the entire set,” Lipford says in an email. “The existing clavier [keyboard] was also refurbished, restoring it to its original precision and performance capabilities.”
The Carillon’s iconic clavier, or keyboard
The Carillon’s past involves starts and stops. In 1924, the Virginia General Assembly appointed a commission to select an appropriate commemoration of the state’s war dead. French-born Philadelphia architect Paul Cret was selected to design the memorial; he conceived a stripped-down neoclassical temple with a crypt to receive an unknown soldier. “Gov. E. Lee Trinkle laid the cornerstone in early 1926 with great ceremony,” described Elizabeth L. O’Leary in her history of the Carillon neighborhood.
However, bell towers had come into fashion, and the public pressured the state legislature to scrap Cret’s design. Planners turned to Boston architect Ralph Adams Cram, who gave the Gothic Revival “Oxford-by-the-James” look to the University of Richmond.
The Great Depression curtailed some of Cram's plans — a central dome room, a soldier statue and a reflecting pool, excavated but never filled. Nonetheless, on Oct. 15, 1932, some 15,000 people attended the Carillon’s opening ceremonies.
When will the bells start ringing again? In an email response, Lipford says she isn’t sure. “There is no plan at this time, but as we get closer to the summer, and with Virginia 250, there’ll probably be something,” she says.
