RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) — Haigh Jamgochian, the acclaimed architect whose work included the eye-catching Markel Building off West Broad Street, died this week, according to an obituary printed in the Richmond Times Dispatch.
He was 95.
Jamgochian, known to friends as “Jam,” told Greg McQuade in 2017 that his architectural talents were a natural gift.
“I couldn’t read or write,” he said. “I could draw and build.”
Jam, a Richmond native who studied at Princeton and Virginia Tech, always thought outside the box. While his apartment building on Franklin Street that resembled a treehouse never materialized, his big break arrived in 1960 when the Markel Corporation hired him to create its headquarters.
“It was a sketch that was no bigger than the palm of my hand,” Jam said. “I thought of a bunch of mushrooms made of concrete wrapped in glass.”
