The Pythian Castle building in on both the Virginia and National Registers of Historic Places. This three story brick and stone building, with its visually arresting facade, is one of the best surviving examples of Romanesque Revival architecture in Portsmouth. This Virginia historical site was designed by local architect and builder Edward Overman and built in 1897-98. Typical of the period’s fraternal lodges, the exotic edifice housed the meetings of the Knights of Pythias, a secret organization. It and similar fraternal societies were normally the chief patrons of such stylistically conspicuous late 19th-century buildings, usually the most elaborate structures in their communities. (Courtesy of Virginia Department of Historic Resources)