The Prestwould is the building every city wishes it had — a 1927 tower above Monroe Park designed by Sir Alfred Bossom, the British architect who shaped American skylines before entering Parliament. This summer, Unit 9D closed at $585,000 on July 10 after a top-to-bottom renovation and full Jsquared staging. But the most telling detail isn't the architecture or the price. It's who the sellers were: Park 27 founder Chris Small and veteran contractor Jeremy Creasey bought the unit themselves, renovated it with their own capital and craft — and still brought in Jsquared before showing it to a single buyer. When the professionals sell their own investment, every choice they make is a recommendation.
The City's Only New York–Style Condominium
Some addresses are real estate; a few are institutions. The Prestwould belongs to the second category. Designed by Sir Alfred Bossom — whose skyscraper work stretched across American cities before he traded architecture for a seat in the British Parliament — the tower has presided over Monroe Park for nearly a century, its residences drawn to proportions from an era when city apartments were built for entertaining: a grand 29-foot entry foyer, a masonry fireplace, and windows that frame the Richmond skyline nine floors up.
The building itself has been undergoing its own renewal — roughly $1.4 million in reserves and ongoing improvements have returned it to its strongest condition in decades. Unit 9D's transformation arrived at exactly the right moment in the landmark's own story.
When the Professionals Are the Sellers
Chris Small counsels Park 27's clients that Richmond luxury is defined by craftsmanship, history, and sense of place rather than price alone. With Unit 9D, he and Jeremy Creasey — whose firm has spent 18 years renovating homes across the Fan and Museum Districts, including historic properties along Monument Avenue, Grove Avenue, and W Franklin Street — put their own capital behind that conviction. They bought the unit and rebuilt it.
The renovation touched every surface of the 1,880-square-foot residence while preserving what makes a Prestwould home singular. A new kitchen finished in quartz with Café appliances. Two new marble baths. Updated systems and high-efficiency air conditioning. And around all of it, the original architecture left to speak: the foyer, the fireplace, the skyline windows, the rooms drawn for another century's parties.
Then came the decision that says the most. Two professionals who could have listed the unit any way they wished — an agent who markets homes for a living and a contractor who had just perfected every surface — chose not to show it empty. Jsquared had provided design advisory input throughout the project; when the renovation was complete, the team returned to furnish the residence for market.
"The Prestwould is the kind of building every city wishes it had, and a unit like this deserves a renovation that takes its history seriously. Jeremy and I bought it because we believed in what it could be, and we brought in Jsquared because a home like this shouldn't be shown empty. Buyers needed to feel what living here is actually like, and the staging delivered that."
— Chris Small · Founder · Park 27Let the Architecture Lead
Staging a Bossom building is not the same assignment as staging a suburban colonial — and treating it the same way is how landmarks get diminished. The brief at Unit 9D was written by the building itself, and the installation followed four principles:
Nothing placed in a landmark should compete with what makes it one. Furnishings were selected to frame the masonry fireplace, the foyer, and the skyline windows — supporting cast to hundred-year-old lead performers.
Rooms drawn in 1927 for entertaining punish timid furniture. Pieces were scaled to the proportions — generous seating, substantial tables — so the rooms read as gracious rather than cavernous.
The staging paired the renovation's crisp new finishes with forms that respect the building's era — so buyers toured not a vacant landmark but a home holding both centuries at once.
Nine floors up with Monroe Park below, the product isn't square footage — it's the life this address has hosted for a hundred years. Every room was furnished to give buyers a glimpse of joining it.
"Furnishing a residence in a Bossom building is a privilege, and a responsibility. Our job was to let the architecture lead, scale the furnishings to those grand rooms and skyline windows, and give buyers a glimpse of the life this home has been hosting for a hundred years. When the bones are this good, staging is an act of respect."
— Johnathan H. Miller · Founder & CEO · Jsquared Interior Staging & DesignMarket Vision + Renovation Craft + Design Team
The Prestwould project is the fullest expression of a collaboration model that has recurred across Richmond this year: Park 27's market vision, established local renovation craft, and Jsquared's design and staging work. It's the same combination behind a running series of Fan and Museum District sales at or above asking — including the Craftsman at 3210 Grove Avenue, where Jsquared's renovation design guided the pre-sale upgrades before staging.
For sellers, the model's lesson travels well beyond landmarks: the renovation decides what the home is; the staging decides what buyers feel; and the two work best when they're planned together. That's why every Jsquared engagement begins with a design consultation before a single piece of furniture is chosen — on a hundred-year-old tower or a starter home in Lakeside, the sequence is the same.
Frequently Asked Questions
Especially for distinctive ones. Condo buyers are comparing units — often within the same building — where finishes and square footage can be nearly identical. Staging is how one residence becomes the memorable one. At the Prestwould, the sellers were an agent and a contractor who had just completed a full renovation, and they still chose full staging before showing it: their professional judgment was that even a perfectly renovated landmark shouldn't be toured empty.
The architecture leads. In a landmark, the period details — a 29-foot foyer, masonry fireplace, original proportions — are the value, so furnishings are chosen to frame them rather than compete with them, scaled to rooms drawn for another era, and styled to hold the building's history and the renovation's present in the same frame. Done poorly, staging diminishes a landmark; done well, it's an act of respect that lets buyers feel a century of life in the rooms. The same philosophy guided our Museum District historic homes →
Yes — renovation design is one of our core services, and Unit 9D used it: Jsquared provided design advisory input during the project, then staged the finished residence. Finishes, paint, lighting, and layout decisions made with the eventual buyer in mind compound with the staging instead of fighting it. The process starts with a design consultation →
