This elegant brick building on the east side of Market Street Park is marked by a semicircular portico carried on columns with monolithic marble shafts. Flanking niches with urns honoring Homer and Dante give a clue to the building's original function. It was the gift of wealthy Charlottesville native and philanthropist Paul McIntire, who funded numerous projects throughout the city, including the equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee (1924, Henry M. Shrady, finished by Leo Lentelli) across the way in what was originally Lee Park; the latter was renamed Emancipation Park from 2017 to 2018, and Market Street Park in July 2018, and the former was removed following several years of legal challenges in July 2021.