Striving to attract new industries to Hopewell, the city fathers commissioned Petersburg architect Fred A. Bishop to design an urban landmark and paid the Miller Engineering Company of Norfolk $46,500 to erect it. A standard Beaux-Arts rectangular box, the structure is distinguished by a two-story Ionic portico in antis. On the interior is a 1989 mural by Jay Bohannon depicting the story of Hopewell, a welldone reprise of WPA work.