• SLIDESHOW

A different kind of signal is beaming from the old WRVA radio studios on Church Hill.

ChildSavers, a nonprofit organization that's served the developmental and mental-health needs of children in the Richmond area for more than 80 years, has moved into the historic radio station following more than a year of major renovations. The organization yesterday celebrated what it called its "grand re-opening."

"This gives us the ability to bring everybody under one roof," said Mark A. Hierholzer, chief executive officer, noting the organization has been scattered around the area, operating out of at least three locations in recent years and holding board meetings in church basements.

"To have our own facility that has everything we need is wonderful. Beyond that, it was designed to be a state-of-the-art child mental-health center," he said.

From a building where once music, news and talk was broadcast around-the-clock to central Virginia and even much of the nation, now therapists work with troubled children in the renovated space: bright, innovative and welcoming.

ChildSavers, long known as Memorial Child Guidance Clinic before changing its mouthful of a name in the past year, often works with children who are the victims of, or witnesses to, violence or have experienced other psychological trauma.

Porch lights outside each office indicate whether therapy is in session, and actual mailboxes embedded in the walls provide a homey feel. In one room, a sand table encourages children to play and in doing so reveal their deepest, most closely held worries. Another room fashioned with one-way glass enables parents and therapists to watch children play and learn how to help them.

Hierholzer is particularly fond of the lobby of the 20,000-square foot building designed by the renowned American architect Philip Johnson. At the far end of the long foyer is an unparalleled view, through the building's oversized windows, of the downtown skyline.

"We view the main hall as a metaphor for therapy," he said. "When you come into the building, as children come into therapy, they have a very narrow, almost tunnel-vision view of their lives. What we do with therapy is open up that vision, provide perspective and widen their understanding of themselves and their relation to their neighborhood, to their city and to the world."

Other renovations include a mock-up of a child-care center where training of child-care workers takes place.

The building was vacated in 2001 when WRVA and its sister radio stations moved to Basie Road in Henrico County after more than 30 years perched atop Church Hill, at 22nd and East Grace streets.

Acquisition of the building by ChildSavers was made possible through a gift-purchase arrangement with E. Carlton "Buddy" Wilton Jr., a board member and longtime supporter of the organization. Wilton's private foundation purchased the building for $900,000 in 2003 and then sold it to the organization's endowment fund for $600,000.

The organization moved into the building temporarily soon after the sale but had to leave and scatter about the city during the renovation that began in 2006.

Remnants of the building's radio history include a couple of small, soundproof studios used for volunteer activities, a "NEWS" nameplate on an office door and a WRVA welcome mat at the main entrance.