Norfolk History

[urbanlife]

On 10/21/2023 at 10:50 PM, urbanvb said:

Fund this map of 1950 Norfolk. Really interesting imo.

It is a shame this Norfolk no longer exists. Imagine if much of this would have survived, it would have been such a unique urban downtown.

Figured it would be good to put these two images together.

[mintscraft56]

8 minutes ago, urbanlife said:

It is a shame this Norfolk no longer exists. Imagine if much of this would have survived, it would have been such a unique urban downtown.

Figured it would be good to put these two images together.

Im upset seeing these. Not at the fact they existed, but at the fact they were removed. Whatever idiot even thought of destroying all this to the point it looked like a nuke leveled downtown Norfolk should have been kicked off the city government. They destroyed Downtown and removed its possibilities to be such a bigger city today. 

[urbanlife]

1 hour ago, mintscraft56 said:

Im upset seeing these. Not at the fact they existed, but at the fact they were removed. Whatever idiot even thought of destroying all this to the point it looked like a nuke leveled downtown Norfolk should have been kicked off the city government. They destroyed Downtown and removed its possibilities to be such a bigger city today. 

Honestly, if that Norfolk still existed today, I am not entirely sure I would have ever moved away, especially if the city invested in its rail public transportation to preserve its urban characteristics.

[EJ_LEWIS]

This undated photo shows the vast 17 acre parking lot that the McArthur Center Mall would be later built on.  Judging by the cars in the photo my guess is this is 1979 or 1980.  

Edited October 26, 2023 by EJ_LEWIS

[BFG]

Even in the 70s downtown had some density…

A few years ago I saw an old plan for a mixed-use development that included stores and I think a hotel, broken down into city blocks. Imagine how downtown looks had they gone that route. This would’ve probably been early-80s. 

[mintscraft56]

55 minutes ago, EJ_LEWIS said:

This undated photo shows the vast 17 acre parking lot that the McArthur Center Mall would be later built on.  Judging by the cars in the photo my guess is this is 1979 or 1980.  

The heck happened to the building to the right of the ICON tower and the building to the left of PNC bank tower?

[BFG]

They were demolished in the 80s and 90s.

[urbanlife]

2 hours ago, mintscraft56 said:

The heck happened to the building to the right of the ICON tower and the building to the left of PNC bank tower?

I can't remember the name of the tower, but it has a sad history. It was one of the tall old towers in the downtown, eventually the whole facade of the building was removed and modernized. Eventually the building was torn down for the 300 E Main Tower to be built on the whole block. Here is a photo of the tower in it's original form in what used to be downtown Norfolk. It is the tall building in the center about a block west of where the confederate soldier statue once stood.

Here is another view of the building from the street, you can see the Hampton Roads Maritime building for reference.

And here it is when Urban Renewal was tearing apart downtown before the tower was modernized. You can see the Hampton Roads Maritime building to the right of the building.

 

And this is what the building looked like before it was torn down... 

If you wish to see more of Norfolk History in photos, this is the site I regularly go to for most of these these photos. https://nrha.photoshelter.com/gallery-list

[EJ_LEWIS]

If I am remembering correctly the tower to the right of Virginia National Bank Building (now ICON) was First and Merchants Bank.  My Mom took me with her there to open up my first ever bank account in 1978.  Through many acquisitions its now a part of Bank of America.  

[mintscraft56]

On 10/26/2023 at 5:33 PM, urbanlife said:

I can't remember the name of the tower, but it has a sad history. It was one of the tall old towers in the downtown, eventually the whole facade of the building was removed and modernized. Eventually the building was torn down for the 300 E Main Tower to be built on the whole block. Here is a photo of the tower in it's original form in what used to be downtown Norfolk. It is the tall building in the center about a block west of where the confederate soldier statue once stood.

Here is another view of the building from the street, you can see the Hampton Roads Maritime building for reference.

And here it is when Urban Renewal was tearing apart downtown before the tower was modernized. You can see the Hampton Roads Maritime building to the right of the building.

 

And this is what the building looked like before it was torn down... 

If you wish to see more of Norfolk History in photos, this is the site I regularly go to for most of these these photos. https://nrha.photoshelter.com/gallery-list

Thanks!

[mintscraft56]

I wish the building left of PNC tower was still standing, instead of just being a old parking lot. However I think its safe to say that Downtown, and Norfolk as a whole has grown alot since then. Even for me. I still remember when Wachovia Tower, the Main, and (obviously) Gravity 400 didn't exist. Now look at us. You know, Sometimes I feel like we dont give our city enough credit for how strong we built back after the 50s. 

[mintscraft56]

I dont know the date. Just enjoy the view. Back when Norfolk had actual street density. 

[EJ_LEWIS]

Here is a street photo taken on Granby St. sometime in the 1940s. 

[BFG]

I stumbled upon a Washington Post article from 1985 that basically hypes the area’s progress during the first half of the 80s. Makes me wish I had been a little older when Norfolk underwent the revitalization in the early-80s. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/05/24/norfolk-and-the-beach/9bdb7197-5fb9-4d28-9479-2697483369d2/

[EJ_LEWIS]

15 hours ago, BFG said:

I stumbled upon a Washington Post article from 1985 that basically hypes the area’s progress during the first half of the 80s. Makes me wish I had been a little older when Norfolk underwent the revitalization in the early-80s. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1985/05/24/norfolk-and-the-beach/9bdb7197-5fb9-4d28-9479-2697483369d2/

I was in college back then and would travel home as much as possible.  I would say that Norfolk hit its lowest point in 1980 when Granby Mall was starting to be all boarded up.  Believe it or not people chose to shop at Military Circle Mall where there was a Thalheimers and JC Penney as well as many other stores.  There was a dirty book store, a few bars,   Altschul's and the Spot Apparel store , Fines Men's store and Rices Nachman's department store.  That all changed in 1983 when the first iteration of Waterside opened up.  It would take a couple of decades before the Granby St. of today took shape.  All of the action was on the waterfront and very little action trickled over to Granby St.   There was the annual Harborfest that did flood Downtown Streets with people and this certainly helped the few Granby St. eateries that were still open.  All and all the Downtown Norfolk of today is far better then it was in the 1980s.

Here is a WAVY TV News story from 1980.  This story talks about the revenue increase on Granby Mall. 

   

 

Edited April 18 by EJ_LEWIS
Added video and modified text.

[EJ_LEWIS]

Photo of Brewer St. and the Municipal Market 1956.  McArthur Center now stands where the Market use to be. 

 

[mintscraft56]

Oh Church Street, what could have been today had you survived the urban renewal bomb....