Norfolk History

[EJ_LEWIS]

Photo of Granby St. from City Hall Ave. in 1915.  

[EJ_LEWIS]

View of the Downtown Norfolk skyline circa 1975.  The Omni hotel (now the Sheraton) was under construction then.  

[urbanlife]

cool photo, Norfolk definitely looked like a new little city back then, which is kind of sad since they erased so much of their history and it showed in the skyline.

[EJ_LEWIS]

Church St. 1924.  

 

[urbanlife]

On 9/22/2021 at 10:52 AM, EJ_LEWIS said:

Church St. 1924.  

 

 

It is so sad what racism did to that street and neighborhood.

[EJ_LEWIS]

The Chrysler Museum of Art looks at the history of the Norfolk Scope and its Italian Architect  Pier Luigi Nervi.  Scope remains one of Norfolk's most iconic structures.  

https://www.pilotonline.com/entertainment/arts/vp-db-scope-anniversary-100321-20211003-tb5smvxlgrh5rnmzbwz2v5nsbi-story.html#nt=pf-double chain~top-headlines~feed-driven flex feature~automated~unnamed-feature~TB5SMVXLGRH5RNMZBWZ2V5NSBI~2~6~2~5~art yes

[baobabs727]

Ohhh. Brilliant. That building is not going anywhere, y’all.

[urbanlife]

On 10/4/2021 at 8:04 AM, EJ_LEWIS said:

The Chrysler Museum of Art looks at the history of the Norfolk Scope and its Italian Architect  Pier Luigi Nervi.  Scope remains one of Norfolk's most iconic structures.  

https://www.pilotonline.com/entertainment/arts/vp-db-scope-anniversary-100321-20211003-tb5smvxlgrh5rnmzbwz2v5nsbi-story.html#nt=pf-double chain~top-headlines~feed-driven flex feature~automated~unnamed-feature~TB5SMVXLGRH5RNMZBWZ2V5NSBI~2~6~2~5~art yes

The Scope is also one of the few buildings that Pier Luigi Nervi did in the US. His work is definitely worth studying, such impressive concrete work.

[zeppelin14]

 So I guess this can be considered Norfolk history ties to the rock band Queen. I'm not sure if this is 100% accurate or not but I'm just going by the article. According to the article, Queen was playing a show at Scope and was to view the artwork of Virginia  Beach artist Frank Kelly Freas a few hours before the show. Freas was a Sci-Fi artist and the band loved his art and asked him to recreate one of his works for their upcoming album, News of the World. According to the article, the robot on the album is tearing into the roof of Norfolk Scope to get to the audience. If true, Scope is featured on the album of a famous Queen album!

Article: http://www.hardcorenorfolk.com/testing-blog/2019/8/15/the-top-30-historical-rock-shows-in-tidewater-ever

Edited October 13, 2021 by zeppelin14

[EJ_LEWIS]

Photo of pre-redeveloped Church St. 1977. 

[EJ_LEWIS]

Aerial photo of Downtown Norfolk in 1965 looking south in the foreground is the Golden Triangle Motor Hotel.  

[urbanvb]

That’s one of the saddest photos I’ve seen of downtown. It’s unimaginable really…

[EJ_LEWIS]

19 minutes ago, urbanvb said:

That’s one of the saddest photos I’ve seen of downtown. It’s unimaginable really…

Yes it sure is! Also see how dirty the air is.  

[Icetera]

6 hours ago, EJ_LEWIS said:

Aerial photo of Downtown Norfolk in 1965 looking south in the foreground is the Golden Triangle Motor Hotel.  

1 hour ago, urbanvb said:

That’s one of the saddest photos I’ve seen of downtown. It’s unimaginable really…

It truly hurts every time I see these images after knowing what used to be there.

[urbanlife]

9 hours ago, Icetera said:

It truly hurts every time I see these images after knowing what used to be there.

It's what the Nazis did to the Polish in Warsaw, bulldozed any bit of history the city had, it is insane that a city would have ever been willing to do this to itself.

[mintscraft56]

This is just sad..... Our city was MASSIVE. This is a military parade on granby 

Legit looks like New York. Also Granby Street 1945 after ww2

[mintscraft56]

These were that days my Grandfather told me that we were one of the top East Coast Major Cities,

Im going to be truthful and say that if we dont get things right we might never see these new york level congestion and foot traffic in our streets ever again

[Norf Native]

A great old shot of Granby street. How many think it should be one way again?

[mintscraft56]

I like the two lanes. Plus the city feels more compact and I like that feeling. That wide lane is somthing I actually dont like. 

[BeagleAccountant]

One way streets with multiple lanes end up being used like race tracks. No thanks.

[Norf Native]

Considering I've been working in New York for the past three weeks, I think the one way streets give you a big city feel (practically every street in New York is one way).  I think Granby street is too narrow for two way traffic now especially when you're facing a delivery truck or even passing by all of the outdoor seating areas taking up parking spaces.  My $.02.

[Arctic_Tern]

Two directional forces cars to slow down more, which is exactly what you want in the downtown area with so many pedestrians around. New York has one way streets because their extremely high density grid pattern means that if every street was 2 way it would severely clog things up. Norfolk is nowhere near having this problem. 

I do wish that Norfolk would think about making some of the streets between Killiam and Colley one way, I don't think 2 cars can fit next to each other on most of those streets.

[BFG]

43 minutes ago, Arctic_Tern said:

I do wish that Norfolk would think about making some of the streets between Killiam and Colley one way, I don't think 2 cars can fit next to each other on most of those streets.

I know most of Ghent/Chelsea and Park Place's neighborhood streets are one way, but it surprises me that Colonial Place isn't set up like this as well. Going down some of those "state" streets in CP is a fustercluck because they're clearly not designed for two-way traffic, plus cars parallel parked on the street.

[Norf Native]

Agreed.  Another example is Freemason Street between Boush and Monticello.  That street is way to narrow for two way traffic with parking on one side.

[urbanlife]

8 hours ago, Norf Native said:

Considering I've been working in New York for the past three weeks, I think the one way streets give you a big city feel (practically every street in New York is one way).  I think Granby street is too narrow for two way traffic now especially when you're facing a delivery truck or even passing by all of the outdoor seating areas taking up parking spaces.  My $.02.

New York has to do one way streets because their streets are too narrow for being two lane, especially with the amount of vehicles that move around in Manhattan, plus when working with a grid system, one way streets make it easier to time lights for traffic flow. A street like Granby would make no sense as a one way street because it would have a complimentary one way street going the opposite way.