May/June 2008
A Landmark's Legacy
The Navy YMCA/Union Mission building is up for sale, but hopefully not down for demolition.
By Ann Wright
Handsome architecture was considered a civic obligation in 1909 when a new Navy YMCA building at 130 Brooke Ave. opened its doors. The imposing six-story brick structure, now home to the Union Mission, is for sale, and preservationists have their fingers crossed for an important Norfolk landmark.
One concerned onlooker is John Paul C. Hanbury, a founding partner now retired from the Norfolk architecture firm Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas & Company. ";Norfolk has not had the best record on historic preservation," he says. "This building is so important and the architecture so excellent that it deserves to be saved. No public space in Hampton Roads compares to the lobby and mezzanine. It is just elegant and there's nothing like it."
The genesis of the building goes back to 1902 and a Norfolk visit by Helen Gould, the philanthropic daughter of robber baron Jay Gould. Navy YMCA's were a special cause for Miss Gould, who built one near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. After seeing the Norfolk Navy Y's cramped quarters in a rented building on Church Street, she returned to New York and successfully lobbied John D. Rockefeller to underwrite a new Norfolk facility.
After Rockefeller agreed to fund the project, Louis Eugene Jallade was hired as architect. Jallade, a graduate of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, was working in New York. He also designed the Y at Fort Monroe, the Portsmouth YMCA building on High Street and the Roanoke YMCA.
Norfolk's new Navy Y came at a heady time for the city. Work started as the 1907 Jamestown Exposition was winding down and on the eve of the departure of the Great White Fleet on its historic 14-month, round-the-world odyssey. From the deck of the presidential yacht, Mayflower, Teddy Roosevelt saw the armada of 16 new steam-powered, steel battleships depart Hampton Roads on Dec. 16, 1907, and return on Feb. 22, 1909.
When the 14,000 sailors of the Great White Fleet disembarked in Norfolk, they were greeted with a great civic celebration and a new Navy Y. The Virginian-Pilot reported on Feb. 28, 1909, that at the conclusion of the grand parade, 5,000 sailors enjoyed lunch at the new building.
The building's official dedication was about three weeks later. Thousands of yellow jonquils decorated the Navy Y and the architect's wife joined Norfolk society matrons in serving refreshments. Another story in The Virginian-Pilot stated that the jubilant architect borrowed a sailor's cap and "mingled with the tars." From that day forward, the front door of the Navy Y was never locked, welcoming millions of sailors throughout the next six decades.
For the rest of this article, see the May/June issue of Hampton Roads Magazine, currently available on newsstands.
