THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409100233
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
It crumpled like an empty beer can, and in less than an hour the Virginia Beach Dome was history.
After years of haggling over the Dome's fate, the final say came Friday when a wrecking crew leveled the landmark building on Pacific Avenue and laid to rest one of the first geodesic domes built in the United States.
``There goes the Beach!'' cried Janet Allen, a lifelong resident. ``When this is gone, the Beach will be gone. I have had many good times in this place, dances and parties, and now it's gone.''
The late-morning demolition began when the iron claw of a 50-ton excavating machine bit into the brick wall of the boiler room. The red bricks broke like crusty bread as the machine pulled out pieces of boiler and iron tubing and laid them in a heap on the asphalt.
Then the machine's operator, Harold Poynter, turned the claw to the Dome itself. The building shook with a low rumble as a piece of dull aluminum tore free, the first of hundreds to follow.
By the time Poynter had worked halfway up the Dome's backside, the entire building began to slump. Pieces of yellow fiberglass, used as insulation, drifted into the bright sunshine. As the Dome fell, it sounded like the rolling thunder of a summer thundershower.
The Dome occupied a unique position in the city's collective memory. Host to some of the most popular musical acts in American history, the Dome itself was a distinctive architectural marvel.
It was the color of old pewter and resembled a dimpled golf ball bolted to the sandy soil. Made of prefabricated aluminum panels held in place with aluminum tubes, the Dome was designed by F. Buckminster Fuller, an American architect.
Erected in 1958 by the Globe Iron Construction Co. of Norfolk, the Dome quickly became one of the premier venues for traveling conventions and musical acts in Hampton Roads. Only Norfolk's Center Theater - now the Harrison Opera House - rivaled its popularity at the time.
The musicians who played there were legendary. Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Roy Orbison and Buck Owens graced the stage. Guy Lombardo arrived in 1965, while The Rolling Stones, The Byrds and The Supremes followed the next year.
Gun dealers, quilt makers, aspiring artists and Persian rug dealers all convened under the 50-foot ceiling to ply their trades. But the Dome was doomed by changing tastes, a growing economy and the effects of time.
``The Dome has served its purpose well over the years,'' said William M. Holland, manager of the facility, known formally as the Virginia Beach Convention Center. For the immediate future, the Dome site will be another parking lot for the Oceanfront, he said.
``The long-term mission is to attract something that would complement our image as a destination for families,'' he said.
The city once tried to attract a dinner theater based on a Civil War theme, but the idea faltered under criticism that it was racially provocative. Still, the dinner theater idea remains active. If there were people who wanted the Dome to stay, they didn't show up to watch the destruction Friday afternoon. But from each passer-by came the same sad look, the same shaking head and the same sentiment that it should have been saved.
``I'm unhappy to see it go,'' said Mellie-Rose Moore, who lives across the street from the fabled landmark. ``I feel the city should have found some use for it. I hate to see old things come down. We're tearing down too many of the things that we should keep for historical purposes.''
Like many residents, Moore worries about the increasing pace of change and the loss of the Beach's once unique architectural character.
``The old Oceanfront cottages are now gone. The old hotels are, too,'' she said. ``I think the Beach has lost a lot of its atmosphere. It looks like a cement city, although Atlantic Avenue has been greatly improved.''
Robert Wojtowicz, an assistant professor of art history at Old Dominion University who once led an unsuccessful effort to save Center Theater from a renovation that destroyed the building's unique architecture, said he was saddened by the Dome's fate.
``I think even Buckminster Fuller would have regarded the Dome as a throw-away structure with a definite life span,'' Wojtowicz said. ``But within the context of the Beach itself, it had a significant architectural presence. Except for the Cavalier, the architecture of the Oceanfront is banal, to say the least.
``It resembles nothing so much as a Soviet-style resort of the 1960s. Really, it is devoid of any architectural interest whatsoever. The Dome is gone. Earlier this year it was the Avamere. There is nothing left there but high-rise concrete boxes, and I think that's a tragedy. It is about the blandest place I have ever come across on a major body of water.'' razing virginia beach dome alan b. shepard convention center virginia beach civic center ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH, Staff
An excavating machine tears into the Virginia Beach Dome on Friday,
reducing the Oceanfront landmark to rubble in less than an hour.
File photo
Virginia Beach Dome
by CNB