THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412070132
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: John Pruitt
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Welcome to downtown Suffolk.
On the left, just past the 7-Eleven and overlooking the statue at the graceful entrance to Cedar Hill Cemetery, is a private dwelling that was boarded up by the city a couple of years ago. The owner apparently abandoned it, leaving doors open to vandals and vagrants.
On the right, just before the railroad tracks beyond Main Street and Constance Road, is a boarded-up building that once housed a welding-supply business. The business moved several years ago, and the plywood was added to protect the ancient structure for future rehabilitation.
On the left, as we cross the tracks, is the burned-out hull of the CSX train station, an architectural gem that many a passerby has admired and wondered why it hasn't been put to use. What a unique restaurant, or perhaps visitors' center, it would make, they've said.
But after a recent fire gutted it, who knows?
That tall, tin fence on the right protects another house, a standout for its architectural style. The stockade's been in place for years now. No obvious restoration has taken place, but at least the house hasn't been demolished.
Now that building, with the high marble steps and the tall columns, is the former Suffolk High School. There's been talk of using the building for something, perhaps School Board offices and/or making the auditorium available for performances, but they say time and the elements have taken their toll. Heaven only knows what it would cost to make it usable.
Turning now onto Smith Street, that boarded-up eyesore is the former John Randolph Elementary School. A private owner once held it, making its rooms available to a variety of organizations, but that didn't last long. It's been vacant since.
They say a religious organization has bought it, but no one seems to know what is planned.
Plywood boards are askew, and its tall columns are losing chunks of paint and mortar.
The other boarded-up places on Smith, toward Saratoga Street? Oh, they're just houses that owners have been ordered to secure because they've fallen into disrepair. Who knows how long they'll stay this way, whether they'll be made livable again or whether they'll be flattened?
As for those houses, perhaps a bulldozer would be the neighborhood's best friend.
But the buildings along Main Street are different. They are links to Suffolk's past, and they should be preserved. Too much of early Suffolk already has been toppled for parking lots and other progress.
Yes, the buildings do bespeak neglect. They say the city has failed to cherish its heritage and now has a shabby central business district to show for it.
But the structures - and others that have been preserved - also say that some of the historic ties are basically intact.
Even if the conglomerate that owns the railroad station thinks otherwise - the railroad says it has no further use for the station, demolition could be the cheapest option - people who care about Suffolk's past must see that the structure, albeit badly damaged by a recent fire, doesn't become a pile of rubble.
Instead of despairing that still another jewel has been tarnished, there needs to be a citywide campaign to not only save the railroad station but to move forward with preserving the other structures. They've been boarded up so long no one even expects anything different.
As a friend wrote in 1992, after visiting Suffolk: ``What a horrible impression this leaves on people just passing through. Suffolk has so much more to offer.''
Other localities have waged grass-roots campaigns and saved things precious to them. Suffolk can, too. When does the effort begin? MEMO: Comment? Call 446-2494.
by CNB