THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502230240
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARY ELLEN MILES, SPECIAL TO REAL ESTATE WEEKLY
LENGTH: Long : 116 lines
At one time the dwelling in East Ocean View was known as the ``Historical Pleasure Club,'' or so the old sign said. This designation tempted a few passersby to rap upon the door and ask what the membership procedure was.
The club was actually the Homestead Pleasure Club, a social group established in 1900, in a great rambling beach house. It lasted about a year. But, it made a lasting impression on a Portsmouth family named Parker, who later acquired the structure.
Today, the house is set back from the street, beckoning like an irresistible old inn. The pool sits to the left of the drive, along with some pool houses. The bath house and sauna are behind the garage. The grand house is staid and quiet, but the furniture and collectibles inside speak loudly about its colorful history.
Kate Parker Hughes remembers the house as her grandparents' summer cottage, located at the end of the bus route in an area later known as ``Cottage Line.'' One summer during World War II she invited 13 girlfriends over for a beach party, and warned them that they probably wouldn't see any boys, ``with the war and all.'' However, that very weekend she met her husband-to-be, George Hughes, who lived in Norfolk.
Now the two call the charming old East Ocean View beach cottage their home. When Kate Hughes was a girl, entertainment was going to the beach and whooping it up at Ocean View Amusement Park. In the afternoon and evening you could watching the men hauling seine (packing fish).
Just getting to the beach was an adventure for the Parker family. She and her family took the ferry from Portsmouth to Norfolk, then rode the streetcar to the beach. Once there, ``you could watch the sand hills and people getting off the bus,'' she said.
Before the war, George Hughes recalls, one sand dune was ``tremendous - about 50 feet or more high, and about a block long.'' All that sand was hauled away and used in building the Naval Air Station.
When Kate Hughes was younger, her cousins would camp in the sand dunes, and when they were hungry, they'd come to the house for a meal. They'd also ask to sleep on the wrap-a-round porch during bad weather.
``We were the only house around. My grandfather never thought anybody would build out here,'' said Kate. ``We were one of the few families who had a phone then, so we'd get people coming over, asking to use it to let their families know they were all right. We were the one place people knew they could come for food or a phone.''
One hundred feet from the house was Lewter's Beach, where you could rent a woolen swimsuit. Lewter's also had food for sale. ``I guess you'd call them taverns - they were called `barbecue stands' in those days - where we could go,'' said Kate Hughes. ``We could eat barbecue, ice cream or snowballs, dance to music played on Nickelodeons, and even have a beer if you were 21 and daring enough. They had lockers and a place to wash your suit, as well as outside tables with umbrellas.''
According to Kate Hughes, her grandmother was heavily influenced by Florida styles. Upon returning to Cottage Line, she'd have the house repainted. It was nothing unusual to have every bedroom painted a different color. At one time, the house was bright green, with orange shutters.
Kate's grandparents willed the house to her father. Then, her mother and aunt lived together there. The home was still used only as a summer home. When Kate and George were married in 1948, they moved into the upper level of the cottage year round. After their first child was born, grandma kept extending her visit, until both she and Kate's aunt moved in for good.
During the five years in the early 1950's that George played football for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the family lived intermittently at the home. They returned in 1955 when George opened Hughes Hardware in Ocean View. They later moved to another Norfolk house for many years, but still lived in the cottage during the summers. In 1982, they returned full time to the cottage.
Countless renovations and additions have occurred during the house's evolution. An inside stairwell was built. A pool was placed in the front yard. The 1962 Ash Wednesday storm washed away much sand, but fortunately the tide was low when it hit. George Hughes had to add a bulkhead after that. ``If the storm had been during high tide, I don't think the house would still be here,'' he said. A small deck was later built between the house's back porch and the beach.
When Scandinavian friends visited, they asked about a sauna. So a sauna was put behind the bathhouse shower. The attic was turned into a bedroom. A hot tub was put in the basement. Steps were built where a ramp had been. Part of the porch was converted into a room with five beds. The grandchildren enjoy those beds during their visits.
The upstairs kitchen is now Kate's studio, where she paints. And, one of the newest and most luxurious renovations is a gas fireplace, with remote control. They no longer have a chicken yard, and the house has been toned down into a sedate white with green shutters. It has settled into they used to, but they enjoy their location, feeling fortunate to have the beach nearby.
They've removed the curtains from the upstairs windows, so they can view the shore. On a clear night, the lights from the Chesapeake-Bay Bridge Tunnel enchants the Hughes grandchildren.
The home is filled with mementos from the couples' travels. Don't worry about the stuffed birds hanging from the ceiling; they don't bite. Over 40 clocks, each one distinct, mark the hours sliding by. There's a compass from an old ship. The basement has concrete pilings left from a time when people stored their boats there, one with ``February 21, 1921'' written on it. George Hughes, who played pro football and served as a Norfolk city councilman, keeps his gridiron paraphernalia in the basement along with an antique train set.
On a coffee table sits a scrapbook of photos, events, impressions, newspaper clippings, etc., compiled by one of Kate's cousins. It includes lasting historical remnants of the five generations of a family who have lived in the beach house. It adds just the right touch to a home filled with marvelous antiques, including a cupboard that's been in the same spot since Kate's grandmother put it there - it was juts too heavy to move. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by Bill Tiernan
Kate Parker Hughes...
George Hughes...
Staff photo by Bill Tiernan
Some of these porch rockers are 60 years old...
by CNB