THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 20, 1995 TAG: 9504180096
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
TWO OF NORFOLK'S educational landmarks from the early part of the century are slated for demolition to make way for new residential development.
For decades, both the Robert Gatewood Elementary School in Berkley and the original Ingleside Elementary School have been boarded up and sitting idle. In recent years, the buildings have fallen into serious disrepair and begun attracting vagrants, drug addicts and other undesirables, city officials and neighbors say.
Norfolk Redevelopment & Housing Authority workers are removing asbestos from the interior of the Ingleside school in preparation for its demolition later this spring. The school is being razed to make way for a new housing development of 23 homes that will range in price from $90,000 to $125,000. The first model is already under construction.
After fruitless attempts to attract developers interested in rehabilitating the Gatewood school, in 1993 the NRHA began working to secure approval from the state to demolish it. As part of that approval process, NRHA and city officials are conducting a historic review of the old school.
``There is a possibility of a historic designation of the area but not the facility,'' said Gayle Blackstone, the NRHA project manager. ``The building is in tremendous disrepair. From the neighborhood's standpoint, it's become a nuisance. And the economics aren't there (to rehabilitate it). Right now, what we're really trying to do is to prepare documentation for our historic archives.''
The school site encompasses 1.3 acres on Poplar Avenue in Berkley's Hardy Field area. If the city receives approval to raze the structure, the property will be made available for residential development of middle-income, single-family homes, Blackstone said.
Area residents originally hoped the school could be rehabilitated, but now that the possibility has evaporated, they are eager for the school to go, said Horace Downing, a longtime Berkley resident and civic leader.
``People drink wine and sleep overnight in there ... and one or two bodies have been found in there, too,'' he said. ``There's also been some fires in there.
``Those new homes would blend right in with the fire station on the same block. A lot of young families want to come back to Berkley ... and if they knock that school down, I guarantee you families with good incomes will be standing in line to buy there.''
But to local historian and author Amy Yarsinske, the day the school is razed will be a sad one.
``It seems such a shame to lose Robert Gatewood's name on something,'' she said. ``In his time, he was a very respected man.''
Gatewood was a prominent Norfolk educator and religious leader during the 1800s and early 1900s. From 1865 to 1882, he was headmaster at Norfolk Academy, during which time he helped organize the city's first public library. Later, he became a professor at The College of William and Mary. A devout Episcopalian, Gatewood was also instrumental in establishing St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Berkley on Mission Street. He died in 1909.
In 1912, when the names of Norfolk public schools were changed to honor prominent residents, Berkley School No. 2 became the Robert Gatewood School. In 1938, a federally funded project enabled the city to add a cafeteria onto the two-story brick structure.
For most of its history, the school had a predominately white student body. But after the city's fight against integration during the '50s, whites began to flee Berkley. By the early '70s, when the School Board decided to close the school, Berkley was 99 percent black and so was the school's student body, Downing said.
The Ingleside school, located on a 5.46-acre plot at the corner of Ingleside Road and Karlin Avenue, has not been used as a school since 1954. The three-story brick building was built in 1924.
After the city built a new school closer to Virginia Beach Boulevard in the early '50s, the old structure was sold to the Air Force for office space. Later, the building served as a rehabilitation center for the mentally handicapped. But in recent years, the abandoned building and adjoining woods have become problems for residents.
``Kids kept breaking into the building and creating problems,'' said Ken Grow, president of the Tipperton Place Civic League. ``Some residents would rather have kept the woods and made some kind of park ... but we couldn't just let the property sit idle.''
After several public hearings, the property and school were sold to the Wel-Vant Construction Company last fall. The company, a developer in Norfolk's Middle Town Arch, plans to demolish the school and build 23 middle-income homes. Called ``The Cove at Ingleside,'' the development will include a mix of two-story and ranch homes, according to Calvin Alperin, NRHA real estate development manager. Some homes will be pre-sold and others built on speculation, he said. Work on the two-year project has begun.
Meanwhile, Ingleside residents plan on saving a cornerstone and flag pole from the old school. They hope to create a historic display at the current Ingleside Elementary, located a few blocks away from the old structure.
``At this point, we feel it's important to preserve the history of Ingleside,'' Grow explained. ``Even though we can't save the old school, at least we'll still have a piece of it for future generations.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by BETH BERGMAN
The old Gatewood Elementary School, above, and the original
Ingleside Elementary School, left, are being prepared for
demolition.
by CNB