THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 28, 1996 TAG: 9604240031
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K2 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: OBSCURE TOUR: LOCAL LANDMARKS THE TOUR BOOKS NEVER MENTION
SOURCE: BY EARL SWIFT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
AMONG THE modest homes in Norfolk's Hyde Park neighborhood is a brick-and-frame house at 8524 Old Ocean View Road that was once the gadget-stuffed abode of master spy John A. Walker Jr.
Walker, you'll recall, was busted in May 1985 for selling Navy secrets to the Soviets.
He, his son and their cohorts have been credited with one of the worst security breaches in American history, and may well go down as Hampton Roads' best-remembered citizens of the late 20th century.
But, like any other busy professional, Walker needed down time, and this two-story suburban home is where he got it.
And he got it, it seems, with style. The master bedroom boasted black shag carpeting, zebra-striped drapes, a free-standing orange fireplace, mirrored closet doors, a mirrored dresser and a white enameled waterbed.
At the time of Walker's arrest, all this disco swag was protected by a battery of electronic burglar alarms.
The FBI ripped up all the carpet and dismantled part of the fireplace in search of secret documents, and might have torn the place down if the Internal Revenue Service had not stepped in to auction it off in December 1986. ILLUSTRATION: FILE photo, The Virginian-Pilot
Soviet spy John A. Walker Jr. lived here until his 1985 arrest.
by CNB