THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 13, 1996 TAG: 9608130033
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 180 lines
AFTER 29 YEARS of living in Norfolk's Lafayette-Winona neighborhood and three terms as civic-league president, Craig Van Natta has discovered a new way to meet neighbors.
He stands in front of their homes and takes notes.
Often, the residents come out to ask Van Natta to explain himself.
Van Natta is not some sort of neighborhood busybody. Neither is he prying into his neighbors' affairs nor nosing for property-code violations to report to City Hall.
Van Natta is heading the neighborhood's efforts to get itself designated as a state and national historic district. The application requires an architectural inventory, including photographs, of every building in the neighborhood.
There are 118 in the Lafayette part and 111 on the Winona side. Most were built between 1905 and 1925.
Van Natta and two more volunteers - Jackie Rhees and Ken Cohen - have been conducting the survey because neither the state nor Norfolk City Hall could provide funds for staff to do the work.
The community found partners in two photography stores; the pictures were developed for free by Quality Camera on 21st Street and Atlantis Photo Processing on Chesapeake Boulevard. In turn, the companies get free ads in the civic-league newsletter.
Besides being a boost to neighborhood pride, designation as an historic district could mean state tax credits for homeowners who do certain renovations to their houses. Rules are being formulated and will take effect Jan. 1.
Completing the brief reporting forms should take Van Natta and other volunteers five to 10 minutes per house. The surveys are only of the exteriors of each home and include information on when the dwellings were built, architectural styles, and types of materials for structures and roofs.
But spending more time is not uncommon, especially when curious residents come out to ask about the work.
``People will then just start talking about their house or the house down the street,'' Van Natta said. ``You find out all kinds of interesting things, and we need to write this stuff down before we lose it.''
Van Natta ticked off some favorite tidbits.
A Spanish-style house on Ashland Avenue once was the French Consulate in Norfolk.
A house on Ashland Circle was used as the local Democratic Club. It also had a garage with a novel feature: a turntable floor so a car did not have to be backed out.
Another story ``just shocked my shorts off,'' Rhees added. ``A lady told me bootlegger stills and that they used to run the liquor down the river.''
Van Natta even has learned about his own house, a rambling red-brick Victorian that features a turret and a wrap-around porch and a third-story balcony.
A neighbor reported finding an old letter that mentioned how two Lafayette-Winona houses were constructed from ``some special timber from up in Pennsylvania somewhere.'' One of those homes turned out to be Van Natta's, which was built in 1909.
The effort to create new historic districts in Norfolk began several years ago under the auspices of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and Norfolk's Department of City Planning and Codes Administration.
The two agencies hired a consulting company, called Traceries, to identify Norfolk neighborhoods and buildings that might achieve stae and federal historic designation.
The project also was to help make development plans more sensitive to historically significant buildings and to increase public appreciation of the city's heritage.
Traceries found several Norfolk areas with potential to become historic districts. Besides Lafayette-Winona, they included Ballentine, Berkley, Colonial Place, Riverview and North Ghent.
The city asked for volunteers to help complete the surveys required for formal applications. So far, neighborhood committees have formed in Lafayette-Winona, Colonial Place and Riverview. A teacher at Old Dominion University is leading the effort for Berkley.
Turning to volunteers can have two sides:
A project can slow down and lose some efficiency.
Yet, citizens can strengthen their stake in their communities - and, like Van Natta and Rhees, know their neighbors better.
Neighbors also learn to look at houses in a new way.
``You really begin to look at them not just as houses on this street, but each house as an individual,'' Rhees said. ``You've gone over each one's characteristics, where as you used to look at them as `They're old houses on the street.' ''
In Norfolk's Riverview, Pat Spriggs compared the effort to ``building sweat equity into a house.''
``When you put something into it, you get something out - in this case, more awareness, more actual knowledge of house styles and terms,'' said Spriggs, who is coordinating the Riverview survey.
There, too, is a deeper appreciation of neighborhood designs and street patterns.
In Norfolk's Colonial Place, Norman Pollock says the historic-survey work gives residents a longer perspective - for example, how house styles and street layouts fit with each other and have helped sustain a 90-year-old neighborhood as a desirable place to live.
``You really get a sense that the area has a need to be protected,'' added Jeff Stark, one of the Colonial Place survey volunteers.
Part of Norfolk's Berkley section - particularly the Hardy Fields neighborhood - also has been surveyed. That delights longtime resident Matthew L. Austin Sr. for several reasons.
``History is something that unites the generations,'' said Austin, 69, who lived in several sections of Berkley before moving to the Victorian Hardy Fields neighborhood about 20 years ago.
Austin said the historic-district designation will help younger generations see links to history - and to surrounding communities.
Robert Wojtowicz, an associate professor of art history at Old Dominion University, is compiling the historic-district information for Berkley. This past spring, he organized a seminar around the survey, with about a dozen students doing the house-to-house research.
Working on an historic-district survey also could inspire neighborhoods toward other projects.
Austin hopes historic designation will spur creation of a Berkley museum, possibly reusing the building that once housed the old Seaboard Bank at Berkley Avenue and South Main Street.
``It would be for all the people - white or black - who have lived here, a place where they can go and look through pictures and reminisce over a cup of coffee,'' Austin said. ``That's what my vision is.''
In Lafayette-Winona, Riverview and Colonial Place, citizens are thinking about future projects such as holiday-season home tours, neighborhood history brochures and illustrated maps.
Wojtowicz, who would like to organize seminars to help other neighborhoods, sees another benefit.
``Surveying these neighbohroods provides the city with a foundation from which future city planning could proceed more sensitively,'' he said. ``Norfolk has not always been very careful custodian of its past. This is a welcome new direction for the city.''
Portsmouth's Olde Towne Civic League vouches for that possibility.
About two years ago, residents learned that two decaying 19th century houses faced demolition, a threat that could have spread to through the 600 block of London Boulevard.
The properties, said Les French, civic-league vice president, were ``in a key block on London Boulevard, an entranceway to the neighborhood.''
One house came down, but the other - a duplex - is being saved because the neighborhood, as an existing historic district, drew on its strong connections with the past.
With the help of planning consultant Ray Gindroz, the civic league convinced Portsmouth officials that the city and the neighborhood had a common interest in revitalizing the block, French said.
The Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority sold the duplex to the civic league for $1. Then the neighborhood group committed $25,000 from its treasury to begin renovations and will borrow $25,000 more to stabilize the building, French said.
The work is being done by volunteers and paid contractors.
The goal, French said, is to resell the duplex to someone who can finish the job, and gain tax credits for renovation and for being located in a state enterprise zone.
``Think of it,'' French said, ``everyone who's worked on this, every time they'll drive by the house, they'll be able to say, `Man, I helped save this house.' '' MEMO: WHAT A HISTORIC DISTRICT INVOLVES
Becoming a Virginia or federal historic district is largely an
honorary designation for a neighborhood.
It means that a neighborhood has a core of houses or other buildings
that contribute to the architectural or historical heritage of a
community, the state or the nation.
The significance may derive from the people who once lived in the
neighborhood, important events that took place there, the style of
buildings, or the architects or craftsmen involved.
The number of such properties is not important; it's the
concentration of buildings within a definable area, said Deborah
Woodward, spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Historic
Resources.
Also, the buildings usually must be at least 50 years old, although
there can be exceptions.
A historic designation does not mean restrictions on improvements,
repairs or remodeling, Woodward said. However, certain regulations may
come into play if government money is involved or if a locality
establishes its own zoning standards, she said.
Historic-district designation can boost neighborhood property values.
And, thanks to this year's General Assembly, the designation can mean
state tax credits for some renovation efforts.
Tax credit guidelines are being formulated and will go into effect
Jan. 1, 1997. They will be phased in through the year 2000. For
tax-credit information, call John Wells of the Virginia Department of
Historic Resources, in Richmond, (804) 371-6495.
For information about helping your neighborhood become a historic
district, call the department's regional office in Portsmouth, 396-6707.
- Mike Knepler
KEYWORDS: NEIGHBORHOOD HISTORIC PRESERVATION by CNB