THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 8, 1996 TAG: 9609060174
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: IDA KAY'S PORTSMOUTH
SOURCE: IDA KAY JORDAN
LENGTH: 72 lines
Anderson-Wright Rooms and Gardens at last is open at 622 High St.
Bill Schlaht and Philip Weber, the owners, have meticulously restored and refurbished the 1907 building. The building started out as a tailor shop. It was purchased in 1920 by Henry Brady, who owned it for more than 50 years. During that time, he operated several kinds of businesses, selling sporting goods, men's apparel and shoes. He and his family lived upstairs.
Schlaht and Weber have turned the first floor into an antique furniture store, a tearoom and a garden shop in a private courtyard and the second floor into handsome living quarters.
They did the work themselves, laboring for almost two years to bring the building to this point. They say they aren't finished.
Their work shows what can be accomplished on High Street, and it emphasizes the individuality of the buildings. The relatively small two-story designs are perfect for a shop down and an apartment up. That's because most of them were built with that arrangement in mind. Restoring them really will complement the Olde Towne residential area and will bring a lot more people to High Street.
We almost lost those buildings.
Until about three years ago, Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority had the 600 and 700 blocks of High marked for demolition. The plan to raze the area was so firm that the city refused permits for some potential shopkeepers even after architect Glenn Yates stuck his neck out and turned a condemned building at 714 High into attractive offices. Yates also helped restore the building in the 600 block that now houses a cafe. That building soon will have an upstairs apartment home and artist's studio for Barbara Haskett Batelle. Now a Vermont artist, Batelle is a Portsmouth native who wants to come home.
I remember hearing about a woman from Northern Virginia who wanted to put a bookstore in a small building next to Yates' offices. But she didn't want to buy the building unless it was removed from the demolition list. PRHA would not do that, and the woman quit looking at Portsmouth for her shop. That building is still empty, by the way.
I don't know how many others were turned down before the attitude changed.
The PRHA plan made no sense from my viewpoint. The authority sure doesn't need any more vacant land until it gets some of what it has back on the tax books.
The authority has a better chance to sell the empty buildings it owns than it would have to sell empty land now that some visionary entrepreneurs have shown what can be done with the old but solid brick buildings. And the turn of the century buildings have so much more character than new structures, even new structures that people have tried to make period style.
Somebody once argued with me that we could have two blocks of parking there. Well, if there were no buildings for businesses to locate in the 600 and 700 blocks, we sure wouldn't need massive parking lots. Besides, we don't need parking lots on potentially valuable commercial property anyway.
The 600 block got a boost in the Vision 2005 plans, which encompass the 600 blocks from London to High. A parking lot is being constructed in that block on Queen Street behind the businesses.
But before there was a plan, Yates saw the potential and later Maury Cooke took up the cause, finally persuading PRHA to abandon the notion of destroying the buildings.
Cooke's own building, Prison Square at the corner of High and Dinwiddie, is popular and successful. That too was a factor in saving the 600 and 700 blocks.
Schlaht and Weber were among the first to buy into the area. Their store is next door to The Ship's Store and several antique and collectible dealers who opened earlier this year and across the street from the Art Atrium and Harrell's Sporting Goods.
Work is continuing on a building next door to Anderson-Wright, where several shops will open onto a small courtyard, similar to Prison Square.
Re-creating High Street is slow going, but it's happening. It will happen faster if the existing businesses are doing well.
Now we just have to be sure we support the urban pioneers who have invested in the city. by CNB