Jarvis building’s demolition just another blow to “old beach” [Virginian – Pilot]

By Melanie Barker

Correspondent

Oceanfront

Was the Jarvis building, which was built in 1926 and demolished last month, a historic property or just an old building? Here is some context - you decide.

The Jarvis building anchored the southwest corner of the 200 block of 17th Street (between Atlantic and Pacific avenues), which many city historians consider the hub of the original downtown Virginia Beach.

That part of 17th Street developed early because it was near the site of the first commercial building constructed at the Oceanfront - the Virginia Beach Hotel, which was built by a railroad company in 1884 between 14th and 16th streets.

In 1888, the hotel was revamped into the much grander Princess Anne Hotel, which was destroyed by a fire in 1907.

Meanwhile, the railroads had built a large train station at the northwest corner of 17th Street and Pacific Avenue (now home to a 7- Eleven). Businesses sprung up all around the depot.

But the area's biggest real estate boom started in 1922, when Virginia Beach Boulevard was paved from Norfolk all the way to the Oceanfront at 17th Street.

Courthouse records show that W. T. Jarvis brokered many major land sales and real estate deals in the 1920s, including some for the Laskin family, who built the Roland Court theater complex in 1926.

Ironically, some of the other Laskin transactions might have led indirectly to the decline of 17th Street.

In 1926, Jacob Laskin, his sons Louis and Elmer, and another partner leased the "Old Casino" property (later renamed "Seaside Amusement Park") between 30th and 33rd streets. The following year, the Laskins built an offshoot of Virginia Beach Boulevard to take motorists from London Bridge directly to their park entrance at 31st Street.

Today, the Laskin Road corridor is the site of multimillion- dollar developments, but there are no such plans for 17th Street.

State records show that W. T. Jarvis was also active in city government. He was a contemporary of Bernard P. Holland, who built the deWitt Cottage near 12th Street at the Oceanfront and became the first mayor of Virginia Beach when the town incorporated in 1906.

Holland's last year as mayor was 1916. The 1916 Annual Report of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia lists Holland as both mayor and council president of Virginia Beach. The town's other three positions - clerk, treasurer and sergeant - are all ascribed to one man: W. T. Jarvis.

One of the Jarvis building's first tenants was Holland's daughter- in-law, Lyndelle P. Holland.

Lyndelle, who was married to Bernard P. Holland's oldest son, Walton Gregory Holland, had a dressmaking shop in the building, where she sewed custom uniforms for Virginia Beach's lifeguards.

The Jarvis building might have been unique in that most of its original tenants offered skilled services as opposed to retail goods. In addition to Jarvis's real estate office and the dressmaking shop, tenants from the 1920s through the 1940s included a beauty shop, barber shop, newspaper office, insurance office, plumber, and furniture upholsterer.

As far as Jarvis's personal life, court records show that his wife's name, Mattie M. Jarvis, appeared alongside his on many real estate documents.

Woody Seamans, 68, grew up on 16th Street near the Jarvis family residence. One of Seaman's playmates was Johnny Cardy, Jarvis' grandson, who lived next door to his grandfather.

Seamans said Johnny's mother, Barbara, was Jarvis's daughter. According to Seamans, Jarvis also had two sons: The older son, known as Bill, took over his father's real estate and insurance business and might have been W. T. Jarvis Jr., while the younger son was known by the nickname, "Icky."

Seamans said that as a young boy in the 1950s, he occasionally saw W. T. Jarvis, who was very old by then and did not get around well.

Although W. T. Jarvis and the building that bore his name are gone, his personal residence, which he built in 1925, still stands at the northwest corner of Baltic Avenue and 16th Street.

Susan Heilig purchased the two-story brick house in 1986 after it was sold at an estate auction. Except for adding air conditioning, Heilig said she has preserved the home in its original form and has no plans to sell it. Heilig and her husband still live in the house but occasionally rent it out for a few weeks in the summer.

Heilig said that after she bought the home, she went by the Jarvis building and found the name "Jarvis" inscribed on the side. When she returned a few years later, the name had been painted over.

"And now it's been torn down," Heilig said.

"I was so sad to see that building go," she said. "It's just heartbreaking to see the old beach disappear."

Note: The information for this article was based on courthouse records, online archives, personal interviews, and several books on Virginia Beach history, primarily Stephen S. Mansfield's 1989 volume, "Princess Anne County and Virginia Beach - a pictorial history."

Melanie Barker, melanbark@cox.net

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