Search
Close this search box.
Newsletter, Blog, Past News

Virginia Landmarks Register Spotlight: Virginia Beach Oceanfront Motels and Hotels

Published
A 1985 photograph showing the original Beach Carousel road sign.
A 1985 photograph showing the original Beach Carousel road sign. Photo courtesy of the John Margolies Roadside America Archive, Library of Congress.

A recent Multiple Property Document highlights a unique era and collection of Mid-Century Modern architecture in Virginia Beach.

By Austin Walker | DHR National Register Program Manager

In 1958, the Virginia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects held its spring meeting in Virginia Beach, where Tidewater-area architects exhibited some of their recent work. The August issue of the AIA’s monthly magazine, Virginia Record, described the exhibited works as “splendid examples of progressive, contemporary design,” noting in particular that “one of the most exciting building fields in which the Tidewater area architects are working is that of beach motels and hotels.”

Beginning in the mid-1950s, new motels in the Virginia Beach resort area began to reflect national hospitality industry trends, catering to a flourishing middle-class that had leisure time, owned automobiles, and could afford to vacation annually. Business in the resort area boomed in the postwar era, further aided by major transportation initiatives that made Virginia Beach increasingly accessible to tourists from across the Atlantic seaboard.

Thunderbird Motor Lodge

americana motor lodge
The Thunderbird Motor Lodge (top) and the Americana Motor Lodge, both designed by the Norfolk firm of Oliver & Smith Architects, as depicted in the Aug. 1959 and Nov. 1963 issues of Virginia Record. The Thunderbird was demolished in 2006, while the Americana now operates as a Holiday Inn and Suites.

By 1963, eleven new motels and hotels had been added to the Virginia Beach resort area. By 1971, similar resort motels and hotels lined the beach, with the local Chamber of Commerce noting at least 70 such facilities. Many of these new accommodations were quintessential “Mom and Pop” operations, owned and personally managed by married couples and other small entrepreneurs.

Added to the Virginia Landmarks Register and National Register of Historic Places in 2021, the Virginia Beach Oceanfront Resort Motels and Hotels (1955-1970) Multiple Property Document (MPD) highlights this significant period in the development of the city’s beach frontage, capturing the fleeting transition between the early family cottages and luxury hotels of the late 19th and early 20th century and the emergence of national chain hotels in the 1970s.

Collectively, the Resort Motels and Hotels reflect the change in function and aesthetics that was ushered in during the early years of the “automobile culture” and the influence of commercial construction, which utilized modern materials and was overwhelmingly Modernist in style during the 1950s and ‘60s.

Jefferson Manor Motel Apartments
Top: Jefferson Manor Motel Apartments as it appeared in the May 1964 issue of Virginia Record. Bottom: Jefferson Manor Motel Apartments as it appears today. Photo credit: Kristin Kirchen, 2020.

The Jefferson Manor Motel Apartments drawing
The Jefferson Manor Motel Apartments as depicted in William Burton Alderman’s August 1961 rendering of "Ten Efficiency Garden Apartments for Mr./Mrs. R.G. Bosher, Virginia Beach, VA."

Architecturally, these new motels were streamlined, open, accessible, and above all “modern.” Designers and builders utilized materials and architectural features associated with the high-style Modernist movement, including pre-stressed and pre-cast concrete elements, steel framing, expansive plate glass windows, and decorative breeze blocks lining open-air breezeways and ample parking lots. During this period, many of Virginia Beach’s new motels were highlighted in the pages of Virginia Record.

To date, the Oceanfront Resort Motels and Hotels MPD has facilitated the nomination of four motels to the Virginia Landmarks Register and National Register of Historic Places. Three of these motels—the Crest Kitchenette Motel (1963) on Atlantic Avenue and the Jefferson Manor Apartments (1963) and Blue Marlin Lodge (1965) on Pacific Avenue—were designed by prolific Virginia Beach architect William Burton Alderman and exhibit highly expressive Modernist designs characterized by concrete masonry construction, breeze block walls, metal grilles, articulated wall elevations, and vaulted arched roofs. The most recently listed of the four, the ca. 1967-68 Beach Carousel Motel on Pacific Avenue, was built and owned by contractor Chriss Yoder and designed by his son, Robert, when he was just 16 years old.

Blue Marlin Lodge
Top: The Blue Marlin Lodge as it appeared in the February 1966 issue of Virginia Record. Bottom: Blue Marlin Lodge as it appears today. Photo Credit: Debra McClane, 2021.

The MPD includes an inventory of 20 surviving hotels and motels in the resort area, with many—including the four individual listings above—recommended eligible for the Registers based on the criteria outlined. Surviving examples illustrate the optimism, entrepreneurial spirit, booming economy, rise of the middle class, and automotive craze that were hallmarks of post-World War II commerce. Architecturally, these resources embraced Modern-inspired designs and materials that would, over the course of 15 years, fundamentally change the look and feel of the Virginia Beach oceanfront.

The Virginia Beach Oceanfront Resort Motels and Hotels (1955-1970) MPD was written by architectural historians Debra McClane and Kristin Kirchen, both of whom also authored (collaboratively and individually) the nominations for the four listed resources.

Crest Kitchenette Motel postcard
Crest Kitchenette Motel, designed by William Burton Alderman, as depicted in a ca. 1965 postcard. Image courtesy of Janet Winner Boutwell.

Crest Kitchenette Motel
The Crest Kitchenette Motel as it appears today. Photo credit: Kristin Kirchen, 2020.

Crest Kitchenette Motel with inset photo
The Crest Kitchenette Motel as seen from the northeast oblique view with masonry detailing as it appears today. Photo credit: Kristin Kirchen, 2020.

Beach Carousel Motel postcard
A ca. 1971 postcard depicting the Beach Carousel Motel with its historic color scheme and signage. Image credit: DHR.

Beach Carousel Motel
The Beach Carousel Motel as it appears today. Photo credit: Kristin Kirchen, 2020.

 

Related Blogs

A 1985 photograph showing the original Beach Carousel road sign.

Virginia Landmarks Register Spotlight: Virginia Beach Oceanfront Motels and Hotels

View of the Rollins Tract in prince william county

Preserving the Bristoe Station Civil War Battlefield

Kingsmill historic sites excavations

Kingsmill Revisited: The Skiffes Creek Curation and Conservation Project

Members of the Chesapeake Archaeology Lab (CAL) at the University of William & Mary

An Overview: The DHR Threatened Sites Grant Program

054-5479_Cuckoo_School_2023_exterior_SE_oblique_VCRIS

African American Schools in Virginia: A Multiple Property Document (MPD) Project

Cessford plantation

Virginia Landmark Spotlight: Cessford and Its Associated Laundry/Quarter Building for Enslaved Workers

Rappahannock Community College's Chinn House in 2020

Historic Preservation at the Federal and State Levels: Review and Compliance

An aerial map showing locations of both marked graves and possible unmarked graves identified through GPR survey of the Piedmont Baptist Church Cemetery in Albemarle County.

Grave Matters: The African American Cemetery & Graves Fund

Footprints on the James VCU class

Batteau Classroom: Studying the James River with VCU’s Footprints on the James Class