The Seaboard Coastline Building is a dominant landmark of the Portsmouth waterfront. This curved-front structure has been a symbol of the link between rail and sea commerce in Hampton Roads since it was erected in 1894-95. Enlarged in 1914, the building served as the northern terminus and headquarters of the Seaboard Air Line railroad. This railroad transported to Portsmouth much of the South’s cotton crop for shipment abroad. It also serviced the West Virginia coalfields, the steel mills of Alabama, and the fruit and produce groves of Florida. The Seaboard Air Line later merged with the Atlantic Coast Line railroad. The offices of the resulting Seaboard Coastline Company were moved to Richmond in 1955 and the rail network eventually became part of the CSX system. The Seaboard Coastline Building building was donated to the city in 1958 and housed municipal offices until 1980. It subsequently underwent a certified rehabilitation for mixed use.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia