Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2019.

Demolishing the Masonic Temple, Freemason and Brewer Streets, March 5, 1961

Artist Carroll H. Walker (American, 1904 - 1990)

CultureAmerican

Date1961

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall, Image: 7 1/4 × 9 5/8 in. (18.4 × 24.4 cm)
Overall, Support: 7 15/16 × 9 7/8 in. (20.2 × 25.1 cm)

Credit LineGift of Carroll H. Walker

Object number67.40.34

On View

Not on view

DescriptionPhotograph depicting a scene from Norfolk, VA.

Label TextEast Main Street between Talbot and Church Streets, Old Ballentine Hotel in Center, January 4, 1962, 1962 Gift of Carroll H. Walker 67.40.118 Demolishing the Masonic Temple, Freemason and Brewer Streets, March 5, 1961, 1961 Gift of Carroll H. Walker 67.40.34 Union Station, March 2, 1963, 1963 Gift of Carroll H. Walker 67.40.82 When Norfolk’s Union Station opened in May 1912, it was praised for its modern elegance. The eight-story brick exterior was trimmed with gray stone and the interior was adorned with marble columns and ornamental sculpted ceilings. The station was headquarters for numerous railway companies and became one of the busiest passenger rail terminals in Virginia. With the rise of automobile ownership after WWII, rail traffic declined, and by 1959 Union Station was closed. Demolished in 1963, the site is now part of Waterfront Drive, which connects drivers to the Virginia Beach Expressway. Nearby railroad warehouses were reused as a farmer’s market and a concert hall in the 1970s, but they were later torn down, too.