The Virginia Beach Historic Preservation Commission was established by the City Council in 2008 as an advisory body on issues related to the preservation of the city's historic buildings, structures and sites.

It is made up of between nine and 15 members, appointed by the Council, who serve three-year terms.

The commission seeks to preserve, protect and maintain the historic identity of Virginia Beach and former Princess Anne County, through advocacy, public awareness and increased public involvement.

​Members have expertise in the fields of architecture, archaeology and history, and many have personal experience with preservation as owners of historic buildings. The commission also has two appointed student members from local high schools.

The Historic Preservation Commission is supported by Planning & Community Development.

Meeting Information

General meetings are held at 5 p.m. the first Wednesday of the month, September through June, in the conference room at the Department of Planning & Community Development, 2875 Sabre St., Suite 500. The public is welcome to attend.

To sign up to speak on any agenda item, contact Mark Reed at least 30 minutes prior to the meeting time: mreed@vbgov.com or (757) 385-8573.

The commission's executive committee meets at 5:30 p.m. the last Thursday of the month, and the student leaders' committee meets at 5 p.m. the second Wednesday of the month September through May.

Agendas & Minutes

Historic Preservation Commission Members 

Member

Term Begins

Term Ends

Member

Sharon Prescott, Chair

Term Begins

1/1/2022

Term Ends

12/31/2024

Member

Christi Lyons, 1st Vice Chair

Term Begins

1/1/2023

Term Ends

12/31/2025

Member

Glenn Carwell, 2nd Vice Chair

Term Begins

1/1/24

Term Ends

12/31/2026

Member

Bobbie Gribble, Secretary

Term Begins

1/1/2023

Term Ends

12/31/2025

Member

James B. Wood, Immediate Past President

Term Begins

1/1/2022

Term Ends

12/31/2024

Member

Derek DuBay

Term Begins

1/1/2022

Term Ends

12/31/2024

Member

Sharon Felton

Term Begins

1/1/2024

Term Ends

12/31/2025

Member

Harriet Frenzel

Term Begins

1/1/2023

Term Ends

12/31/2025

Member

Richard Klobuchar

Term Begins

1/1/2024

Term Ends

12/31/2026

Member

Becky Livas

Term Begins

1/1/2024

Term Ends

12/31/2026

Member

T. J. Morgan

Term Begins

10/3/2023

Term Ends

12/31/2024

Member

Paul Morrisette

Term Begins

4/18/2023

Term Ends

3/31/2026

Member

Timothy Oksman

Term Begins

1/1/2022

Term Ends

12/31/2024

Member

Ann (Cali) Mitchum (Student)

Term Begins

9/19/2023

Term Ends

6/30/2024

Member

Jenna Morris (Student)

Term Begins

9/6/2022

Term Ends

6/30/2024

Emeritus Member

Term Begins

Term Ends

Emeritus Member

C. Mac Rawls

Term Begins

1/16/2024

Term Ends

NA

Keeling house

Historic Preservation Strategic Plan

The City of Virginia Beach has recently completed (2023) an updated Historic Preservation Plan for the City’s historic preservation program. The plan provides guidance for the Historic Preservation Commission, the Department of Planning and Community Development, and the community in the management of Virginia Beach’s historic resources. 

It builds on the many areas of the City’s recognized preservation program including identification, documentation, and recognition of historic resources; citizen education, awareness, and participation initiatives; and resilience, disaster, and recovery planning.

Virginia Beach relies on documentation and survey of its historic resources to help guide the planning process. Completed survey forms and associated information are entered into the Virginia Cultural Resources Information System (VCRIS) to create a permanent record of each historic resource. 

These are most often accomplished through National Register of Historic Places historic district nominations, which require each resource in the district to be surveyed, and through community-wide surveys. 

Due to the size of Virginia Beach and the differences in the development of the largely suburban and commercial northern half and the mostly rural southern half, community-wide surveys are typically divided geographically.

Virginia Beach has completed several community-wide surveys:

The City partnered with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to prepare the updated plan through the state’s cost-share grant program. This ensured that it was developed to meet state and federal standards for community preservation planning.

Whitehurst Buffington House2

Virginia Beach Historical Register

Established by the City Council in 1999, the Virginia Beach Historical Register recognizes buildings, structures and sites that are important to and/or illustrative of the historical development of the city and its predecessor jurisdictions. 

Nomination/application to the register is voluntary and must have the consent of the property owner. A property’s standing on the register is honorary and carries no restrictions or regulatory oversight.

Properties placed on the register are recognized by the issuance of a certificate that notes their status as a local historic landmark and their contribution to the character of Virginia Beach. Property owners also receive a bronze plaque to identify the building’s placement on the register.

Applications are accepted by the Department of Planning & Community Development on an ongoing basis. Completed application packages are forwarded to the Historic Preservation Commission’s Historical Register Committee for review and evaluation. 

The committee will schedule a site visit to the applicant property as part of their review process.

Contact Mark Reed, Historic Preservation Planner, for more information: mreed@vbgov.com; (757) 385-8573.

Research

Research Grant Program

The Virginia Beach Historic Preservation Commission established a Research Grant Program in 2016 to encourage scholarship about persons, places and events significant to the history of the City of Virginia Beach, Princess Anne County and the related earlier historic and prehistoric eras in this area of southeastern Virginia. 

The grant program supports research on local history that provides a final report or other stated product, such as a historic marker or interpretive sign, and has successfully helped fund seven state historical highway markers, important research about the city's diverse history, interpretive sign panels and oral history interviews. 

The commission is accepting applications for the 2022 research grant awards. Applications are due by 5 p.m. March 3, 2022. Contact Mark Reed, Historic Preservation Planner, for more information: mreed@vbgov.com; (757) 385-8573.

Seatack Community Center

Seatack and L & J Gardens National Register Nominations

The City of Virginia Beach and the Historic Preservation Commission initiated National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nominations for two historically African American communities Seatack and L & J Gardens in recognition of their historical significance locally and nationally.

The survey and National Register of Historic Places nominations for the historically African American Communities of Seatack and L & J Gardens project are being supported in part by an Underrepresented Communities grant from the Historic Preservation Fund administered by the National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior. 

Virginia Beach received one of eighteen 2019 grants that are intended to work toward diversifying the NRHP nominations. The grant award is in the amount of $47,187. Virginia Beach is providing additional project funding. 

The project will include surveys and inventories of historic resources in each neighborhood and separate nominations to the NRHP. See the National Park Service press release for the 2019 grants here.

Seatack

Located just west of the Virginia Beach oceanfront, Seatack is one of the oldest historically African-American communities in Virginia. 

Although its origins may go back 200 years, the Seatack Historic District will primarily consist of a residential community whose architectural resources date from the 1920s to the '60s. 

It will also include several churches and the original (segregated) Seatack Elementary School building. 

Seatack was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places by the Virginia State Review Board in December 2019. Commonwealth Preservation Group has been contracted to conduct the survey and prepare the nomination. 

They are a cultural resource management firm headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia.

The Seatack Historic District nomination is scheduled to be heard by the Virginia Board of Historic Resources and the Virginia State Review Board on December 14, 2023.

L & J Gardens

This post-war suburban neighborhood was developed by Walter Riddick and his sister Lillian, as well as other investors, in the 1950s and '60s specifically for upper-middle-class African-American professionals. 

Named for their parents, Lizzie and John Riddick, L & J Gardens provided a suburban enclave for African-American families who were prevented from buying homes in many neighborhoods due to discriminatory practices. There are 123 residential properties in the community, many with the original owners or owners' families. 

L & J Gardens was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places by the Virginia State Review Board in December 2019. Architectural historian Debra McClane was contracted to conduct the survey and prepare the nomination. 

Her project team included architectural historian Kristin Kirchen and local African-American historians Edna Hawkins Hendrix and Dr. Joanne H. Lucas. 

On June 16, 2022, the Virginia Board of Historic Resources listed L & J Gardens Neighborhood Historic District in the Virginia Landmarks Register, and two months later it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Cavalier aerial

​National Register of Historic Places

The National Park Service (NPS) manages the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), which is the official list of the nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the NRHP is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources.

Listing in the NRHP is honorary and does not provide restrictions or protections to individual properties or historic districts. The Virginia Beach Historic Preservation Commission sponsors NRHP nominations that recognize the diversity of the city's historic areas and raise awareness about the historic character of Virginia Beach. 

The commission also provides a record of the resources in the districts as a comprehensive survey process is undertaken with the nomination.

Nominations the commission has successfully sponsored include: the Oceana neighborhood; Courthouse Village and Municipal Center; Cavalier Shores; and L & J Gardens. Currently underway are NRHP historic district nomination projects for the Seatack community and the Woodhurst neighborhood.

Individual Historic Properties 

The commission also seeks opportunities to assist individual properties interested in NRHP listing. One way is through the development of multiple property documentation (MPD) for property types that share a common theme. Unlike a historic district, properties do not need to be adjacent to or in immediate proximity with each other to qualify.

On May 12, 2021, NPS approved the Virginia Beach Oceanfront Resort Motels and Hotels (1955-1970) MPD, as well as the accompanying nomination for the Jefferson Manor Motel Apartments. NRHP nominations under the MPD for the Crest Kitchenette (Cutty Sark Motel and Efficiencies) and the Blue Marlin Lodge have been completed and were considered by the Virginia Board of Historic 

Resources in September 2022. Both properties were listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register at that time and are now under consideration by NPS. 

Preparation and submittal of a Preliminary Information Form (PIF) is the first step in the nomination process. It is prepared and submitted to determine the eligibility of an individual property or district for listing in the NRHP. 

In March 2022, the State Review Board approved PIFs for the Chesapeake Beach neighborhood historic district and the Newsome Farm Cemetery

In September 2022, they approved the PIF for the Pleasant Ridge School, a historically African American one-room schoolhouse located south of Pungo. 

Confederate Statue Courthouse

Confederate Statue

In 1905, several local organizations raised funds to erect a Confederate monument/statue near the old Princess Anne County Courthouse. These included the Princess Anne Camp of Confederate Veterans, the Princess Anne Chapter United Daughters of the Confederacy, Princess Anne Masonic Lodge No. 25, and the Princess Anne Sons of Confederate Veterans. 

The monument stood there until July 25, 2020, when it was removed to storage at the request of the City Council.

Confederate statues have come under increased scrutiny regarding the public display of objects that some feel represent the enslavement and institutionalized discrimination of African Americans. In 2017, the Virginia Beach City Council requested the Historic Preservation Commission to look at the issue and provide recommendations. 

The commission convened a committee of Virginia Beach residents, the Princess Anne County Confederate Statue Roundtable (PACCSR), to review public input and discuss the related issues. In November 2019, the commission approved the roundtable's recommendations, which included providing historical context for the statue and the Courthouse, as well as to design and develop a park near that location with elements that explore a broader history of Virginia Beach. They were presented to the City Council on Jan. 28, 2020. 

During the 2020 Virginia General Assembly session, the Code of Virginia was amended to allow localities to remove, relocate, contextualize or cover war memorials, such as Confederate statues. The amended law went into effect July 1, 2020. A new wave of protests about Confederate monuments surfaced in the wake of the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minnesota in May 2020. 

The Virginia Beach City Council held a public hearing on July 23 and following the hearing voted to remove the monument from its location on public property. The statue was removed two days later. 

The City followed the requirements of the state code and advertised that it was accepting proposals from museums, historical societies, governments, and military battlefields to potentially relocate the monument. Two proposals were received. One was from local chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of Confederate Veterans. 

The other was from the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation. City staff made a presentation to the City Council on March 16, 2021. Neither proposal was recommended for approval as submitted. No action was taken, and the monument remains in storage.