Opinion: Maury High matters. Saving it should too.

No one can question that Norfolk is a city of national historic significance. Yet, as you drive around Norfolk, it has gotten harder and harder to find buildings that reflect that history. The loss of our historic public schools has been particularly noticeable. In recent memory, we have lost Taylor Elementary, Larchmont Elementary, John T. West (the first public high school for Black students in Virginia), Ocean View Elementary and Meadowbrook.

Now the fate of historic Maury High School is in the hands of the School Board. Maury was constructed in 1911 as Norfolk’s first high school and grandest school building. Designed in a Colonial Revival style, Maury’s brown brick juxtaposed with white brick and white terracotta, with a central columnated pavilion, end wings and windows regularly spaced between brick piles, forms a striking structure. The entrance is approached by a large, ceremonial flight of steps, adding to the grand impression made by this stately building. New schools do not contain auditoriums comparable to the one in Maury High School, with its double height space, rows of seating, elevated stage and a balcony supported by cast iron columns.

In 1996, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources staff evaluated Maury and recommended that it is eligible for listing in the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Although there is no question about the deteriorating condition of the building, resulting from many years of neglected maintenance, there seems to be no disagreement that the building is historically important and visually impressive. Several Virginia high schools, including Maury, have just been included by Preservation Virginia on its list of Virginia’s Most Endangered Historic Places.

The School Board’s architectural consultants developed concepts for renovated and new buildings and combinations of both for Maury. One of those concepts retains the historic 1911 building, removes all the more recent additions and adds a very large new addition. The cost for this combination concept falls within the range of the new school concepts. There is no question that historic tax credits will reduce the cost of renovating the 1911 building even further. Norfolk Public Schools has successfully renovated historic Blair Middle and Granby High, and its consultants have demonstrated they can do it again with Maury.

The neighborhood adjacent to Maury is historic Ghent, a community filled with well-maintained privately owned homes and apartment buildings and commercial buildings. Most of the neighborhoods whose students attend Maury are also made up of older and historic homes of strong character — Larchmont, Park Place, West Ghent, Colonial Place and Lamberts Point.

For more than a century, Norfolk’s teenagers have grown to adulthood at Maury High School. Residents’ widespread attachment to the building is not just sentimental. Maury matters to people because it has shaped a city. As with any renovation, modern technology and educational components can be realized, and much of the school would be new construction. This iconic historic building with its striking auditorium can readily be renovated as a school and continue to serve Norfolk’s residents for many more decades.

Alice Allen-Grimes has served on the Norfolk Preservation Alliance board for 25 years and formerly served on the Norfolk Historical Society board. She has been involved in numerous efforts to save historic properties in Norfolk, including working with city staff to update the Downtown Norfolk historic ordinance to include a demolition provision and in establishing the Architectural Review Board. Carter Furr serves on the NPA and NHS boards, and served as governor of the Jamestowne Society and president of the First Families of Virginia. Richard Levin has owned numerous historic buildings, has been involved with historic renovation projects that used historic tax credits and served on the Norfolk Historic and Architectural Preservation Committee. Joanne Berkley is a long-time activist for historic preservation who has served many years on the NPA and NHS boards. They wrote this on behalf of the Norfolk Preservation Alliance, a 501C3 organization committed to protecting Norfolk’s historic resources.