Virginia Club

Given the Virginia Club's seemingly impregnable appearance, it is not surprising that this limestone building was once the main branch of the Virginia Bank and Trust Company and, later, the Southern Bank of Norfolk. Three of the four architects associated with the building—Wyatt, Nolting, and Taylor—had earlier collaborated on the design of the old U.S. Post Office and Federal Courts Building on East Plume Street (see entry, above). For the bank project the architects drew upon motifs associated with ancient Greek treasuries, made popular at the turn of the century by the nationally renowned firm of McKim, Mead and White. Massive piers define the corners of the rectangular building, and fluted Ionic columns in antis stretch across the street facades and support a full entablature. A recessed grid of plate glass windows fills the space between the columns at the upper levels, but for security purposes the pedimented door and window frames at the ground level are small. The building ceased operating as a bank in the late 1970s, and the Virginia Club, one of Norfolk's oldest social organizations, moved into the building in 1997.