Walker-Wilkins-Bloxom Warehouse Newport News, VA
The Walker-Wilkins-Bloxom Warehouse is a three-story, three-part masonry building that was constructed ca. 1906 and served as several wholesale storage facilities. The building is a rare example of an intact Industrial Commercial-style warehouse and is one of the last remnants of the pre-urban renewal efforts in downtown Newport News. The warehouse is generally comprised of attached, three-story, rectangular, masonry sections that are each individual contributing resources to a small historic district.
This small historic district was listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. It is locally significant under Criterion C for Architecture for its well-preserved and rare surviving examples of Industrial Commercial-style warehouses in downtown Newport News. The district is also locally significant under Criterion A in the area of Commerce for its association with the storage and distribution of goods into and out of region. The buildings were home to several locally prominent wholesale produce companies including H. B. Walker & Sons, Wilkins Provisions & Company, and the Bloxom Bros & Company, and historically backed up to C & O Railroad. The warehouse is one of few that survived the widespread urban renewal demolition of a once thriving “warehouse row” along 23rd Street. The Walker- Wilkins- Bloxom Warehouse maintained its function as wholesale storage and distribution district that evolved from produce to appliances throughout the twentieth century. It has a period of significance from 1906, when the buildings were complete, through 1967, when urban renewal demolition activities began in Newport News.