Norfolk Navy YMCA / Rockefeller Apartments

Historic Building Renovation
Historic Research
Historic Tax Credit Consulting

Norfolk Navy YMCA / Rockefeller Apartments

Location

Norfolk, VA

Partners

Marathon Development

Tymoff and Moss Architects

Baldwin and Gregg

Virginia Department of Historic Resources

Project Goals

The developer on this planned to create an apartment complex out of the two adjacent buildings: the Norfolk Naval YMCA (c. 1909), an Italian Renaissance Revival style structure, and the former Virginian-Pilot annex building that the YMCA had previously purchased in 1939 for its own expansion purposes.

In 2010, CPG was engaged to assist with the tax credit application to bring the developer’s vision to life. The project ultimately involved the two existing historic buildings and new construction for a third building located at the rear of the main building.

Project Design

CPG provided building treatment recommendations to facilitate the sensitive insertion of 86 apartment units throughout the two-building concept, while maintaining historic public gathering spaces and restoring remaining historic features.

Although the building had undergone previous alterations throughout the 20th century, emphasis was placed on restoring remaining wood and steel windows, ornamental plaster, and terrazzo floors throughout the building. A new sprinkler system was sensitively inserted within existing ceilings to minimize impact to remaining historic features.

Challenges & Accomplishments

The original YMCA pool located in the basement presented a unique challenge to the design team knowing it would need to be retained in some way to meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation.

While the feature’s use as a swimming pool could not be maintained, the pool structure itself was. The team designed a new reversible floor assembly to retain this historic feature and maximize the floor area within the basement. Doing so allowed for the preservation of the historic pool’s tile floors and walls while also making this space accessible to tenants as a gym.