{"nrhp_refnum":"75002115","name":"Monticello Arcade","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"In 200 block E. City Hall Ave.; between City Hall Ave. and Plume St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Norfolk (Independent City)","county":"Norfolk","state":"VA","lat":36.847375939000074,"lon":-76.29062857299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-05-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story commercial shopping arcade built in 1907 in the 200 block of East City Hall Avenue in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, running between City Hall Avenue and Plume Street. It was built for Percy S. Stephenson.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the few remaining civic amenities of architectural significance in Norfolk's central business district and one of only two shopping arcades standing in Virginia. It is also one of the last examples of a commercial building form popular in nineteenth-century America. Its location, design and finely executed detail place it among Virginia's notable twentieth-century architectural achievements.","narrative":"Monticello Arcade is a three-story shopping arcade completed in 1907 in downtown Norfolk, forming a covered pedestrian passage between City Hall Avenue and Plume Street. Its steel frame is faced in molded, polychromed terracotta, and each seven-bay facade is organized around a two-story Ionic order beneath an elaborate cornice. A skylit central mall, lined with shops on three levels, is entered through broken-pediment openings. The interior remains remarkably intact, with crisp detail and original arcaded gallery railings, though some ornaments and a few shop fronts have been lost. Percy S. Stephenson, an attorney and real estate agent, built it on land created by filling Town Back Creek in 1905, and it opened in 1908 amid Norfolk's early twentieth-century boom. It was listed as one of only two shopping arcades surviving in Virginia and a late example of a popular nineteenth-century commercial form. It remained a fashionable business address until about 1940.","period_of_significance":"1907 (20th century)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Beaux-Arts (data sheet also notes Second Renaissance Revival)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition and apparently sound, with a largely unaltered interior, but in imminent danger of demolition by the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority at the time of nomination. Later records mention restoration and rehabilitation for continued use.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.94584-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/27/6821/41682127/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/75002115.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75002115/68d429b930-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75002115/68d429b930-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"JGKlein","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monticello_Arcade_interior,_ca_1986_CROPPED.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">JGKlein</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monticello_Arcade_interior,_ca_1986_CROPPED.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"87000475","name":"Downtown Norfolk Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/downtown-norfolk-historic-district-87000475/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682127","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monticello_Arcade","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16895323"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/norfolk/monticello-arcade-75002115/"}