Gone – Vintage Charlottesville

Over the several years that C’ville Images has been collecting and researching old images we have also been documenting current-era changes, photographing buildings before they disappear or business locations before they change hands. From these projects we have accumulated a sizable photographic archive containing both recent and vintage photos of places that no longer exist. From these images comes this exhibit we have titled simply, “Gone.” As the town has grown, many buildings were demolished to make room for new ones. Other places have been lost to fire. Many shops and restaurants have gone out of business. The photos shown here take you on a tour through time to a Charlottesville of the past. The exhibit has been shown in various forms around town but this selection of photographs is now available online for those who may have missed it. Some of the places will be very familiar to viewers, others exist only in the memories of the citizens of yesteryear. All of the photographs will take you to places that are now gone.

“Gone” is just one of several rotating exhibits you will find here on our website. Check back often for new exhibits and occasional changes and updates to current exhibits.

**Martha Jefferson Hospital, Early 20th Century, Photographer unknown** This photograph shows Martha Jefferson Hospital in the early days when it was located on High Street, near Locust Avenue, in Charlottesville. The hospital was founded in 1903 by a group of local doctors. As the hospital expanded, this building would become the living quarters for nurses working at the hospital. In subsequent expansions of the hospital, this original building was demolished altogether. In recent years, MJH has moved from its downtown location and is now a large medical complex on Pantops Mountain. It is named for Thomas Jefferson’s daughter, Martha, who is an ancestor of one of the founding physicians.

**Leggett’s, circa 1930s, Ralph Holsinger** Leggett’s was a popular department store in downtown Charlottesville and was located at the 200 block of West Main Street where Violet Crown Theater is today. The chain started with a store in Lynchburg and spread throughout the Mid- Atlantic states. Leggett’s was bought out by the department store chain Belk in the 1990s.

**University Theater and Howard Johnson’s, 1966, Ed Roseberry** These two prominent buildings on The Corner at the University of Virginia still stand but the original businesses are now gone. The University Theater, at the left, opened in the 1930s, and the Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge, which was under construction at the time of this photograph, later became a Red Roof Inn. More recently it was renovated as an upscale hotel called The Graduate. The eight story hotel had replaced a Gulf service station on the same lot.

**Safeway, 1950s, Ed Roseberry** When the nationwide grocery store chain Safeway opened a new store on West Main Street, they included what was arguably the largest, tallest, and most visible sign ever constructed in Charlottesville. The store would move after many years at this location and the sign would be taken down. The building itself stood until very recently when it was demolished to make room for a new, mixed-use high-rise.

**Advance, Main Street, 1970 C’ville Images Archives** Auto parts stores were once common along Main Street in downtown Charlottesville, but after the pedestrian mall was built and vehicular traffic no longer moved along this part of Main Street, the auto parts stores moved or closed. This location of Advance is now a restaurant and bar.

**Temperance Hall, 1913, Rufus Holsinger** This building on University Avenue was built in the 1850s for a group known as the Sons of Temperance which attempted to discourage drinking among the University students. By the time of this photograph it housed the University bookstore, C&O ticket office, and the post office serving students and faculty at the The University of Virginia. It was later torn down to build the Entrance Building, which was then later moved to build the Medical School which stands on this approximate location today. Note the trolley tracks in the foreground which ran along University Avenue (and down Main Street) during that era.

**Building on South First Street, 2013, Steve Trumbull** This location, once the home of Snow’s Nursery, is just one block south of First & Main. It’s most recent use was as a maintenance facility for the City of Charlottesville. This fire on December 15, 2013 destroyed the building.

**Reid’s Market, West Main Street, Early 1970s, John Shepherd** Reid’s Market had two locations on Main Street. One in the 500 block of East Main (which burned down around 1980) and this one in the 1000 block of West Main Street. This store is now gone but the building remains and is now owned by UVA. Reid’s Market continues to operate a full-service grocery store on Preston Avenue.

**Church on West Main, Early 20th Century, Photographer unknown** This small wood frame church sat on West Main Street, just west of the bridge that crosses the Southern Railroad. This building was moved to the opposite side of the street around 1916. By 1940 a gas station and Ford dealership occupied this side of West Main. Today, The Flats at West Village, a mixed-use, multi-story building fills all the space shown in this old photograph. It is not clear when this old church was demolished but it is now gone. Old maps indicate that it was a Baptist Church when it was on the south side of the street and became Immanuel Lutheran Church after it was moved to the north side. The congregation of Immanuel Lutheran continues these days in a newer church on Jefferson Park Avenue.

**Water Street, Circa 1980, Photographer unknown** After the current Belmont Bridge was built in the early 1960s, ramps from the bridge to both Water and Main Streets helped the flow of automobile traffic from Belmont to downtown Charlottesville. As the east end of Main Street evolved in recent decades the ramps were replaced with the Pavilion and with the Transit Center. The other buildings seen here all still remain.

**City Laundry, 1950s, Ed Roseberry** This building was located on Grady Avenue near the intersection with Preston Avenue and 10th Street, directly across from the Monticello Dairy. The business provided full service laundry, dry cleaning, and coin-operated laundry facilities. The building and the business no longer exist, replaced by an expanded intersection and landscaped spaces.

**Hoff Motor Company, 1953, The Estate of Lionel Key** A catastrophic nighttime fire at the Hoff Motor Company destroyed dozens of Chrysler and Plymouth automobiles stored inside the building. Remarkably, the building was saved minus the third story, seen in this photograph. The current two story building is located between Water and Main Streets across from the present day location of City Hall.

**Belmont Businesses, Mid- 1970s, John Shepherd** The commercial section of the Belmont neighborhood in Charlottesville is now a popular destination for restaurant-goers but for decades had a very different look. This intersection of Carlton Avenue and Monticello Road was the location of businesses now replaced by Mas Tapas with the parking area in front now patio dining.

**Republic Plaza, 2013, Steve Trumbull** Built on what was once the parking lot for the Safeway grocery store on West Main Street this 1980s building had a relatively short life in Charlottesville. It provided mixed use of offices and retail but was recently demolished to make room for a much larger complex that will provide residential and commercial space. In recent years West Main Street has been one the most rapidly changing sections of town. The vacant area in the foreground now has a high rise building on it.

**First Baptist Church, 1917, Rufus Holsinger** Built in the early 1900s on the same site as the previous church building, First Baptist Church sat on the corner of Second and East Jefferson Streets, N.E. facing Lee Park. This remarkable structure boasts a massive bell tower and curved walls in the sanctuary. A fire in 1977 completely destroyed the church, just as the congregation was preparing to move to Park Street, their current location. The Queen Charlotte Square condominiums are now located on this block.

**The Kitch-Inn, Circa 1922, Jackson Davis** Housed in a portable dining car, this small restaurant was established on University Avenue (The Corner at UVA) in the 1920s. It later had a log-cabin design and the business expanded into the building seen here on the left. Catering to students and keeping prices low, in its early days it served the same meal to everyone, changing the menu daily. The location has had numerous restaurants over the years and is currently Trinity Pub.

**Howard Johnson’s, Circa 1950s, Rinehart Archives at C’ville Images** This chain restaurant was located on Emmet Street, just north of Ivy Road and opened in the 1940s. Along with other restaurants in the same block it catered to both the University and the surrounding community. In the late 1960s it became an establishment known as the Library with a bar located in the basement.

**Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, 2011, Steve Trumbull** Located near the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, this church building dated to 1875. It stood on property near the end of the runway and was purchased by the airport and there was some consideration of physically moving the church building to a new location. The congregation built a new church nearby and the old building was razed in 2013. The Earlysville Oak, a white oak that is likely close to 300 years old, stands about 100 yards to the south.

**Carriage Food House/Anderson’s, 2013, Steve Trumbull** Located at the Meadowbrook Shopping Center this locally owned and operated grocery store was a long-time favorite for seafood and meats. The Anderson family business dates to 1929 and although this store on Barracks Road closed, Anderson’s continues as a catering business serving the community. The building was demolished in July, 2018.

**Pace’s Taxi and Rice’s Jewelers, 1976, John Shepherd** Located at 421 West Main Street, this building was destroyed by fire in the 1980s. A futon shop has operated at the same address in the years since, but that business sits well back from the street. The location is currently awaiting major changes with the construction of a new hotel. The taxi business, dating to the first half of the 1900s continues to operate on 6th Street S.E.

**A & N, East Main Street, 1972, C’ville Images Archives** Located on the southwest corner of 5th and East Main Streets, the popular A & N Store was a long time fixture downtown even after a fire in the late 1960s reduced the building to one story. The chain was started in Richmond after the Civil War and evolved into an Army and Navy surplus store and became known as A & N. The chain finally closed it’s doors in 2008. This location was used as the local Obama campaign headquarters in 2008 and today is the Commonwealth Restaurant and Skybar.

**Spudnut Coffee Shop, 2011, Steve Trumbull** Known for their donuts made from potato flour, this local favorite was actually part of a chain of stores that started in the 1940s and spread world-wide. In Charlottesville, Spudnuts was a family-run business since 1969 and one of the very few Spudnuts locations left when, at the end of 2016, it closed its doors for good. The location is now occupied by a pie shop.

**Gaslight Coffee House, 1966, Ed Roseberry** The legendary Gaslight Coffee House was a West Main Street restaurant, bar, and music venue, seen here in its heyday. Ed Roseberry’s 1941 Cadillac Fleetwood sits out front with a Packard in what was supposed to be a Gaslight-sponsored car show. Local legend has it that a young Bob Dylan and Joan Baez both played here in the early 1960s. The Gaslight would change locations over the years, including a period of time at Barracks Road Shopping Center, but after years of struggling and the apparent suicide of its owner, the restaurant would close. The building seen here, attached to the historic Hotel Albemarle, is long gone, but Roseberry’s ’41 Cadillac is still rolling.

**Easters, 1970s, Ed Roseberry** Easters was a spring time celebration that had its roots in the late 19th Century with formal dances for college students at the University of Virginia. Over the years, the celebration evolved and by the 1970s when this photo was taken, it had become a drinking party with music and mud in “Mad Bowl” behind Madison Hall. At one point labelled the “best party in America” it began attracting students from around the country and the mayhem escalated until 1982 when the school authorities ended the event for good.

**Random Row Books, 2012, Steve Trumbull** Originally built as a Texaco Station, the one store building served as many things over the years, including this used bookshop. The building was torn down in recent years along with a neighboring building and replaced with a Residence Inn by Marriott.

**Zion Union Baptist Church, 4th Street, 1965, Ed Roseberry** Perhaps the last known image of the church before the building was demolished during the urban renewal program of the 1960s. It was originally built in the early 20th Century. The congregation moved to their new church on Preston Avenue where they have been for the last 5 decades.

**Charlottesville Motors, 2013, Steve Trumbull** was a Ford dealership on West Main Street, built circa 1940. After the dealership moved, the building continued to be used for various businesses related to the automotive industry. When it was first built it had replaced a boarding house, serving students at UVA. After the Charlottesville Motors building was demolished, student housing returned to the location with the construction of The Flats at West Village.

**Woolworth’s and Roses, Downtown Date, 1976, John Shepherd** These two discount department stores were mainstays in downtown Charlottesville for many years. The entire Woolworth’s chain, one of the pioneers of the “five-and-dime”, started in 1878, closed in the 1990s. Roses moved from its Main Street location, but still operates. This view is from the intersection of First and Main Streets, looking down the first block of West Main Street on today’s Downtown Mall.

**Barracks Road Service Station, 2012, Steve Trumbull** This service station was first built as a Texaco Station in the 1960s when Barracks Road Shopping Center was expanding. By the time it closed it sold Shell brand gasoline. The location was used to add more shops and restaurants to the shopping center, including Zinburger and Zoe’s Kitchen.

**Queen Charlotte, Circa 1930s, Ralph Holsinger** The Queen Charlotte Hotel was one of several hotels along West Main Street in the first half of the 20th Century. The hotel expanded from a modest facility in the early 1900s to the large hotel seen here in its heyday benefitting from the flood of visitors to the area arriving by rail at Union Station, directly across the street. By mid-century newer accommodations around town were built and by the late 1950s the Queen Charlotte Hotel was gone. According to photographer Ed Roseberry, at one point late in the life of the hotel, the neon sign out front was on the blink and by night read “HOT QUEEN HARLOT”

Photographs from the Holsinger Collection and John Shepherd are courtesy Special Collection, UVA Library. Other images are from sources noted in the text. All work is copyrighted and is not to be used without permission.