Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 29, 1992 TAG: 9202290230
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Long
NEW LIFE FOR OLD TOWN?
Much of downtown Pearisburg has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, a move town officials hope will boost revitalization efforts.Pearisburg, founded in the early 1800s, has an antebellum courthouse and was the site of a Civil War skirmish involving two future presidents, William McKinley and Rutherford B. Hayes. The courthouse, which was built in 1836 and is still in use, already is on the National Register.
The bulk of the rest of the town's central business district was added to the National Register late last month, including the Pearis Theater and the 165-year-old Western Hotel.
Town officials hope the designation, coupled with a $700,000 federal housing grant awarded in June, will spark a revival of their business district - which despite its history is dotted with vacant storefronts.
Buildings on the National Register can receive tax credits, grants and other benefits to help finance renovation, said Town Manager Ken Vittum.
The same downtown area, which includes 19 buildings, was named to the Virginia Landmarks Register in December.
Vittum said the town sought the national designation both to develop a public recognition of Pearisburg's history and to spark a downtown rebirth.
Driving the need home was the recent closing of two new businesses - Eric's Restaurant and a bakery, both located near the courthouse.
"I think it was just a general feeling among the merchants and the Town Council that something needed to be done to try to revitalize the downtown, and this was a good way to get started. We're hoping also it will stimulate additional renovations in the downtown area, which will bring in additional business. . . . We look at it as a starting point," Vittum said.
Central to the town's plans is the oldest building in the district, the Western Hotel.
Vittum said the upper floors of the old building will be turned into apartments. The town also hopes to turn the upper floor of another building in the historic area, as well as the nearby Leggett building, into apartments.
The total $1.6 million project, which also includes some parking, would use state and possibly local loan money in addition to the $700,000 federal grant, Vittum said. Applications for the state money will be submitted this spring, Vittum said. If the state money is not approved the project still will proceed on a smaller scale, he said.
Plans do not involve renovating commercial spaces on the bottom floors of two of the buildings, Vittum said - though some work on the ground floors will have to be done as part of the renovation of the upper floors. Future commercial tenants will have to complete the ground floor renovations, he said.
The bottom floor of the Leggett building is to be apartments. Eventually the town hopes to offer historical walking tours downtown as well, and to mount placards at points of historic interest, as have other old Virginia towns.
"Lexington is a good example," said Town Councilman Dan Level - who serves on the town's new History Committee.
Downtown Pearisburg is historically important as the seat of Giles County, said Leslie Giles, architectural historian for the Roanoke Regional Preservation Office.
The Preservation Office, which is part of the state Department of Historic Resources, prepared the nominations for both the state and national registers.
Within the courthouse district, both the courthouse and hotel predate the Civil War. The courthouse has been on the National Register since 1982.
The Western Hotel across the street was built a decade before the courthouse by Guy French, son of one of the town's founders, according to the Preservation Office.
The old hotel, much of which remains intact, "is a very rare example of an early 19th century tavern that survived. There are very few west of the Blue Ridge," Giles said.
Also located in the historic district are the following buildings:
The Pearis Theater, built in 1940. "The art deco theater, a rare example of its style in Southwestern Virginia, remains substantially intact, even to the original marquee, replete with neon and incandescent lights," reads the Preservation Office's nomination.
The sheriff's office and jail, built in 1937-8. "A sophisticated colonial revival brick building."
The Pearisburg Law Building, built in 1910. "It features elaborate brickwork . . . pedimented dormers. . . . A bulky, solid building, it was expressive of the conservatism often associated with the law profession," the nomination reads.
Christ Episcopal Church, built in 1910, rebuilt following a fire in 1926-33. Reputed to be a replica of Christ Church in Bradford, N.Y., it is built partly of stone furnished by a local banker, C.L. King.