THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 3, 1994 TAG: 9410030055
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Brett R. Burkhart was a combination of the traditional and the contemporary, in both his life and work.
He was a graduate of perhaps the state's two most traditional schools, Washington & Lee and the University of Virginia. And Burkhart respected those roots, speaking quietly with a dry wit within the corridors of government and business.
But as an architect, Burkhart pushed the city to be a little bolder, a little brighter, a little more fun, while he also urged it to show more respect for its existing streets and buildings that held the city's history.
Burkhart died in late September at the age of 39 after a long illness. The average person did not know him or about him. Yet he or she might have smiled at seeing the clean lines of the renovated, soft-gray brick townhouses on Graydon Avenue in Ghent, the chirpy, lemon-yellow facade of the Dumbwaiter restaurant downtown, or the cheerful row of shops on Granby Street in front of the old Loews theater.
Burkhart worked as an architect in Norfolk for more than a decade. He was a partner in the firm Burkhart & Thomas, located in an old house on Bute Street. Before that, he worked with the Chapman Co. and the firm Spigel, Carter, Zinkl & Herman.
Norfolk has struggled to rebuild and regenerate its downtown for decades. As the city developed big buildings like the Marriott hotel and Nauticus, Burkhart pushed the city to hold on and rebuild its smaller stores and its traditional network of streets.
But while pushing the city to preserve its past, he urged it to allow more sharper, more contemporary design.
``He was real strong in a very quiet way,'' said Sydney Meers, who worked with Burkhart on the facade of Meers' restaurant, the Dumbwaiter. ``He helped get other designs approved in this city other than this gray, drab, Williamsburg stuff.''
Not only did Norfolk's Design Review Board end up approving Burkhart's designs, it also bestowed him three awards of merit. They were for Elliot's on Colley Avenue, and the Metropol Market and Loews Shops on Granby Street.
Burkhart fought for the classic idea of a downtown - small stores, offices and homes on straight streets with sidewalks and on-street parking. He participated in what many consider a watershed event downtown, the opening of The Metropol Market on Granby Street in the late 1980s. The placement of a grocery store, with a penthouse apartment above it, was greeted as the beginning of life returning to Granby Street.
Burkhart, charged with renovating the empty building, stripped away layers of grime and materials to enhance the building's traditional lines of brick and cornice work. At the same time, he installed new windows to create a clean, contemporary facade that still matched the buildings around it.
Although the Metropol Market eventually failed, other stores and restaurants have moved into spaces on Granby Street and the side streets since then.
Designing a new home for the Dumbwaiter restaurant was one of Burkhart's last projects. Working closely with Meers, an artist, the two created an upscale restaurant from an abandoned shell of a building. The facade is one of the boldest in Norfolk. It has an inlaid pattern of brick and concrete, a jagged-tooth, pyramid structure on top, and a soft, but bright yellow color.
When not practicing architecture, Burkhart's friends remember a man who loved to go to a party, to visit a big city and who had a rich knowledge of history and art.
``Brett was probably one of the smartest people I ever met,'' said Thomas H. Wetrich, an architect who worked with Burkhart. ``Those of us who hung around him always looked up to him. He was charismatic, really.''
His family and friends will hold a memorial service today at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Church on Yarmouth Street near the Chrysler Museum. ILLUSTRATION: APPRECIATION
Architect Brett Burkhart blended his love for the city's past with
daring designs fresh from the present. His mark will last long past
his death at 39.
[Color Photo]
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff photos
Brett Burkhart won an award form Norfolk's Design Review Board for
Elliot's restaurant on Colley Avenue.
THE BURKHART PORTFOLIO
Burkhart pushed the city to rebuild its smaller stores and maintain
its traditional network of streets. All the following examples of
his work are in Norfolk, except where noted:
Szechuan in Ghent, Colley Avenue.
Fairfax Hotel renovation, City Hall Avenue.
Ryan Residence on Jamestown Crescent.
Henry's Seafood Restaurant on Shore Drive, Virginia Beach.
[Color Photos]
Renovated townhouses on Graydon Avenue in Ghent.
Metropol Market on Granby.
The Dumbwaiter restaurant.
by CNB