The Garden Apartment Complexes of Norfolk Multiple Property Documentation concerns one of the era’s housing types, garden apartment complexes, constructed between 1942-1949, all located south of downtown Norfolk and east of Naval Station Norfolk. During the late 1930s, as the United States undertook military buildup in response to escalating international conflicts, localities such as Norfolk that were home to major military installations experienced rapid population growth that exacerbated housing shortages that had begun during the earliest years of the Great Depression. In Norfolk, a combination of military and civilian leadership invested in an assortment of strategies for alleviating the housing shortages affecting both servicemembers and civilians. Privately developed, 1940s garden apartments offered a very different suburban living experience from apartment blocks and tenements in Norfolk’s older neighborhoods. Through their adherence to the Federal Housing Administration’s minimum housing guidelines, the apartments included modern electrical, plumbing, and heating systems, new kitchen appliances, buildings sited to maximize natural light and views for each apartment, and ample green space and landscape design around the buildings. Practical concerns, such as central laundry facilities and dedicated parking lots, were addressed, but their appearance was minimized through careful siting and unobtrusive design. The apartment buildings were generally designed by architects in restrained versions of the Colonial Revival style and typically feature brick-veneer walls, white trim, side gable or hipped roofs, and limited decorative brickwork that provided visual interest without lengthening of construction time.