Norfolk & Western Railway Company Historic District in the city of Roanoke contains three buildings unified by their historical connection to the Norfolk & Western Railway. The district lies north of the principal Roanoke business core, situated adjacent to the railroad tracks and the Hotel Roanoke. The 1896 General Office Building-South (GOB) is a sophisticated example of neoclassical architecture, while the 1931 GOB-North represents the Art Deco period and mirrors certain details of the Chrysler Building in New York City. Similarities include its vertical emphasis, geometrically patterned brickwork, and pre-cast stone and cast-aluminum details. The neoclassical 1905 Passenger Station was a brick, symmetrical, structure with a central portico and a terra-cotta hipped roof. In 1949, the internationally respected industrial designer Raymond Loewy redesigned the station into a hybrid Moderne-style structure retaining the footprint and the roof, and renovated the portico. The three buildings stand as visual, commercial, and architectural landmarks to the history of the railroad in southwestern Virginia.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia