Village Hall
Hall
1883 Village Hall
Designed by Palliser & Co.
In 1882 a group of ladies saw the need for a hall for lectures and other forms of entertainment and began to raise the necessary funds. With stores and the post office on the first floor and a theater upstairs, the completion of Village Hall in 1883 enhanced the business district and provided a stylish cultural center for the community. Well know architectes of the day, Palliser,Palliser & Co, used a new and distinctive façade with its asymmetrical fenestration, flat wall surface with variegated shingles, and ornamental detail suggests the work of an architect familiar with Japanese aesthetics, the latest craze following the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition at Philadelphia. Palliser’s “Design for a Norfolk Opera House” was publishied in one of the firms many books on architecture, this building was an unusual examples of a multi-functional cultural center with shops on the ground floor.
Historic District Walking Tour Map Index: 48