Norfolk Academy

Norfolk Academy
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Virginia Landmarks Register
Norfolk Academy, 420 Bank Street, c.1840
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Location	420 Bank St., Norfolk, Virginia
Coordinates	36°51′6″N 76°17′7″W
Area	0 acres (0 ha)
Built	1840 (1840)
Architect	Thomas U. Walter
NRHP reference No.	69000343[1]
VLR No.	122-0018
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	November 12, 1969
Designated VLR	September 9, 1969[2]

The original Norfolk Academy building was designed by architect Thomas Ustick Walter, who subsequently fourth designed the dome of the U.S. Capitol. The Greek-revival building, featured on the school's current seal (at right), was modeled after the Temple of Thesus in Athens. Subsequently, the building was a military hospital during the American Civil War, a Red Cross building in World War I and from 1920-1970 as the City of Norfolk's Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, and from 1973 as the City of Norfolk's Chamber of Commerce.[3][4]

Originally accessible via downtown Norfolk's Bank Street, the building now sits at the intersection of East Charlotte Street and St. Paul's Boulevard. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.[1]

Students are required to research, compose, and deliver to the student body and faculty an original persuasive speech as a graduation requirement. Public Speaking skills are integrated into the curriculum from the 1st grade on.

Norfolk Academy's German program was recognized in 2007 as the number one German program in the country among high schools. The College Board recognition for the school and German program has been earned, as the Report notes, through the performance of students on the AP German Language Exam. The ongoing exchange with the Copernicus Gymnasium, Löningen (Germany) has been in place since 1973, and is the longest-running high school student exchange program between the two countries.

Norfolk Academy's athletic program features 74 interscholastic competition for grades 7 – 12. 95 percent of Middle School students and at least 85 percent of Upper School students play one sport or more. Almost one-quarter of students in grades 9-12 play three sports. Teams compete in the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools, the League of Independent Schools, and the Virginia Prep League.

Recently a new stadium with a multi-purpose turf field and wider track and a new turf field hockey and girls' lacrosse field were added. Other features include an Athletic Pavilion complex with fitness center containing cardio-vascular and weight-training equipment and a multi-use field house that has over 20,000 square feet (1,900 m²), the Burroughs and Conrad gymnasiums, the newly-renovated Vaughan Aquatic Center, the Metro Information Services Tennis Complex, the Watson Baseball Field, the Rixey Lacrosse Field, and nine additional playing fields.

In the summer, Norfolk Academy hosts Breakthrough at Norfolk Academy, an affiliate of Breakthrough Collaborative, as well as summer camps for lower and middle school students.

• Crawford Howell Toy (1852), Hebrew scholar and linguist at Harvard Divinity School
• Walter H. Taylor (1853), State Senator in the Senate of Virginia, Lieutenant Colonel, author, and banker
• Littleton Waller Tazewell Bradford (1865), co-founder Pi Kappa Alpha, Norfolk politician
• Hardy Cross (1899), engineer,[5]
• Dave Robertson (1907), baseball player
• Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr. (1911), 20th Commandant of the Marine Corps, member of Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Richard Marshall (1913), Chief of Staff of US Army Forces, major US army general, and Superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute
• Hunter R. Rawlings III (1962), classics scholar and university administrator, president of Cornell University
• Linda Lorimer (1970), university administrator, vice president of Yale University
• Mitch Caplan (1975), former CEO of E-Trade Financial Corporation
• Peter Wisoff (1976), physicist and former NASA astronaut
• Marc Moss (1979), screenwriter
• Marc Short (1988), White House Director of Legsislative Affairs
• Nicole Abiouness (1990), winemaker
• Perry Moore (1990), screenwriter, author, director
• Griff Aldrich (1992), head basketball coach, Longwood University
• Glenn Nye (1992), former U.S. Congressman of Virginia's Second District
• Rebecca Cardon (1993), actress
• Angela Hucles (1996), 2-time Olympic Gold Medalist, soccer
• Eric Martin (2000), lacrosse player
• D.J. Covington (2010), basketball player