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Lecture Tour of America 1882

Writing and Research on Oscar Wilde

Norfolk

Virginia

Van Wyck’s Academy Of Music

Monday, July 10, 1882

The Decorative Arts

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Verification

Newspaper report

Norfolk Landmark, July 11, 1882, 1

Newspaper advertisement

Public Ledger (Norfolk, VA), July, 1882

Venue

Van Wyck’s Academy of Music

210-212 Main Street, corner of Martin's Lane, Norfolk, VA (now 109 E. Main Street)

Opened: September, 1880 (Henry Dubois Van Wyck)

Seating capacity: 1300

Remodeled: 1899-1900

Destroyed (fire): April 4, 1930, subsequently demolished*

* Remnants of the original bulding exist within the rebuilt Selden Arcade which utilized salvaged bricks (extant).

Accommodation

Atlantic Hotel

12 Granby Street (NW corner of Main and Granby), Norfolk, VA

Built: 1867-68 (Edmund Lind, architect )*

Wilde's room: No. 134

Destroyed (fire): January 31, 1902

* The second of three hotels in Norfolk with this name.The first on Main Street between Gray and Bank was destroyed by fire on January 8, 1867. The third which replaced Wilde's hotel, was demolished in the 1970s.

Ephemera

Public Ledger (Norfolk, VA), July 10, 1882, 1

Location of the Atlantic Hotel and the Academy of Music

For the original on which this advertisement is based, see The Kelly Sketch.

Credit: I am extremely grateful to the staff of the Sargeant Memorial Collection at the Slover Library (Norfolk Public Library) for assistance in sourcing information on this page.

John Cooper on Oscar Wilde © 2026