House of Ebony

The House of Ebony

731 West Main Street

The House of Ebony originated as a restaurant, but had evolved to become the only Black oriented nightclub in Charlottesville when it caught fire in the early morning hours of August 20, 1975. The club had only been in operation for two years, but it had managed to draw the ire of local officials because of the crowds of people who would overflow onto West Main Street on busy nights, as it was the only institution of its type within walking distance of the Black community. One day into the initial investigation, the fire department announced in The Daily Progress that evidence indicated arson was responsible for the blaze. [The limited scope of this project did not allow us to determine the final conclusion of city officials.]

The exterior of the building survived the fire, and soon after the event an unknown person painted the figure of a fireman in blue on the 8^th Street side of the remaining structure. The man pictured is said to be watching as fire destroys the club, as rumor has it the firefighters did when they first arrived on the night of August 20, 1975 before putting out the blaze. Although faded with age, the blue figure can still be seen today.

The fire at the House of Ebony coincided with an increase in crime and racial incidents along West Main Street in the mid-1970s. The Daily Progress, The Charlottesville-Albemarle Tribune, and The Cavalier Daily reported on many of these events, with some writers attributing the rise in crime to the national recession experienced during the 1970s. In the summer of 1975, Charlottesville residents created the Citizens Task Force on Crime in an effort to alleviate the city’s problem with crime but this was not enough to keep major businesses such as the Sears store on Eleventh Street or the Safeway on Ninth Street from moving to suburban locations. Continued out migration of commercial establishments added to the decline of the West Main Street area.

Presently, 731 West Main Street is home to the West Main Design Company, which specializes in hair and beauty care.

Sources

Danny Barkin, “Conflict, Crime Plague City,” The Cavalier Daily, 03 September 1975.

Douglas Pardue, “City Night Club Gutted By Fire,” The Daily Progress, 20 August 1975. “Fires.” Local History File, Alderman Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.

Douglas Pardue, “Night Club Destroyed: Arson Charged,” The Daily Progress, 21 August 1975.

Johnson, Jack. Interview by Naomi Jacobs and Cynthia Terrell Richardson, 09 April 2010, Personal Collection, Charlottesville, Va.

Preservation Studio (Walker C. Johnson, AIA Instructor with students). Charlottesville 2020: A Thirty Year Vision Balancing Development and Preservation on West Main Street and the Mall. University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Spring 1988.

Tribune Staff Reporter, “Local Crime Fight Seen As Expensive Item,” The Charlottesville-Albemarle Tribune, 18 September 1975.

Tribune Staff Reporter, “Taking a Look at Local Crime,” The Charlottesville-Albemarle Tribune, 28 August 1975.