Moses Myers House

Norfolk, VA  23510

757-664-6200

In 1787, Moses Myers chartered a vessel and moved from New York to Norfolk to seek his fortune. Within five years he had a fleet of five ships and a successful shipping business. In 1792, his business flourishing, he set about building a new house, at the corner of East Freemason and Bank Streets, which was then on the outskirts of town. In 1796, three rooms were added, and the house was completed by 1797. Moses Myers was one of Norfolk's first Jewish citizens, and it is thought that the new room with an outside entrance was used as Norfolk's first synagogue. The Moses Myers House was one of the first brick houses built in Norfolk after the Revolutionary War. It was first situated facing one street, but the front door was later moved to another side, supposedly to give it a more prestigious address. An elegant example of Federal architecture, its plasterwork is unusually ornate. This was the home of a man of consequence. The house was home to five generations of the Myers family. And in 1931, with many of its furnishings, it was sold to a private foundation; it is now owned by the City of Norfolk and the Chrysler Museum of Art. The Garden Club of Virginia restored an appropriate garden for an elegant late 18th Century city house of the Federal Style.