Japan surrendered in 1945, and World War II ended. Virginia Beach residents, including future president George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, rejoiced along with the rest of the county.
“There was a lot to cheer about,” the former first lady wrote in her book, “Barbara Bush: A Memoir.” She and her Naval aviator husband lived near the Oceanfront in a cozy little basement apartment. Little did they know that one day they’d reside in the White House, or that the building they lived in while stationed in the area would become a historical dwelling.
Known as Selden Hall, the three-story brick home was built for businessman William Boswell Selden Grandy and his wife, Selena, in 1932. Franklin D. Roosevelt had just been elected president, and his New Deal offered Americans hope.
More than 80 years later, the home was listed on the Virginia Beach Historical Register, thanks to the efforts of Jane Walker.
“It is so vital to preserve our heritage for the generations to come,” she said.
For about 30 years, Walker has lived in one of the two condominiums within the building, which also includes the Bushes’ former residence.
The stunning home with Georgian Revival detailing sits on a hill just one and a half blocks away from the ocean. The property is 2.5 acres tucked away off Holly Road between the Princess Anne Country Club and Galilee Church on Pacific Avenue.
The couple who built the house
The Grandys were married in Norfolk in June 1929, months before the stock market crashed. They honeymooned in Europe, according to the book “Summer on the Southside,” by Amy Waters Yarsinske.
Grandy’s father, Cyrus Wiley Grandy, was a Norfolk businessman, and his mother was Mary Selden from Smithfield. He was one of six children and became vice president of C.W. Grandy and Sons cotton firm, according to his 1938 obituary in The Virginian-Pilot.
William Grandy purchased the Selden House property, which Walker said stretched to the Oceanfront and north to the edge of the Cavalier Hotel. He hired the Norfolk architecture firm of Wickham Taylor to design the home built by C.G. Nugent for $60,000.
The Grandys had no children, and William Grandy didn’t live there very long. He died at the age of 62 in 1938 after a short illness. Selena Grandy lived to be in her 90s.
A home, divided
According to Virginia Beach land records, she sold the home to Selma Snyder in 1966. Walker has met Snyder and said she and her husband, Harry, had five children. They got divorced and sold the home in 1973 to developer TAM Associates, according to a deed filed with the city’s clerk of the Circuit Court. The company divided the main section of the home.
In a 1975 sales brochure, the building was referred to as the manor house. Additional townhomes were also constructed.
The description read, “More an enhancement than a development, Selden Hall will offer private ownership of 18 apartment homes and townhouses within its ivy-covered serpentine brick walls.”
Home prices were listed as $75,000 and more, with square footage ranging from 1,200 to 4,500.
The Bushes move in
In her book, first lady Bush described the small apartment they rented from Grandy for $6 a month as a “little gem of a place.” Walker has been inside the cozy one-bedroom unit with a brick terrace now a private residence.
“It’s adorable,” she said.
Her landlady, Selena Grandy, was an eccentric woman, according to Bush.
“She had wild, dyed red hair and wandered around that big house in her nightgown,” Bush wrote. Walker has heard lots of stories about the widow who “was something else.”
The book also mentions how Grandy didn’t like hairy men. Once, she made her late husband sit in a bathtub filled with hair remover. Walker is familiar with the tale, and said it happened in what is now her bathroom area.
The Walker family
Walker traveled quite a bit as a child. Her father was an American diplomat and they lived all across the Globe, including Uruguay, Buenos Aires, Manilla and Guam. In the late 1950s, her father became ambassador to SACLANT (Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic) in Norfolk.
She graduated from high school in Paris, and left college near Boston in 1968 to join her family in Madrid, Spain. She was eventually married there. Her two children were raised at the North End in Virginia Beach, and now she’s a proud grandmother of five.
In the late 1980s a friend said, “I know the perfect spot for you.” Walker fell in love with Selden Hall.
“It’s just so peaceful here,” she said.
Decor, and moving on
Her second-floor condominium is decorated with charm and historical elegance. Tall oak trees grace the property, and her entryway includes the home’s majestic stairs with solid walnut railings.
The library was Selena Grandy’s dressing room, and the gorgeous living room with a fireplace was her bedroom. The dining room and kitchen area was a porch.
The walls are filled with hand-painted portraits of Walker family members, including one of her mother in 1938 when she was engaged to her father, who Walker described as the “sweetest, kindest, dearest man.”
Outside, there’s a pathway filled with rose bushes, concrete benches and bird baths, referred by her grandchildren as “the secret garden.” Inside, she feels “like I live among the treetops.”
The time has come, however, to sell her “little jewel,” she said. The condominium will go on the market in the fall.
interested?
Selden Hall is located at 420 Linkhorn Drive. To find out more about buildings and individual properties on the Virginia Beach Historical Register, visit www.vbgov.com/historicpreservation.
Cindy Butler Focke, fockecindy@gmail.com
