While visiting a friend of mine in Virginia Beach, she took me to the Cavalier Hotel. We sipped some fancy cocktails from the Raleigh Room while enjoying the unusually cool weather for a July afternoon. And I instantly felt as though I had stepped into the opulence of the 1920s with just a dash of modernity.
Tidewater photo service in Virginia Beach at the Cavalier Hotel swimming pool, published in the Norfolk Ledger Dispatch on July 18, 1927.
In fact, the king of the Jazz Age himself, F. Scott Fitzgerald, stayed at the Cavalier with his family in July of 1927, just 91 years before I strolled down their oceanfront veranda! I am nothing short of obsessed with everything Gatsby so obviously I was hooked. By the time we left, it had started to get busy with visitors and guests and reminded me of an actual Gatsby party!
“…and already the halls and salons and verandas are gaudy with primary colors, and hair shorn in strange new ways, and shawls beyond the dreams of Castile. The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter…”
— The Great Gatsby, Chapter 3
The Cavalier’s Veranda
The Cavalier’s veranda overlooks the ocean from the top of a hill. Right now, the outlook exhibits a great deal of construction. But one day, I imagine this view will be quite spectacular. Ceiling tall french doors span the front and side of the hotel, where ample seating is provided to enjoy the fresh air. Along with plenty of alluring Instagram-worthy backdrops, if that’s your thing. It’s definitely mine, but not my friend’s. She actually told me I need to “chill out” with all my photography. To each his own!
The Raleigh Room
The Raleigh Room is a bar lounge like no other. The walls are mostly covered in Renaissance styled artwork with ornate gold frames. While other walls feature large canvas portraits that add contemporary flair. I would liked to have secretly stashed one of the vintage lamps in my purse, but unfortunately I only brought a clutch with me that day. The real star of the lounge area was the vibrantly colored velvet seating! They amplified that feeling of lavishness the Jazz Age was so well known for. The furniture also did not fit in my purse.
The Saltwater Pool
The indoor pool is the classiest indoor pool I have ever seen. Rows of chic black and white furniture sit beneath a soaring skylight. Billowing palms give the natatorium a tropical feel while adding beautiful accents of color. Only guests were allowed in the pool area, so I had to creep through windows along the veranda and Raleigh Room to get these shots.
The Originals
The lobby rotunda looks almost exactly as it did when the hotel opened on April 4, 1927. At the top of the lobby staircase, the black and gray checkerboard terrazzo is all original flooring. As well as the gray terrazzo staircase and the brass hand railings that lead to the first floor. Every detail in the Cavalier is sumptuous. I’m even in love with the air vents!
The Perfect Wedding Venue
If you or anyone you know is planning on getting married at this exquisite venue, you must contact me to do your videography! A Cavalier wedding would be so dazzling and elegant and I need to witness it. PLEASE CALL ME!!
More About The Cavalier Hotel
The Cavalier has a long list of iconic guests and a vibrant history that they summarize wonderfully on their site. You can also learn more about their recent $85 million restoration and the reimagined and newly built Cavalier Oceanfront Beach Club.
This has only been a sliver of what The Cavalier has to offer. I can’t even conceive the luxuries offered to actual guests! Speaking of which, can someone start a charitable fund so that I can stay in the Thompson Suite the next time I visit? This suite, designed by Bruce Thompson, is dedicated to the Roaring ‘20s and I need to see it!
The Thompson Suite, from the Cavalier’s website.