East Beach is a 100-acre community on the Chesapeake Bay in Norfolk. The first 17 homes were built for the annual Homearama. Approximately 100,000 people toured the homes and neighborhood over a week. The East Beach neighborhood is on the waterfront of the Chesapeake Bay. Take Shore Drive west from Northampton Boulevard.
The community has strict architectural guidelines, and obviously porches and traditional styles are called for. Still, the Homearama homes showed plenty of diversity to form a stylish neighborhood. A big clubhouse sits on the Bay, with sandy beaches beyond. The calm waters are ideal for families with small children. Lights on the nearby Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel must be an attractive sight at night.
Homearama events are fun because you can tour many open houses all at once. It's interesting to see the latest products and design trends. The interiors are furnished and the yards are landscaped too. I walked through each and every home.
Most of the homes are three stories tall, and all have porches or decks on the upper floors. "Carriage houses" with apartments over the garage are common here. What a great idea -- the apartments are separate from the main house and can be rented or used by the family teenager or grandmother. Garages and driveways are in the rear, not out front.
Yards are tiny and the homes are mainly large, which is what I'd expect on such valuable land. Shopping and restaurants already exist nearby, and more will probably be built as the entire Ocean View area continues to redevelop.