Editor, Gazette-Journal:

The former Calvin Hotel, Tri-County Furniture Store, and the Booker House have been prominent landmarks on Main Street since the 1930s and ’40s. We think these buildings deserve to be saved, rather than demolished to make way for a new fire station and other infrastructure.

Our primary reasons for wanting to save these buildings are threefold: 1) the buildings are historic, 2) preservation drives economic growth, and 3) there are plenty of alternatives the fire department should consider including modifying their existing station and looking at other, more suitable locations.

All three buildings are part of the Gloucester Downtown Historic District, which is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. They contribute to our historic Main Street landscape with its broad mix of mid-18th- through mid-20th-century buildings and represent large and prominent examples of different architectural styles including th...