One of Roanoke’s most storied landmarks, once host to jazz greats such as Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie, is up for sale.
Roanoke nonprofit Total Action for Progress has listed the Dumas Center for Artistic & Cultural Development, formerly the Dumas Hotel, for $1.075 million.
In its heyday, the Dumas was the cultural anchor of Henry Street, a thriving black business district that was decimated by urban renewal. A group of black Roanoke residents concerned that the history the Dumas represents will be lost wants to purchase the building in order to preserve it as an arts center.
“It should be community owned,” said Shmura Smith-Glenn, president of CEO of A. Byron Smith Oil Co., one of the group’s organizers.
