The couple has tried to open it, with no luck. They even called the company that built it but were told they don't make them like that anymore. The Westcotts were hoping to find gold bricks β or at least some sort of accidental time capsule from when the home was built.
When the Westcotts first toured the Thalia property several years ago, their realtor told them about its original owner. The woman was the region's most notorious brothel owner of the era. There's no evidence she ran a brothel out of the house β despite persistent rumors to the contrary β but it was almost certainly bought with the large amounts of cash she earned from her businesses in Norfolk β and likely stored in that bedroom safe. The woman operated several businesses, sparred publicly with police and city officials, and later took part in a robbery at the Little Creek base in a case she took to the U.
Supreme Court. Her name? Virginia Kaufman, plus a few aliases. Or, as the locals still call her simply, "the madam. In , Kaufman's property was a large swath running for several dozen acres around the brick, two-story home she built on Cedar Lane by Thalia Creek.
The land stretched almost to what is now Virginia Beach Boulevard. Enter the house now and some things likely look the same as decades past.
Visitors are met in an airy foyer with elegant stairs circling to the second floor under dazzling chandeliers she had flown in from Czechoslovakia β apparently the madam was particular about her crystal.
