The Wilmont
UPDATE: The Wilmont Declared ‘Unfit for human habitation’. Read more here.
There is almost always something new to look at while driving by The Wilmont. The Christmas lights are usually on all year round. There are also frequently mannequins propped up on a few of the balconies.
The most interesting part? It’s the first apartment or other living space that I am aware of that has its own myspace page. The complex is around 70 years old.
What are some of the more memorable items you’ve seen on the various balconies of the Wilmont?
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS feed
Subscribe to posts by Email
Sign up for the Newsletter
03/05/2008
When I first moved to Raleigh, I’d always pass this building and think “I want to live there.” Eventually, between 2003 to 2006, I did. I have to admit that, despite its myriad physical problems (leaky roof, crumbling fire escape, boiler that gave out more than a charity at Christmas) and less-than-attentive landlords, the Wilmont is probably my favorite apartment I’ve ever lived in. My neighbors were all great, and many of them became friends. We had some amazing building-wide parties (Wilmontamont and Wilmont-o-Haunt) and even joked about building a trans-Hillsborough zipline with our friends in the Fincastle across the street. I created the myspace in 2004, I think, and I handed control over to another resident when I moved on. I can honestly say that the Wilmont years were some of the best of my life. Oh-and if you haven’t seen the swallows circling around the chimney at sunset, then you’ve never seen anything.
Thanks for the fantastic photos.
03/06/2008
Wilmont and Fincastle are kinda neat apartments. They remind me of old urban apartment buildings you see in New York City.
Even downtown Raleigh has very few apartments like these remaining…yet these two are still there out past NCSU. Pretty cool.
Mannequins…Hah!
03/12/2008
m.b.,
Thank you for the history and your experience with it! I’ll have to be on the lookout for swallows circling. It sounds like another quirky but lovely scene that exists in much of Raleigh.
06/01/2008
Wonderful photos!
I’ve lived at the Wilmont for two years now, and hung out there for a few years prior to moving in.
It is truly a fascinating place and the communal vibe is something you rarely see with other apartments. Everyone helps each other, from move ins + outs, to fixing computers + musical instruments, borrowing ingredients or DJing for each other’s parties. It is a very lively place.
Unfortunately VG Murray + Co manage the properties so it is quite substandard, and often times it feels like you are squatting in the place and making some sort of monthly cash sacrifice to a apathetic/absent god via rent.
Still, the cops hardly ever bust any of our parties indoor or outdoor, and the location and charm more than make up for its slum lord ills.
04/25/2009
I lived in the Wilmont for a couple of years, and while I loved the building itself, David House and VG Murray are horrible. I do not regret moving out — the only thing I do regret is not taking David House and VG Murray to court. My apartment was 100% uninhabitable for over a month after the bathroom wall burst and the repair guys trashed my apartment. (By “trashed”, I mean they left behind a ladder, a wet red sweater, mud, grit, and several tools that they apparently didn’t need for 6 weeks.)
For the Wilmont to have been in the hands of such unscrupulous people is a travesty.
The birds in the chimney are chimney swifts, by the way, not swallows.
04/27/2009
Well it look like the wilmont is going to be condemned. I am currently a resident and I have to agree with the previous poster. David House and VG Murray are horrible. The only way I found out that we were being evicted was from an NBC 17 news story. I created a website to save the building for what ever good it will do, its savewilmont.com visit at your leisure.