The first NCSU library was located on the second floor of Holladay Hall, but this is the location of the first D.H. Hill Library. In 1926 this building was constructed and named in honor of one time librarian and later president of NCSU, Daniel Harvey Hill, Jr. The senior D.H. Hill was a Confederate general during the Civil War and brother-in-law to Stonewall Jackson, considered by many to be one of the most talented military leaders in United States history.
Tucked away in the woods behind a nondescript building on Raleigh’s busy Oberlin Road is a long-forgotten chunk of inside the beltline real estate. I am speaking of the old Oberlin Village Cemetery. Few people are aware of its existence now, but this weedy three-acre graveyard entangled with ivy is the final resting place for many former residents of a once-thriving African-American Community known as Oberlin.
As Karl pointed out in the previous post about the green house attached to the Jackpot!, the building has been here since the 1950s. It was a strip club called Brite Spot in the ’60s and ’70s, with a bright neon sign with a red flashing ball out front. More recently it was Bourbon Street Bar, before becoming what it is today.
Today, the Jackpot! is easily one of the hippest clubs in Raleigh. Like The Rockford (same owner) there is no sign out front advertising the place.
Auctioneer looking for bidders during the live auction
The fourth annual Downtown Appetite For Art kicked off at Marbles Kids Museum on a Saturday evening that was markedly different than the first one in 2004. Then, Moore Square was almost quiet enough to hear tumbleweeds roll across the grass. This year the area was afire and loud as Downtown Live filled the streets with people.
Like a Phoenix from the Ashes: Raleigh’s Downtown Warehouse District
The cast of “Openings Windows and Passages” peering up from the floor of Lot 13 in this promo shot by Mark Herdter in 1979.
Just as Raleigh’s Fayetteville Street is currently undergoing a Renaissance, likewise is the city’s old industrial warehouse district located between downtown and the railroad tracks. New housing units intermingle with nightclubs; lofts are filling long empty warehouse spaces; and it is emerging as a focus of downtown nightlife. The warehouse district is awaking from the long slumber it had fallen into after the hustle and bustle of its industrial glory days had faded.
[photo credit: Jonathan Pulley]
Pictured above is WRAL/FOX50 Studios on Western Boulevard as captured by Jonathan Pulley, a reader of this site. This building was mentioned just a few days ago in the article titled G. Milton Small - Best Architect Ever?.
Andrew Haynes, aka Ol’ River Haynes, is the host of the Hippie Hour on WKNC on Saturday afternoons from four until six. The show evades classfication of any one genre, and really can’t be defined by three or four of them. Judging by the name, it comes as no surpise that you may hear Phish or the Grateful Dead during a show. However, just as frequently you will hear electronica, old timey bluegrass, reggae, and southern rock.
Between the most beautiful building, the ugliest building, and the most beautiful historic structure articles, this author has been making several best of/worst of claims for the area. In that same effort, I would like to nominate my pick for favorite area architect–G. Milton Small. I have written about him before, when showcasing his former office building near NCSU campus.
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