Comments on: Reminiscences of a Raleigh Boy, Part 3: Fayetteville Street

By: Raleigh Girl

Raleigh Girl — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 03:53:31 +0000

Raleigh Boy….thanks for yet another trip down Memory Lane. Seeing the photo of the old Belk’s store reminds me of the spectacular (by Raleigh standards) window displays they always had during the Christmas season—reason enough to make a special trip downtown at night just to see them.

By: Catherine in Tucson

Catherine in Tucson — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:59:21 +0000

I’m an architectural historian in Tucson (moving to Burlington next year). In the past 5 years that I’ve lived here I’ve seen several of our neat older buildings come down, even though there’s a growing preservation movement here. I have made friends with a couple of the demolion co’s in town that let me know when a building is coming down so that I can photograph it and make up a history. There used to be a requirement in the building code that if a building was over 50 years old, historically significant or not, a survey had to be done. It was taken out and not put back in another part of the code, as they promised. We’ve lost several buildings in the past year that have been missed getting recorded. Thanks for the great before/after photos. Beautiful shots.

By: Raleigh Boy

Raleigh Boy — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:33:53 +0000

yes, Leon — I remember the bronze clock too, but only vaguely. It hung in front of the Security National Bank, located across Fayetteville from the Sulivanesque styled Wachovia Bank. By 1962 NCNB occupied the Security Bldg. NCNB demolished the Security bldg in 1963 and built ‘Lenin’s Tomb’ on the site in 1964.

The smokestack you are thinking of was that of the CSA ram iron clad ‘Albemarle.’ Built in 1863 near Scotland Neck on the Roanoke River, it sank during combat the next year. The smokestack was salvaged, and for decades it was on display at the ‘Hall of History’ in Raleigh. It is now at the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

By: Leon Rue

Leon Rue — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:27:43 +0000

I remember a bronze clock with multiple faces outside the Wachovia bank. Is the smokestack of one of the ironclads still at the Hall Of History? The Merrimac maybe?
Leon

By: Raleigh Boy

Raleigh Boy — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:49:56 +0000

Jim — The Ambassador Theater stood in the 100 block, east side, of Fayetteville St. You can just make it out in the 3rd and 4th ‘then and now’ photo sets above. It was demolished in the mid 1990s, along with all the buildings in that block down to the Enterprise Properties Building, and replaced with the Wachovia Building parking deck. A stone monument dedicated to President Andrew Johnson, a Raleigh native, used to stand on the sidewalk in front of the Ambassador.

http://goodnightraleigh.com/2009/01/another-memorial-marker-returns-sort-of/

By: jim

jim — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 10:28:54 +0000

where exactly was the ambassador theater and what is in its place now?

By: Leon Rue

Leon Rue — Sat, 30 May 2009 00:52:06 +0000

My memories are from the late 30′s and early 40′s . There were two old muzzle loading cannons at the entrance to the Capitol. After going to the Ambassidor I would cut through the bookstore to a bakery on the next street to buy a cream filled pastry. I think these were called Napoleons.

By: Raleigh Boy

Raleigh Boy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:59:52 +0000

Thanks for the comment Bootes. I used to nickname everything back then (still do to some extent!) You gotta remember this was the ’60s and I was a teenager living during the cold war era. Lenin’s Tomb (the original in Moscow, that is) was a strong image in this Raleigh Boy’s young mind. Surely you’ve seen the photos of all the Communist party bosses lined up along the roof saluting nuclear missles during the annual Red Square May Day parade! So when the NCNB building was built in 1964 I remember thinking: big, monolithic, polished black granite>> It looks just like Lenin’s Tomb! And that name has stuck with me ever since!

By: Bootes

Bootes — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:08:27 +0000

Great photos! I only barely remember the 1960s, but the “look” is a wonderful reminder of my childhood, and certainly jibes with my downtown memories of the early ’70s.

Where did the “Lenin’s Tomb” nickname come from? That building doesn’t seem to me to resemble the actual tomb?

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:25:38 +0000

Awesome stuff.