Then and Now: Jade Garden
For our second installment of Raleigh, Then and Now, we take you down Hillsborough street. Located less than a mile from The North Carolina State Capitol sits a building that has served Raleigh for quite a long time. Built in 1915, 1207 Hillsborough street was first occupied by a drug store and a US Post Office substation. A small apartment on the second floor provided shelter for an NCSU professor.
1207 Hillsborough Street wouldn’t look very familiar to a Raleigh resident of nearly a century earlier. In the past 97 years the building has seen many changes. Apart from almost doubling in size, the exterior has been updated numerous times with the installation of casement windows and a thick coat of stucco in the 1930s and a decidedly “vintage” storefront facade added in the early 1970s.
The “then” image was taken in 1945 when Peter Pan Restaurant occupied the space. The giant billboards flanking the building advertised Butter Nut Bread for the recently demolished, but long vacant, Staudt Bakery which stood next door. Peter Pan operated for a good part of 40 years, but in the early 1970s the restaurant was robbed and the owner, Mrs. Cavadias, was convinced to retire. Following Peter Pan was a short list of bars and restaurants before Jade Garden opened in the early 80s.
1200 Block South Side Hillsboro St Looking West ca 1928
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07/11/2012
What? Jade Garden hasn’t been there since the beginning of time? :) It almost seems like it. This is a really cool Then and Now, done the right way with the Now photo to match up just right. I wish I’d been around to eat at Peter Pan.
07/11/2012
And I’d love to try that Butternut bread! The only two bakeries I can remember from childhood were the Wonder Bread bakery across from Meredith (class field trip visits for real!) and the old bakery in Cameron Village where the ABC store is now. I can still smell the sugar from that one!
07/12/2012
When I was young, Raleigh had a surprisingly large Greek community, or so it seemed to me. Mrs. Cavadias, who owned the Peter Pan Cafe, was among the more memorable because she was our neighbor, just down the street from our home in Grosvenor Gardens. In wintertime, Mrs. Pete made us Fleetwood hot chocolate. She never lost her Greek accent, and she was a very warm, loving soul imbued with the delightful air of the Mediterranean. My mother shopped at the Cameron Park Grocery in this building since my family had only one car. It isn’t just the buildings that have changed. This American life has completely changed. And man, is that a story…
01/11/2013
Growing up on Ashe Avenue before it was a boarding house district, that stretch of stores was home. Melvin’s Pharmacy, Edwards’ Grocery (not the same as the one by the bell tower), Peter Pan, the barber shop and all the way around to the ice house, Martin Millworker and the bakery thrift store. I delivered papers there, too. Mrs. Pete was the best, kindest person. I bought penny candy at Edwards’ and my comic books at Melvin’s.
03/15/2025
My mom Carolyn Lunceford, named Jade Garden.
Before I was born, Peter and Nancy Pang worked for Mt. Hope Finishing company with my mom, in the 70s. In an ironic fashion apparently Pang ran across the building when Peter Pan closed.
Peter Pang and Nancy ran the business until at least 1997 or so when it was remodeled on the inside. Nancy remained until at least 2001. Since then it’s changed hands at least 2 times.
Let me tell you, as a child, this restaurant was LEGENDARY. The egg drop soup, with mushrooms, carrots was absolutely the most delicious thing ever. Now it’s a generic chinese restaurant. But let me tell you… 25-30 years ago, it was a LEGEND.