Goodnight, Raleigh! | a look at the art, architecture, history, and people of the city at night

Sale of Joe Cox Paintings to Benefit Color Wall Restoration

posted by Raleigh Boy in Arts, Events
February 17, 2010
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Nine paintings by the late Joe Cox, noted Raleigh artist, color and light theorist and beloved long-time NC State College of Design professor, will be sold as part of an effort to raise funds toward the restoration of the famous Hillsborough St. landmark, Color Wall.

As readers of Goodnight, Raleigh! know, after three decades of ‘on again, off again’ operation, the Color Wall, which is housed in the DH Hill Library, went dark for the last time nearly three years ago. Through the online effort initiated by Goodnight, Raleigh! last spring, and the generousity of donors, we are closing in on realizing our goal of a permanent restoration of Raleigh’s first significant work of public art.

Hillsboro Street’s ManMur Bowling Center: the Geographic Center of North Carolina (?)

posted by Raleigh Boy in Community, History, Then & Now
January 15, 2010
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I am sure that by now everyone in Raleigh is aware of the Hillsboro St. reconstruction project currently underway along NC State University’s primary business thoroughfare, all the way from Oberlin Rd. out to Brooks Ave. For the past year, cars and pedestrians alike have navigated broken pavement and a clutter of orange and white traffic cones, barrels and barricades, all the while dodging giant earthmoving equipment. However, most people probably are not aware that until the late 1920s that stretch of street was primarily a residential district. In 1939 Hillsboro’s first major commercial building — the ManMur Bowling Center — was erected in the 2500 block.

The ManMur Bowling Center in 1940, when it was new. Notice how sparsely built up the block was then. (Photo courtesy the NC Office of Archives and History, State Archives.)

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Raleigh’s Merrimon-Wynne House: A Win-Wynne Situation

posted by Raleigh Boy in Architecture, History
December 2, 2009
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Often, one’s first impression of Raleigh’s Merrimon-Wynne House is its size — it is huge! Ever since I first photographed the house with my trusty Kodak Instamatic camera back in the 1960s, I have been intrigued by its architecture and beguiled by what wonderment possibly lay within. Now, many years later, I finally got my wish. Goodnight Raleigh had the opportunity recently to photograph the interior of the mansion, and I can tell you — it’s, well, huge!