The street sign where Catalano's famous house once stood

Almost ten years ago, Raleigh lost one of the most impressive and forward-thinking houses the world has ever seen: The Catalano House. It was the first warped plane structure in America, and it inspired a generation of young architects to explore new ways of constructing the spaces we live, work, and play in.

A little over a week ago, the world lost the brilliant architect who was the namesake of the house. Eduardo Catalano died at the age of 92.

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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!

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In early 1959, the world-renowned architect Edward Durell Stone formally abandoned the International Style of modern architecture with the unveiling of the new U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India. Commenting on the new face of the America overseas, Frank Lloyd Wright declared: “It’s the only embassy that does credit to the United States.” Although very well received both then and now, it also put him on a path that would distance him from his peers in the community.

The inspiration for the North Carolina’s new Legislative Building came directly from the new embassy. At the time, the style was labeled as “Decorative Romanticism” and was a lightning rod for attention, both then and now.

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The gem on Hillsborough St. in 1962 — at night, the way Joe Cox intended it. (Photo courtesy the NC Office of  Archives and History, State Archives.)

Forty-seven years ago next month, Branch Banking and Trust Company  opened its  “State College Office” at the corner of Hillsborough St. and Oberlin Rd. The ribbon cutting ceremony was held with great fanfare, with the mayor of Raleigh, the chancellor of NC State and the president of BB&T in attendance. Though the pick and shovel groundbreaking had occurred several months earlier, the bank’s opening “broke ground” in another, more significant way — it was the first Raleigh bank to feature a work of public art as an integral part of its design — a dazzling stained glass mural. “The mural represents the growing cooperation between artist and architect that is rapidly spreading throughout the country,” the N&O reported in an article on the event in 1962. The architect of the State College Office was F. Carter Williams; the artist who designed the stained glass mural was none other than the renowned Raleigh artist, color theorist and School of Design professor, Joe Cox.

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