1890 Bretsch House, Blount Street

Although many of its finest examples were destroyed in the 1960s and 1970s, Raleigh maintains a relatively large stock of Victorian houses. Perhaps the most frequently overlooked houses from this era are Folk Victorians.

The 1890 Bretsch House above is (arguably) classified in this style. A front facing gable, tall and narrow windows, and a finely detailed porch are all characteristics of Folk Victorians. The level of detail on the porch of the Bretsch House is also associated with the Eastlake Victorian style. It was moved from McDowell Street to its current location on S. Blount Street in 1982.

What Makes a Victorian ‘Folk’?

The classification of Folk Victorian is an ambiguous one. The most common traits I’ve seen across historical reference guides are: intricate porch and/or gable detailing, an asymmetrical floor plan, and a lack of grand features such as bay windows and turrets or towers. Folk Victorians were built between 1879 and 1910.

Folk Victorians came into existence with expansion of railroads in the late 19th century. This new form of transportation allowed the inexpensive spread of machined wood features used as trim. This allowed middle class society to build homes that were similar in appearance to the grander Victorians of the day.

Folk Victorians of the Gothic Variety

The large front-facing gable above the porch and decorative bargeboard trim on the house above indicate a Gothic Revival influence. This house is located on Person Street.

Folk Victorians aren’t always modestly sized. The Gothic Revival styled Agricultural Experiment Station on Vanderbilt Avenue was built in 1886 to lay the groundwork for what is currently N.C. State University. Although large, it is restrained in style except for the telltale decorative bargeboard and porch trim.

This is the oldest structure associated with the University, and is now a private residence.

The Pope House

This quiet house on Wilmington Street is a historic and distinct example of the Folk Victorian style. It was built in 1901 by Dr. M.T. Pope, an African-American doctor and war veteran. He ran for mayor of Raleigh in 1919, at the height of segregation and the Jim Crow era.

In addition to the importance of the man who built it, this house is unique in that it is the only detached residential structure within one block of Fayetteville Street. It is also built in a locally rare row house (narrow two story) style. At one point in time the house had an intricately detailed porch, but this was removed when the house was expanded.

The house pictured above was built for Plummer T. Hall some time between 1878 and 1893. Hall was the African-American first pastor of Oberlin Road Church, and this house was a wedding gift for his bride. It remains in the Hall family today in the Oberlin Village neighborhood.

The Sisters of Saint Marys Street

These two houses are located across from Wiley School on Saint Marys Street. I can’t find a build date for either one, but were likely constructed around 1900.

The Morgan Street Corridor

Perhaps the largest concentration of homes in this style outside of Oakwood is a small area around Morgan and Hargett Streets.

This house on West Morgan was built in 1901 and is now home to a law firm.

Few Folk Victorians have a bay window. The one on the house above at 853 W. Morgan was probably added at a later date.

To the left of 853 W. Morgan is this blue house, which has served a variety of purposes in recent years.

Blending in with the neighbors. From left to right, the build dates are 2002, 1901, 1910.

The Hargett Row Houses

There are few examples of Victorian row houses (narrow, medium density) remaining and even fewer intact neighborhoods in this style. One exception is a narrow patch of Hargett Street between Morgan Street and Central Prison that has three Folk Victorians.

The two story house in the photo above fits in cozily with its neighbors, but was built almost 100 years after they were. To its left is the modest single story house in the photo below.

1901 Folk Victorian on W. Hargett Street, facing Central Prison

Not Ignoring the Obvious

This list is by no means comprehensive; it doesn’t speak to the houses in the Oakwood and East Raleigh communities.

Where are other examples of Folk Victorian houses?

Related Articles:

• The (Sweet) Person Street Walking Tour
• The Hidden Victorian Houses of Hillsborough Street
• The Pope House Museum and Community Challenge

--- We are ad-free. Support this blog by buying City-Blox.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

If you’ve passed by the intersection of Peace and Wilmington Streets in Downtown Raleigh, chances are you’ve noticed a rather distinct building take shape. This striking new building is the new AIA NC Center for Architecture & Design.

AIA NC’s Previous Home: The Water Tower

The NC chapter of the American Institute of Architects was previously at home in the Water Tower facing Capitol Square. This structure was rescued from demolition by noted architect William Henley Deitrick, who renovated the structure and used it as his offices from 1938 until his retirement in 1959. In 1963 he deeded the structure in perpetuity to the AIA NC, while retaining the right to maintain personal offices within it until his death in 1974.

For nearly 50 years the building has been adequate for the AIA NC, but as needs changed the organization began to explore options for a larger facility. About four years ago they were able to secure an oddly-shaped parcel of land downtown left over from the diversion of Wilmington Street. The next task was determining what to build.

Selecting an Architect for a Building Representing Architects

Deciding which of the AIA NC’s 2400 architects to design the new structure presented a unique problem. The simple response to this problem was a design competition.

A panel of judges from out of state examined entries from over 60 architects based in North Carolina. The design of Raleigh-based Frank Harmon Architect PA was selected as the winning submission.

Despite the project getting under way during the height of the recession, it moved forward in large part due to donations of materials and resources. The National Recovery and Reinvestment Act also played a crucial role in providing resources in the form of Recovery Zone Bonds so the project could be realized.

AIA NC Building with the Archdale Building in the background

Standing Tall in the Face of “Brutal” Neighbors

Our challenge was to make 12,000 square feet of building that could stand up to these very large buildings and make a presence for the AIA in this downtown setting.

– Frank Harmon

The large buildings around the new headquarters that Harmon is referring to are state government buildings constructed between the 1960s and the 1980s. Most of the building’s nearby neighbors are local examples of the Brutalist style, and are quite imposing.

The building's face looks southward

Harmon didn’t shy away from these buildings however, and placed the building’s “face” toward these symbols of state government.

A bit beyond the imposing concrete or granite buildings on Halifax Mall are the elegant Legislative Building and treasured Capitol Building. The new Center for Architecture and Design serves as a beautiful bookend to the mall and provides a needed balance for those two magnificent structures which represent North Carolina.

A New Peace Street Gateway

The new building has a lit sidewalk and is a nice visual rest stop along a somewhat jagged entrance toward the city’s core. The intersection the Center for Architecture and Design sits on (Peace and Wilmington) is passed by a large number of state government employees making their way to work.

Peace Street with historic building from Peace College in the background

The tall and slender design provides a better fit for this parcel of land along a busy thoroughfare, but it also has benefits in terms of creature comforts and smart use of energy and resources.

Responsible Design is Better For the Environment and Society

It’s obvious that smart energy management is better for the environment, but it also makes economic sense. Buildings are responsible for 70% of the electricity load in the U.S. (source [PDF]) and this energy cost affects every company’s bottom line. The financial burden across society can be greatly reduced through smart energy use in the structures in which we live, work, and play.

Plan, courtesy of Frank Harmon Architect PA

The slender design allows for an abundance of natural light; so much so that there is little need for artificial light during daylight hours. In the instances in which artificial light is necessary, a supplemental control system is available via iOS devices (iPhone, iPad) or a web interface. It may also be controlled via regular old light switches.

Pavers in the "Parkings Garden"

Transforming the Burden of Parking in to an Asset

Although there are over 600 parking spaces within short walking distance, Raleigh zoning regulations mandated 36 parking spaces, which was yet another challenge. The response was to create a “parking garden,” which resembles a landscaped paver stone surface.

This innovative approach to parking has many benefits, including the prevention of rain water runoff, erosion, and heat retention during summer months. The wide open space will provide for the hosting of several types of events. A few ideas include: a place for screening movies, a Farmers’ Market, or a prototyping station for Habitat for Humanity.

Although the changes are subtle, it is enough to provide an experience significantly more pleasant than a sterile black top surface lot would.

The "green screen" which will provide a colorful means of shading for the ground level

A Symphony of Light and Plant Life

Although it is barely visible now, the building’s side facing south has a large “green screen” at ground level. This lattice structure will provide a home for three types of vine: Virginia Creeper, Smilax and Carolina Jasmine. The use of these three flowering vines will yield beautiful and natural exterior color all year long.

It will take three years for the green screen to fully fill in.

A Room With a View

The upper floor is privately leased space, and the tenants here will have envious working conditions. Each workstation throughout the building provides at least two views of the outside.

The windows actually open and the slender building footprint will allow for effective cross-ventilation during the warmer months.

Welcoming the New “Ambassador”

It is my hope that this new structure will provide inspiration and motivation for North Carolinians to design and demand better looking and better functioning buildings.

The new Center for Architecture and Design is a most welcome change to Raleigh’s visual landscape.

Further Reading:

• Architects + Artisans: David vs. Goliath in Downtown Raleigh
• AIA NC
• Frank Harmon Architect PA

--- We are ad-free. Support this blog by buying City-Blox.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

The new Morgan Street entrance

Since the 1920s, the Junior League of Raleigh has improved the community and the lives of those within it through education, outreach, and voluntarism. About a year ago, the organization moved in to the lower floor of a former IBM research facility on Hillsborough Street near the Capitol Building.

Often overlooked, this 1960s commercial building is a fine example of the International Style. It has the distinctive flair characteristic of its highly accomplished architect, George Matsumoto, along with a rejuvenated new appearance.

A History of Serving Raleigh

At the time the Junior League was formed (then called the Junior Guild), there were similar groups of women organized for the bettering of their community. Not long after the formation, they joined with the Association of Junior Leagues International.

Bargain Box in Cameron Village

One of the most visible examples of the legacy of the Junior League of Raleigh is Bargain Box, a thrift store located in Cameron Village. Since its founding in 1951, Bargain Box has contributed clothing and other items to those in need as well as a substantial amount of resources toward the Junior League’s outreach efforts.

Since then, the women of the Junior League have funded a Boys and Girls club for Wake County, co-sponsored the restoration of the Mordecai House, created SAFEchild (a non-profit agency dedicated to eliminating child abuse), among many other causes that have improved the lives of countless Wake County residents.

Publisher of a Primary Source for this Blog

The Junior League has long played a role in historic preservation and celebrating local history across the country, and here in Raleigh the League is no different.

Among their other many preservation and awareness efforts was the publishing of a book in 1967 which has always been my number one Raleigh reference guide: North Carolina’s Capital Raleigh, by Elizabeth Culbertson Waugh. You can buy a recently revised edition at Quail Ridge Books.

Finalized rendering of IBM Research Facility, drawn by George Matsumoto October 18, 1963. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections.

In a Historic Building Designed for Computer Science

Given the League’s history of appreciation for local culture and architecture, it isn’t a surprise that they were looking for a space with history and in a style that Raleigh is known for. The building they chose once belonged to Capitol Broadcasting Company, but before that was home to IBM.

The significance of IBM’s arrival in Downtown Raleigh in 1965 can’t be understated. Although Research Triangle Park was then in development with the goal of luring multinational companies to North Carolina, IBM’s arrival was the beginning of a major transformation for the city.

Meet the Architect

George Matsumoto was one of the most talented and accomplished architects who taught or practiced in North Carolina. Although his education began at Berkeley, he had to find other education opportunities because of the forcible relocation to internment camps of Japanese-Americans in California during World War II.

George Matsumoto. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

After studying under Eliel Saarinen at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, he briefly worked for Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill in Chicago before setting up a private practice in Oklahoma. In 1948, he followed many others from Oklahoma to teach at a new architecture school at State College.

He resided in Raleigh for about 13 years, before returning to his native California to teach at Berkeley. Matsumoto left behind a large collection of modern houses across the Triangle which won over 30 awards.

You can read more about George Matsumoto at Triangle Modernist Houses.

The IBM Research Facility From Concept to Construction

About two years after leaving the School of Design for his native California, he gained a commission to build a new research center for IBM on Hillsborough Street in Downtown Raleigh.

Undated proposal for IBM Research Facility. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

The plans he presented to IBM went through a few iterations, starting out with a very open curtain-wall structure similar in design to the Brooks Hall extension at NC State he designed earlier.

Proposal for IBM Research Facility, June 10, 1963. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

The openness of this and his other designs went beyond ample usage of natural light — the interiors were often open as well. His philosophy is best illustrated in a letter to a client about the benefits of a modern design:

Flexibility in design and in use, strength and economy of construction, and the use of larger openings to provide better lighting and ventilation as well as a feeling of openness — all contribute to a building whose aesthetic qualities are once again integral with its structure, function, and time. [...] At the same time it will have validity and beauty and perhaps be more meaningful in our present way of life.

–George Matsumoto, 1959

Corporate Espionage and a new Facade

It appears as though he had a demanding client with IBM, as I found several unimplemented designs for the new building at the NCSU Special Collections Research Center. At the time, the company was concerned with corporate espionage and the open interior and exterior were changed a few times to give more privacy.

Undated crayon on tissue drawing for IBM Research Facility. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

With each iteration, the windows became smaller and more narrow. The end result was a structure similar to the crayon on tissue drawing in the photo above. Although the final plans were different from his other projects, it was a highly functional building for the purpose it was needed for.

The Renovation, Coming Full Circle

G. Milton Small III of Small Kane Webster Conley has long been a Community Advisor for the Junior League, and his firm spent a few years trying to find the right space for their new facility.

Junior League proposal as seen from Morgan Street. Rendering courtesy of Small Kane Webster Conley.

Appreciating this assistance as well as his firm’s history with the building, the Junior League chose Small Kane Webster Conley to modernize it while staying as true to history as possible.

The same firm (then G. Milton Small and Associates) handled construction of the building in 1965.

Junior League proposal as seen from Hillsborough Street. Rendering courtesy of Small Kane Webster Conley.

The renovation proposal got a nod from Matsumoto, who had worked with G. Milton Small Jr. extensively in the late 1950s and early 60s. Milton Small III recently showed Matsumoto the design:

I was out in California two years ago for our National AIA convention, and my wife and I were coming back in from northern California. Once I figured my schedule I called George Matsumoto who lives in Oakland, and he said to come by and have coffee. The next morning we drove into Oakland and spent an hour and a half talking to George. He lives by himself, but his kids–who are in their fifties now–are there and take care of him. He has his Eames chair and lives in a wonderful little house on the hill in the forest. He thought [the new design] was a good addition.

– Milton Small III

New facade facing Hillsborough Street

The League worked with architect Brian Jones and the resulting transformation is open, new, and modern, yet is also closer to the original design and Matsumoto’s other buildings. It is a great success story in adaptive reuse.

The Junior League Today

The new Center for Community Development continues on the mission of community involvement. It also serves as affordable meeting and training space for businesses, individuals, and nonprofits.

The over 1800 members are still primarily focused on providing leadership development for women. Since 1930 they have raised over $4.8 million for the services of women and children.

If you’d like to learn more about the Junior League, please visit their web site.

New Life as a Research Facility

While the Junior League has occupied the first floor for about a year, the upper floor has been vacant. That changes in January of 2012, when Brooks Bell will operate from 711 Hillsborough Street. Design and interior work is currently taking place in advance of the move.

Brooks Bell is a company that specializes in user research and analytics. Utilizing data mining, A/B testing, and other research methods, they are able to provide companies with more effective ad and commerce campaigns.

In 2012, this modest yet historic and pretty building and the people inside will contribute toward our local economy as well as the community. Although not paired with a residential component, it is a truly mixed use space accommodating non-profits, charity, outreach, business, and leadership training.

Raleigh is incredibly lucky to have this resource which furthers society, builds leadership skills, and helps those in need.

Further Reading

• Junior League of Raleigh
• Small Kane Webster Conley
• Brooks Bell
• Previous articles tagged ‘Milton Small’

--- We are ad-free. Support this blog by buying City-Blox.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

Over the course of the past few days, concrete munchers have been hard at work dismantling the building at 410 Oberlin Road in Cameron Village.

Now the building is completely razed, and new construction activity will soon be taking place near the busy intersection of Oberlin Rd. and Clark Ave.

1960s view of Ballentine's Cafeteria, with the "Confederate Room" sign visible on the rock wall. Image from the Lewis Watson Collection, NC Dept. of Archives and History

The Last of a Locally Rare Style

It’s my belief that the Ballentine’s Cafeteria building was the last standing example of the prairie style here in Raleigh. This style is characterized as having a flat roof, banded windows grouped in sections, wide overhangs, and an emphasis on a horizontal lines.

This building has a rather modest history: it was once home to Ballentine’s Cafeteria, which closed in 1999. Most recently it served as home to the  Cameron Village Library before moving in to their new space, as well as offices. It was designed in 1959 by noted Raleigh Modernist architect Leif Valand:

He attended the Pratt Institute in New York City then practiced architecture in Scarsdale NY. He moved to Raleigh in the late 1940s to design the Cameron Village Shopping Center for developers J. Willie York and R. A. Bryan.  The vision was massive, even by today’s standards, comprising 65 stores, 112 offices, 566 apartment units, and 100 private homes.

During his heyday, he was one of the most prolific architects in Raleigh.  With just a few employees, his extensive contacts with Raleigh’s business and real estate elite gained incredible commissions.

While few realize it, Cameron Village was not only the area’s first shopping center, but it was also a massive mixed-use development project unlike any other previously seen in the Southeast.

The Island In a Sea of Concrete

It suffered from a few design flaws, most notably the use of land. The building’s longest side was perpendicular to the main thoroughfare and most of the land was devoted to a surface parking lot on the Oberlin Road side and a parking garage on the other sides. It was a visually interesting brick and river rock island in a sea of parking spaces. Such site plans are generally frowned upon today.

Above demolition video courtesy of Goodnight Raleigh contributor Ian F.G. Dunn.

It was torn down (along with a smaller neighboring structure built around the same time) in order to make way for a new mixed-use project.

The mid-century building has been under-occupied for years and the inside wasn’t anything particularly useful or pretty. While no one could argue that the existing parcel of land was being utilized well, it’s disheartening to see a unique building replaced with something that runs contrary to the character of Cameron Village. That block is comprised mostly of modernist buildings, a few including the Post Office and 401 Oberlin (also facing demolition).

The new project replacing it is a 1920s revivalist style. This was almost certainly the result of the influential residents of Cameron Park whose buy-in was required by the developer. Cameron Park gets a building that looks like their homes, and Cameron Village loses a chunk of its modern character.

Building with only one wall remaining. Image courtesy of Goodnight Raleigh contributor Devin McKim

While I think historic buildings (and for Raleigh in particular its modernist ones) form an important and valuable part of our landscape, I don’t advocate saving every building. However, when we erase some of the unique character from our town, we should ask if what we’re putting in its place is an improvement.

More rental options in this part of town are definitely needed, and in that sense it is an improvement. However, with regard to the visual landscape and how the area will feel afterward, I’m not yet convinced.

You can read more about this building at our sister site, raleigh modern.

--- We are ad-free. Support this blog by buying City-Blox.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

Over the course of the past few days, concrete munchers have been hard at work dismantling the building at 410 Oberlin Road in Cameron Village.

Now the building is completely razed, and new construction activity will soon be taking place near the busy intersection of Oberlin Rd. and Clark Ave.

1960s view of Ballentine's Cafeteria, with the "Confederate Room" sign visible on the rock wall. Image from the Lewis Watson Collection, NC Dept. of Archives and History

The Last of a Locally Rare Style

It’s my belief that the Ballentine’s Cafeteria building was the last standing example of the prairie style here in Raleigh. This style is characterized as having a flat roof, banded windows grouped in sections, wide overhangs, and an emphasis on a horizontal lines.

This building has a rather modest history: it was once home to Ballentine’s Cafeteria, which closed in 1999. Most recently it served as home to the  Cameron Village Library before moving in to their new space, as well as offices. It was designed in 1959 by noted Raleigh Modernist architect Leif Valand:

He attended the Pratt Institute in New York City then practiced architecture in Scarsdale NY. He moved to Raleigh in the late 1940s to design the Cameron Village Shopping Center for developers J. Willie York and R. A. Bryan.  The vision was massive, even by today’s standards, comprising 65 stores, 112 offices, 566 apartment units, and 100 private homes.

During his heyday, he was one of the most prolific architects in Raleigh.  With just a few employees, his extensive contacts with Raleigh’s business and real estate elite gained incredible commissions.

While few realize it, Cameron Village was not only the area’s first shopping center, but it was also a massive mixed-use development project unlike any other previously seen in the Southeast.

The Island In a Sea of Concrete

It suffered from a few design flaws, most notably the use of land. The building’s longest side was perpendicular to the main thoroughfare and most of the land was devoted to a surface parking lot on the Oberlin Road side and a parking garage on the other sides. It was a visually interesting brick and river rock island in a sea of parking spaces. Such site plans are generally frowned upon today.

Above demolition video courtesy of Goodnight Raleigh contributor Ian F.G. Dunn.

It was torn down (along with a smaller neighboring structure built around the same time) in order to make way for a new mixed-use project.

The mid-century building has been under-occupied for years and the inside wasn’t anything particularly useful or pretty. While no one could argue that the existing parcel of land was being utilized well, it’s disheartening to see a unique building replaced with something that runs contrary to the character of Cameron Village. That block is comprised mostly of modernist buildings, a few including the Post Office and 401 Oberlin (also facing demolition).

The new project replacing it is a 1920s revivalist style. This was almost certainly the result of the influential residents of Cameron Park whose buy-in was required by the developer. Cameron Park gets a building that looks like their homes, and Cameron Village loses a chunk of its modern character.

Building with only one wall remaining. Image courtesy of Goodnight Raleigh contributor Devin McKim

While I think historic buildings (and for Raleigh in particular its modernist ones) form an important and valuable part of our landscape, I don’t advocate saving every building. However, when we erase some of the unique character from our town, we should ask if what we’re putting in its place is an improvement.

More rental options in this part of town are definitely needed, and in that sense it is an improvement. However, with regard to the visual landscape and how the area will feel afterward, I’m not yet convinced.

You can read more about this building at our sister site, raleigh modern.

--- We are ad-free. Support this blog by buying City-Blox.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

Built in 1952, the Erdahl-Cloyd Wing of D.H. Hill Library is attributed to the official architect of record, William Henley Deitrick. However, in the years in which the building was conceived, Deitrick was no longer designing, but handling the business end of the firm.

The details of who designed the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union Building have been rather murky in history books and official records. The surprising part is that the design came from Matthew Nowicki, the visionary architect behind Dorton Arena. Sadly, he never received credit for it.

Nowicki in a Time magazine photo, photo copyright Time Magazine

Nowicki: A Bright Light for the Region

Matthew Nowicki (pronounced nuh-vit-ski) was possibly the most internationally noteworthy faculty member of the School of Design at State College during its heyday of the 1950s and 1960s. He was the Polish delegate to the United Nations Building Committee, a friend to the Secretary General of the United Nations, and had a stellar international reputation as an architect.

Photo of a young Nowicki. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

From Resistance Fighter to the Head of a Star Architecture Program

Political unrest brought Nowicki to the United States at the beginning of the Cold War:

Still another innovative university program that prospered in the early 1950s was that at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The initial force behind the curricular reforms here was Dean Henry Kamphoefner, but the initiative was quickly taken up by the Polish architect Matthew Nowicki who [...] was just emerging as a highly influential voice on the American scene. He had graduated from the Warsaw Polytechnic in 1936 and briefly enjoyed success in Warsaw before the Nazi invasion. As a lieutenant in the Polish army reserve, he was actually training with an antiaircraft battery on the outskirts of the city in September 1939 when hundreds of German bombers flew overhead to initiate the war [...]

Nowicki joined the Polish underground, and after surviving years of considerable dangers, in 1945 served as chief of planning for the rebuilding of central sections of the war-bombed city of Warsaw.

He left shortly thereafter due to the repression of the Soviet-controlled communist secret police.

Nowicki's sketch for the Paraboleum, now known as Dorton Arena. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

Influencing the International Scene, from Raleigh

Nowicki’s exit from Europe started a chain of events ending with relocation to Raleigh. Architectural critic Lewis Mumford approached Dean Kamphoefner about a position within the new architecture school at State College in Raleigh which had a soaring reputation.

In describing who Mr. Nowicki was and what he was capable of, perhaps no one else said it as eloquently as Mr. Mumford did:

Nowicki’s dictum that the client makes an important contribution to the building and deserves part of the credit stemmed from his profound respect for ordinary men and their ways, and this was fully rewarded by the popular response his personality and his work evoked. Even in the conservative South, long hypnotized by the class-genteel tradition, his daring plans for the arena and the grandstand for the permanent State Fair buildings in Raleigh (in collaboration with William Deitrick) met with enthusiastic acceptance from people who, though architecturally unsophisticated, could nevertheless appraise the quality of the man they were dealing with. This sense of the specific human occasion is what gives to Nowicki’s designs a variety unmatched by anyone this side of Frank Lloyd Wright. But it was a talent potentially greater than Wright’s, just to the extent that Nowicki’s humility was a greater quality than Wright’s arrogance.

The Student Union Proposal and the “cheap and flashy stores at Miami Beach”

In the late 1940s, William Deitrick was awarded the commission to build a new Student Union building at State College. Deitrick was the first area architect to build in the modernist style, and at the time he was awarded the commission, had two architects on payroll (Milton Small and Matthew Nowicki) who were a part of the new School of Design.

The initial designs (sketched by Milton Small) for the building were met with scorn by the chairman of the Building Committee, David Clark. In a letter to the committee during the very beginning of the process, one of his three objections to the submitted plans was the style: “I definitely do not favor a modernistic type of building.”

Milton Small's futuristic proposal for the Student Union. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

Later in the process, he was a bit more colorful in his criticism of the design. In a letter to W.D. Carmichael, Controller of the Consolidated University of North Carolina, Clark had this to say:

In Asheville, N.C., on the road out to Beaver Lake, there is a group of four small stores with a front which is a dead ringer for the elevation of the Student Union, as submitted by W. Henley Deitrick at the meeting of the Building Committee last Tuesday. [...]

I know that the elevation was exactly like some cheap and flashy stores at Miami Beach, Florida, but I did not know there were similar stores at Asheville.

– David Clark

Small’s proposal in 1949 for the Student Union went over like a lead balloon with the Building Committee. This was a completely new way to design a building, and many administrators had strong negative opinions on the new style.

Nowicki's concept drawing of the Student Union. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

The Nowicki Solution

While Small’s proposal was a bold gesture intended to bring the future to the State College campus, it appears that it was a bit too forward thinking for the Trustees and Building Committee. Small left Deitrick’s firm in 1949, and presumably the design was given to Nowicki to conceive. He likely only provided the concept for the exterior elevations, as he was not licensed to practice architecture in the United States.

Sadly, he would not get to see his vision realized, with the Student Union as well as the new arena at the fairgrounds.

A Flame Extinguished Too Soon

On August 31, 1950, Nowicki was traveling back to Raleigh from India where we was planning a new provincial capital, Chandigarh, in a newly independent India. Somewhere over the Egyptian desert the Transworld Airlines airplane crashed and all on board perished.

He was buried in a mass grave with the other victims, with a marker that said simply: “Architect.” Mass was held locally at Sacred Heart Cathedral, and was visited by many dignitaries.

The Chandigarh project was then given to perhaps the most noteworthy modernist architect in history, Le Corbusier.

One of Nowicki's unimplemented plans for the fairgrounds, bearing a striking resemblance to the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

The Resemblance of Erdahl-Cloyd to Other Nowicki Designs

I first saw Nowicki’s sketch for the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union Building in a book containing his works that he was assembling shortly before his death. I was surprised, as references I had seen to the building did not attribute it to him.

After comparing the sketches of various buildings in this book, I became convinced that he designed the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union building, but could find no corroborating evidence to support this.

Saarinen, Brandeis University, and the Open Canopy

One of the biggest collections in the book was the master plan for Brandeis University. This is a body of work in which he worked in collaboration with the modern genius Eero Saarinen, who would later build on Nowicki’s parabolic shelter idea with the Terminal at JFK Airport. In a book about Saarinen, it is speculated that he implemented several of Nowicki’s ideas, and not just the Terminal.

One of the buildings in Nowicki's Brandeis University Master Plan, showing an open canopy. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

One of the buildings in this plan (above) contained an opening in the overhang for a green space below. This very unique, if overlooked, feature is something I haven’t seen anywhere else. Although it was circumstantial evidence, seeing the same feature present in the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union building was a strong indication that both designs were his.

Blueprint for the Student Union Building. Deitrick Arch. of record, Drawn by W.C.C. Jan 31, 1951 - Four months after Nowicki's death. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

Confirming the True Designer of the Student Union

After spending a lot of time at the NCSU Special Collections Research Center going through multiple collections, I had more information, but no substantial evidence.

That changed after reaching out to an architecture professor in Poland, Dr. Marta Urbanska. She had written her dissertation on Nowicki, and flew to Raleigh to speak with former colleagues of his. In an email, she confirmed that Nowicki designed the building:

It was indeed [former School of Design professor] Robert Burns and Mr. Manuel Bromberg, artist, who informed me of Nowicki’s authorship [of the Student Union]. The entire story is of course obscured by the same regrettable controversy which regards the Raleigh Arena: Nowicki was not a licensed architect in the USA, thus he had to cooperate with one – i.e. William Deitrick. [...]

The stylistic comparison of the Student Union building and other designs by Nowicki, both Polish (such as the prewar sports club in Warsaw or a hotel in Augustów) and American, leaves no doubt as to the authorship – the crisp, modern, yet classically calm and exquisitely elegant composition is unmistakably his.

–Dr. Marta A. Urbańska
Adj. Professor of Architecture, Cracow University of Technology

Erdahl-Cloyd Today

After Milton Small designed the new Talley Student Center which replaced it, the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union became the West Wing of D.H. Hill Library.

Facing a Different Direction

It’s always been puzzling to me that the building’s ‘face’ is on Hillsborough Street, and away from most pedestrian traffic, where the Brickyard is today. This design decision was a direct result of pressure by NC State officials:

Under pressure from university administration, an attempt was made to follow the tradition of the nineteenth-century Southern plantation house. The portico was therefore placed on the north side because the authorities felt that this was the “entrance” side of the building. [...] The resulting building defies the precepts of Vitruvius and Louis Sullivan by having its portico on the shaded side and a complete unshaded window on the south side.

–Elizabeth Waugh, The South Builds

The Color Wall at DH Hill Library, another legacy of the School of Design. The Erdahl-Cloyd wing is visible on the right

Beautiful Architecture, a Kinetic Light Sculpture, and Fantastic Ice Cream

The former Student Union still serves as a part of the library today, but is also a place for student relaxation or collaboration. It is adjacent to the recently restored Color Wall, a kinetic light sculpture created by former School of Design professor and artist Joe Cox.

The walk up window facing Hillsborough Street

The Erdahl-Cloyd wing is home to the Creamery, which sells Howling Cow ice cream, made locally on NC State campus. It was set up a couple of years ago, and also features a walk-up window on Hillsborough Street. You don’t have to be a student to get great tasting ice cream and milkshakes. Simply park on Hillsborough Street and walk up to the window.

South elevation of the Erdahl-Cloyd wing

An Endangered Masterpiece

Sadly, the Erdahl-Cloyd wing of the library will likely be demolished in the coming years. The NC State Library Master Plan [PDF] calls for the demolition of this structure:

Phase 3 will include renovation and expansion of the Hill Library. Our recommendation is to demolish the Erdahl-Cloyd wing, complete renovation of the east wing begun in Phase 1, renovate the Towers, and reconfigure the lower floors of the building and expand the facility to the west (where Erdahl-Cloyd is currently located) to create a clear, understandable, functional and beautiful entry to the facility.

To be sure, the plan is several years old and as far as I know, there is no set date to demolish it.

This was the first modernist building built on campus, envisioned by a legendary architect and Dean of the School of Architecture. It deserves to live on as a testament to the bold experimental thought of the college during a period of national prominence.

This building won an AIA-NC award (with merit) in 1955. There are few, if any, campus buildings that have won an AIA award. This place matters and should not be destroyed.

Related Articles

• J. S. Dorton Arena – State Fair Grounds
• Apple’s “Spaceship” Campus Proposal Looks Familiar

Further Reading

• Maciej Nowicki: A Tribute to a Neglected Genius (Cracow Life)
• Matthew Nowicki (Entry at NC Architects and Builders database)
• Matthew Nowicki Drawings and Other Material (NCSU Special Collections)
• Maciej Nowicki (Wikipedia)

Copyright Information

All images labeled as “copyright NCSU Special Collections” are protected by copyright and are not to be distributed or reproduced without permission from the Special Collections Research Center. I kindly ask you respect this and not distribute copyrighted material.

All other images were taken by me (John Morris) and are not under similar copyright restrictions. I encourage you to distribute, reproduce, or otherwise share those images.

Special Thanks

I’d like to give a big thank you to Dr. Marta Urbańska as well as the NCSU Special Collections Research Center for being so helpful in locating the historic information, drawings, and photographs used in this article.

--- We are ad-free. Support this blog by buying City-Blox.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

Built in 1952, the Erdahl-Cloyd Wing of D.H. Hill Library is attributed to the official architect of record, William Henley Deitrick. However, in the years in which the building was conceived, Deitrick was no longer designing, but handling the business end of the firm.

The details of who designed the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union Building have been rather murky in history books and official records. The surprising part is that the design came from Matthew Nowicki, the visionary architect behind Dorton Arena. Sadly, he never received credit for it.

Nowicki in a Time magazine photo, photo copyright Time Magazine

Nowicki: A Bright Light for the Region

Matthew Nowicki (pronounced nuh-vit-ski) was possibly the most internationally noteworthy faculty member of the School of Design at State College during its heyday of the 1950s and 1960s. He was the Polish delegate to the United Nations Building Committee, a friend to the Secretary General of the United Nations, and had a stellar international reputation as an architect.

Photo of a young Nowicki. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

From Resistance Fighter to the Head of a Star Architecture Program

Political unrest brought Nowicki to the United States at the beginning of the Cold War:

Still another innovative university program that prospered in the early 1950s was that at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The initial force behind the curricular reforms here was Dean Henry Kamphoefner, but the initiative was quickly taken up by the Polish architect Matthew Nowicki who [...] was just emerging as a highly influential voice on the American scene. He had graduated from the Warsaw Polytechnic in 1936 and briefly enjoyed success in Warsaw before the Nazi invasion. As a lieutenant in the Polish army reserve, he was actually training with an antiaircraft battery on the outskirts of the city in September 1939 when hundreds of German bombers flew overhead to initiate the war [...]

Nowicki joined the Polish underground, and after surviving years of considerable dangers, in 1945 served as chief of planning for the rebuilding of central sections of the war-bombed city of Warsaw.

He left shortly thereafter due to the repression of the Soviet-controlled communist secret police.

Nowicki's sketch for the Paraboleum, now known as Dorton Arena. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

Influencing the International Scene, from Raleigh

Nowicki’s exit from Europe started a chain of events ending with relocation to Raleigh. Architectural critic Lewis Mumford approached Dean Kamphoefner about a position within the new architecture school at State College in Raleigh which had a soaring reputation.

In describing who Mr. Nowicki was and what he was capable of, perhaps no one else said it as eloquently as Mr. Mumford did:

Nowicki’s dictum that the client makes an important contribution to the building and deserves part of the credit stemmed from his profound respect for ordinary men and their ways, and this was fully rewarded by the popular response his personality and his work evoked. Even in the conservative South, long hypnotized by the class-genteel tradition, his daring plans for the arena and the grandstand for the permanent State Fair buildings in Raleigh (in collaboration with William Deitrick) met with enthusiastic acceptance from people who, though architecturally unsophisticated, could nevertheless appraise the quality of the man they were dealing with. This sense of the specific human occasion is what gives to Nowicki’s designs a variety unmatched by anyone this side of Frank Lloyd Wright. But it was a talent potentially greater than Wright’s, just to the extent that Nowicki’s humility was a greater quality than Wright’s arrogance.

The Student Union Proposal and the “cheap and flashy stores at Miami Beach”

In the late 1940s, William Deitrick was awarded the commission to build a new Student Union building at State College. Deitrick was the first area architect to build in the modernist style, and at the time he was awarded the commission, had two architects on payroll (Milton Small and Matthew Nowicki) who were a part of the new School of Design.

The initial designs (sketched by Milton Small) for the building were met with scorn by the chairman of the Building Committee, David Clark. In a letter to the committee during the very beginning of the process, one of his three objections to the submitted plans was the style: “I definitely do not favor a modernistic type of building.”

Milton Small's futuristic proposal for the Student Union. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

Later in the process, he was a bit more colorful in his criticism of the design. In a letter to W.D. Carmichael, Controller of the Consolidated University of North Carolina, Clark had this to say:

In Asheville, N.C., on the road out to Beaver Lake, there is a group of four small stores with a front which is a dead ringer for the elevation of the Student Union, as submitted by W. Henley Deitrick at the meeting of the Building Committee last Tuesday. [...]

I know that the elevation was exactly like some cheap and flashy stores at Miami Beach, Florida, but I did not know there were similar stores at Asheville.

– David Clark

Small’s proposal in 1949 for the Student Union went over like a lead balloon with the Building Committee. This was a completely new way to design a building, and many administrators had strong negative opinions on the new style.

Nowicki's concept drawing of the Student Union. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

The Nowicki Solution

While Small’s proposal was a bold gesture intended to bring the future to the State College campus, it appears that it was a bit too forward thinking for the Trustees and Building Committee. Small left Deitrick’s firm in 1949, and presumably the design was given to Nowicki to conceive. He likely only provided the concept for the exterior elevations, as he was not licensed to practice architecture in the United States.

Sadly, he would not get to see his vision realized, with the Student Union as well as the new arena at the fairgrounds.

A Flame Extinguished Too Soon

On August 31, 1950, Nowicki was traveling back to Raleigh from India where we was planning a new provincial capital, Chandigarh, in a newly independent India. Somewhere over the Egyptian desert the Transworld Airlines airplane crashed and all on board perished.

He was buried in a mass grave with the other victims, with a marker that said simply: “Architect.” Mass was held locally at Sacred Heart Cathedral, and was visited by many dignitaries.

The Chandigarh project was then given to perhaps the most noteworthy modernist architect in history, Le Corbusier.

One of Nowicki's unimplemented plans for the fairgrounds, bearing a striking resemblance to the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

The Resemblance of Erdahl-Cloyd to Other Nowicki Designs

I first saw Nowicki’s sketch for the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union Building in a book containing his works that he was assembling shortly before his death. I was surprised, as references I had seen to the building did not attribute it to him.

After comparing the sketches of various buildings in this book, I became convinced that he designed the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union building, but could find no corroborating evidence to support this.

Saarinen, Brandeis University, and the Open Canopy

One of the biggest collections in the book was the master plan for Brandeis University. This is a body of work in which he worked in collaboration with the modern genius Eero Saarinen, who would later build on Nowicki’s parabolic shelter idea with the Terminal at JFK Airport. In a book about Saarinen, it is speculated that he implemented several of Nowicki’s ideas, and not just the Terminal.

One of the buildings in Nowicki's Brandeis University Master Plan, showing an open canopy. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

One of the buildings in this plan (above) contained an opening in the overhang for a green space below. This very unique, if overlooked, feature is something I haven’t seen anywhere else. Although it was circumstantial evidence, seeing the same feature present in the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union building was a strong indication that both designs were his.

Blueprint for the Student Union Building. Deitrick Arch. of record, Drawn by W.C.C. Jan 31, 1951 - Four months after Nowicki's death. Image courtesy of and copyright NCSU Special Collections

Confirming the True Designer of the Student Union

After spending a lot of time at the NCSU Special Collections Research Center going through multiple collections, I had more information, but no substantial evidence.

That changed after reaching out to an architecture professor in Poland, Dr. Marta Urbanska. She had written her dissertation on Nowicki, and flew to Raleigh to speak with former colleagues of his. In an email, she confirmed that Nowicki designed the building:

It was indeed [former School of Design professor] Robert Burns and Mr. Manuel Bromberg, artist, who informed me of Nowicki’s authorship [of the Student Union]. The entire story is of course obscured by the same regrettable controversy which regards the Raleigh Arena: Nowicki was not a licensed architect in the USA, thus he had to cooperate with one – i.e. William Deitrick. [...]

The stylistic comparison of the Student Union building and other designs by Nowicki, both Polish (such as the prewar sports club in Warsaw or a hotel in Augustów) and American, leaves no doubt as to the authorship – the crisp, modern, yet classically calm and exquisitely elegant composition is unmistakably his.

–Dr. Marta A. Urbańska
Adj. Professor of Architecture, Cracow University of Technology

Erdahl-Cloyd Today

After Milton Small designed the new Talley Student Center which replaced it, the Erdahl-Cloyd Student Union became the West Wing of D.H. Hill Library.

Facing a Different Direction

It’s always been puzzling to me that the building’s ‘face’ is on Hillsborough Street, and away from most pedestrian traffic, where the Brickyard is today. This design decision was a direct result of pressure by NC State officials:

Under pressure from university administration, an attempt was made to follow the tradition of the nineteenth-century Southern plantation house. The portico was therefore placed on the north side because the authorities felt that this was the “entrance” side of the building. [...] The resulting building defies the precepts of Vitruvius and Louis Sullivan by having its portico on the shaded side and a complete unshaded window on the south side.

–Elizabeth Waugh, The South Builds

The Color Wall at DH Hill Library, another legacy of the School of Design. The Erdahl-Cloyd wing is visible on the right

Beautiful Architecture, a Kinetic Light Sculpture, and Fantastic Ice Cream

The former Student Union still serves as a part of the library today, but is also a place for student relaxation or collaboration. It is adjacent to the recently restored Color Wall, a kinetic light sculpture created by former School of Design professor and artist Joe Cox.

The walk up window facing Hillsborough Street

The Erdahl-Cloyd wing is home to the Creamery, which sells Howling Cow ice cream, made locally on NC State campus. It was set up a couple of years ago, and also features a walk-up window on Hillsborough Street. You don’t have to be a student to get great tasting ice cream and milkshakes. Simply park on Hillsborough Street and walk up to the window.

South elevation of the Erdahl-Cloyd wing

An Endangered Masterpiece

Sadly, the Erdahl-Cloyd wing of the library will likely be demolished in the coming years. The NC State Library Master Plan [PDF] calls for the demolition of this structure:

Phase 3 will include renovation and expansion of the Hill Library. Our recommendation is to demolish the Erdahl-Cloyd wing, complete renovation of the east wing begun in Phase 1, renovate the Towers, and reconfigure the lower floors of the building and expand the facility to the west (where Erdahl-Cloyd is currently located) to create a clear, understandable, functional and beautiful entry to the facility.

To be sure, the plan is several years old and as far as I know, there is no set date to demolish it.

This was the first modernist building built on campus, envisioned by a legendary architect and Dean of the School of Architecture. It deserves to live on as a testament to the bold experimental thought of the college during a period of national prominence.

This building won an AIA-NC award (with merit) in 1955. There are few, if any, campus buildings that have won an AIA award. This place matters and should not be destroyed.

Related Articles

• J. S. Dorton Arena – State Fair Grounds
• Apple’s “Spaceship” Campus Proposal Looks Familiar

Further Reading

• Maciej Nowicki: A Tribute to a Neglected Genius (Cracow Life)
• Matthew Nowicki (Entry at NC Architects and Builders database)
• Matthew Nowicki Drawings and Other Material (NCSU Special Collections)
• Maciej Nowicki (Wikipedia)

Copyright Information

All images labeled as “copyright NCSU Special Collections” are protected by copyright and are not to be distributed or reproduced without permission from the Special Collections Research Center. I kindly ask you respect this and not distribute copyrighted material.

All other images were taken by me (John Morris) and are not under similar copyright restrictions. I encourage you to distribute, reproduce, or otherwise share those images.

Special Thanks

I’d like to give a big thank you to Dr. Marta Urbańska as well as the NCSU Special Collections Research Center for being so helpful in locating the historic information, drawings, and photographs used in this article.

--- We are ad-free. Support this blog by buying City-Blox.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

401 Oberlin, one of the newest proposed teardown projects

When looking at the number of planned development projects centered around the downtown area, one feels a sense of relief that Raleigh is well insulated from the economic woes currently plaguing most cities in the United States. While on one hand these are a reassuring sign of progress, on the other they represent a rapid loss of unique buildings with character that define Raleigh.

Before they’re gone, let’s take a look at what we’re losing.

South elevation, 401 Oberlin.

401 Oberlin Road

401 Oberlin is the newest entry to the list of modern buildings facing demolition. Designed by Leif Valand and built in 1957, the current owners are planning a large apartment complex on the site. Based on Raleigh City Council’s previous rezoning requests, I predict this project will be given the green light.

Of all the buildings we’re set to lose, this one saddens me the most. I pass by it daily, and love the subtle charm of this corner of land. The worn dark screens mask beautifully mirrored glass which rests above the azaleas that liven a busy intersection.

The Staudt Bakery is a rare example of the art moderne style in Raleigh

The Staudt Bakery

The Staudt Bakery has one of the longest periods of vacancy in Raleigh. Facing a newly-built roundabout at the Hillsborough and Morgan Street intersection, this area has needed improvement for a long time. It’s sad that the building couldn’t have been repurposed into lofts and storefronts.

It is built in the Art Moderne style, a rarity in this area. It is unlikely that it will still be standing a few months from now. Much like the other upcoming projects, the plans look uninspiring. Despite the boring site plan, I am glad to see more life arriving to this area.

Raleigh's most famous dilapidated Victorian, the Fabius Briggs House

The Fabius Briggs House

Sitting on the same parcel of land for future mixed-use as the Staudt Bakery, the Fabius Briggs house may have received its final pardon from Raleigh City Council. Preservation North Carolina has been working with the city to delay a demolition order, but at least some councillors are unwilling to grant any more extensions.

The Briggs House when it was an artists' studio

Although at least two people (including a descendant of Fabius Briggs, of the Briggs Hardware fame) have expressed interest in moving the house, time is running out. The future looks bleak for this worn but grand Queen Anne Victorian keeping watch over Hillsborough Street.

The Brewery

It’s unlikely anyone could make the argument that the Brewery or the buildings around it are architecturally significant enough to warrant preserving. However, character and importance sometimes aren’t defined in the appearance of a building, but in the life and character that resides inside.

The Brewery

David Menconi, music editor for the N&O, sums it up best:

As for what the project might displace, the people pushing it don’t seem overly concerned. The story quotes Karen Rindge (identified as “a neighbor and director of the advocacy group WakeUp Wake County”) saying this: ”What’s there right now is abysmal. That side of Hillsborough Street is desperate for redevelopment.” Well…one person’s “abysmal” and “desperate for redevelopment” block is another person’s irreplaceable historical landmark. That particular block houses The Brewery, which is one of the most fabled nightclubs in local-music history.

While this block’s appearance certainly leaves much to be desired, leveling the Brewery is discarding decades of local music history. It is unfortunate that WakeUp Wake County is so quick condemn the entire block without appreciating the importance of this place to so many Raleigh residents.

The house which was most recently The Farmhouse, as well as neighboring Katmandu (formerly Mr. Ribs Restaurant) will also soon be leveled.

The Ballentine’s Cafeteria Building

After a few muted protests, Raleigh City Council granted a variance (bypassing height limits) to Crescent Resources LLC to build a tall apartment complex on the corner of Clark Avenue and Oberlin Road. They likely granted this because of the overwhelming support of Cameron Park residents. Those residents wouldn’t be impacted by the increased traffic, and they helped steer the design to look like the houses they live in. The result is a 1920s revivalist structure which will look more like the McDonald’s and Harris Teeter than the humble midcentury buildings currently on that block.

The Ballentine's Cafeteria building, soon to be gone

This mid-century modern prairie-style building (one of the only still standing in Raleigh) will soon be demolished.

419/425 Boylan Avenue

A new site plan was submitted which would result in a 250-unit apartment complex on the corner of Boylan Avenue and Tucker Street. The design is uninspiring, and resembles the other generic projects in the pipeline for the center city.

One of two structures which would be leveled at 419 North Boylan Ave.

Built in 1948, 419 North Boylan is one of the oldest modernist buildings in Raleigh. Although I can’t find any documentation to back it up, I am fairly certain this was designed by Milton Small while employed by William Deitrick. The exposed steel beams, floating entranceway, full-height fenestration, and base that is set a few inches from the ground are all of his trademark characteristics.

The Water Garden, now destroyed

The Water Garden (Demolished)

The redevelopment of the Water Garden property is easily the most hotly debated architecture topic on this blog. Although there were a few folks lamenting the loss of this landscape architecture (and modernist) icon, the bulk of the heated debate was from area homeowners protesting the arrival of low-income housing in its place.

Bell Tower Plaza: Buddha’s Belly, Schoolkids Records, and Roundabout Art Gallery

Many might be surprised to learn that NC State owns the commercial property directly across from the Bell Tower. In this plaza are a barber shop, Buddha’s Belly, Roundabout Art Gallery, the Bell Tower Mart, and Schoolkids Records.

Bell Tower Plaza

While the date of demolition of this area may or may not be this year, NC State officials have recently entertained designs from all over the country. Firms are salivating at the chance to build a project here. The businesses here (including Schoolkids) are already looking at relocation options on Hillsborough Street.

Rumors have recently been circulating that Sadlack's is next, but there is nothing yet substantiating this

The Sadlack’s Rumor

Rumors have been swirling for months now that long-time Raleigh institution Sadlack’s Heroes will also be lost as a part of the Bell Tower redevelopment project, but I’ve seen nothing to substantiate this claim. Sadlack’s will only leave this location if the owner decides to sell the parcel to NCSU, and this has not yet happened.

The NC State Bookstore, destroyed just a few days ago

The NC State Bookstore (Demolished)

The loss of this building is unlike the others; it is on NC State campus and isn’t being replaced by a large apartment or condo project. It was demolished just a few days ago and will be replaced by a grass lawn. For more information on the Bookstore’s demolition, read the entry at raleigh modern.

Not All Buildings Should Be Preserved

Although I’ve used this blog to take a stand and draw awareness to preservation efforts of our city’s unique buildings, I certainly do not think that every building should be saved. There are times when it makes sense to tear down an existing structure so that something better can take its place.

Sadly, most of the current and future projects are replacing historic modernist buildings with uninspired cookie-cutter projects that all look the same.

Are We Getting Something Better Than What We’re Losing?

There is no doubt that high-density mixed-use projects are what urban areas (and Raleigh in particular) need more of. However, we’re witnessing a surge of investment from out of state limited liability companies eager to cash in because most other real estate markets are performing poorly. The problem here is that every one of these projects are very similar in appearance and amenities. The consumer market isn’t being presented with variety —  just several versions of a similar design, but in different locations.

I want Raleigh to grow closer to the center city and for more people to live downtown. But sadly, if the gamble of all of these projects doesn’t pan out in a favorable way, we’ll only know once the original buildings they replaced are long gone.

Related Articles:

• The Staudt Bakery: Vacant For 50 Years – What Next?
• The Fabius Briggs House: A Crumbling Raleigh Relic [Updated]
• Cameron Village: Modernism Loses; Bland/Generic Wins
• A Forgotten Treasure: The Raleigh Water Garden
• NC State: Please Don’t Destroy the Bookstore!

--- We are ad-free. Support this blog by buying City-Blox.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

401 Oberlin, one of the newest proposed teardown projects

When looking at the number of planned development projects centered around the downtown area, one feels a sense of relief that Raleigh is well insulated from the economic woes currently plaguing most cities in the United States. While on one hand these are a reassuring sign of progress, on the other they represent a rapid loss of unique buildings with character that define Raleigh.

Before they’re gone, let’s take a look at what we’re losing.

South elevation, 401 Oberlin.

401 Oberlin Road

401 Oberlin is the newest entry to the list of modern buildings facing demolition. Designed by Leif Valand and built in 1957, the current owners are planning a large apartment complex on the site. Based on Raleigh City Council’s previous rezoning requests, I predict this project will be given the green light.

Of all the buildings we’re set to lose, this one saddens me the most. I pass by it daily, and love the subtle charm of this corner of land. The worn dark screens mask beautifully mirrored glass which rests above the azaleas that liven a busy intersection.

The Staudt Bakery is a rare example of the art moderne style in Raleigh

The Staudt Bakery

The Staudt Bakery has one of the longest periods of vacancy in Raleigh. Facing a newly-built roundabout at the Hillsborough and Morgan Street intersection, this area has needed improvement for a long time. It’s sad that the building couldn’t have been repurposed into lofts and storefronts.

It is built in the Art Moderne style, a rarity in this area. It is unlikely that it will still be standing a few months from now. Much like the other upcoming projects, the plans look uninspiring. Despite the boring site plan, I am glad to see more life arriving to this area.

Raleigh's most famous dilapidated Victorian, the Fabius Briggs House

The Fabius Briggs House

Sitting on the same parcel of land for future mixed-use as the Staudt Bakery, the Fabius Briggs house may have received its final pardon from Raleigh City Council. Preservation North Carolina has been working with the city to delay a demolition order, but at least some councillors are unwilling to grant any more extensions.

The Briggs House when it was an artists' studio

Although at least two people (including a descendant of Fabius Briggs, of the Briggs Hardware fame) have expressed interest in moving the house, time is running out. The future looks bleak for this worn but grand Queen Anne Victorian keeping watch over Hillsborough Street.

The Brewery

It’s unlikely anyone could make the argument that the Brewery or the buildings around it are architecturally significant enough to warrant preserving. However, character and importance sometimes aren’t defined in the appearance of a building, but in the life and character that resides inside.

The Brewery

David Menconi, music editor for the N&O, sums it up best:

As for what the project might displace, the people pushing it don’t seem overly concerned. The story quotes Karen Rindge (identified as “a neighbor and director of the advocacy group WakeUp Wake County”) saying this: ”What’s there right now is abysmal. That side of Hillsborough Street is desperate for redevelopment.” Well…one person’s “abysmal” and “desperate for redevelopment” block is another person’s irreplaceable historical landmark. That particular block houses The Brewery, which is one of the most fabled nightclubs in local-music history.

While this block’s appearance certainly leaves much to be desired, leveling the Brewery is discarding decades of local music history. It is unfortunate that WakeUp Wake County is so quick condemn the entire block without appreciating the importance of this place to so many Raleigh residents.

The house which was most recently The Farmhouse, as well as neighboring Katmandu (formerly Mr. Ribs Restaurant) will also soon be leveled.

The Ballentine’s Cafeteria Building

After a few muted protests, Raleigh City Council granted a variance (bypassing height limits) to Crescent Resources LLC to build a tall apartment complex on the corner of Clark Avenue and Oberlin Road. They likely granted this because of the overwhelming support of Cameron Park residents. Those residents wouldn’t be impacted by the increased traffic, and they helped steer the design to look like the houses they live in. The result is a 1920s revivalist structure which will look more like the McDonald’s and Harris Teeter than the humble midcentury buildings currently on that block.

The Ballentine's Cafeteria building, soon to be gone

This mid-century modern prairie-style building (one of the only still standing in Raleigh) will soon be demolished.

419/425 Boylan Avenue

A new site plan was submitted which would result in a 250-unit apartment complex on the corner of Boylan Avenue and Tucker Street. The design is uninspiring, and resembles the other generic projects in the pipeline for the center city.

One of two structures which would be leveled at 419 North Boylan Ave.

Built in 1948, 419 North Boylan is one of the oldest modernist buildings in Raleigh. Although I can’t find any documentation to back it up, I am fairly certain this was designed by Milton Small while employed by William Deitrick. The exposed steel beams, floating entranceway, full-height fenestration, and base that is set a few inches from the ground are all of his trademark characteristics.

The Water Garden, now destroyed

The Water Garden (Demolished)

The redevelopment of the Water Garden property is easily the most hotly debated architecture topic on this blog. Although there were a few folks lamenting the loss of this landscape architecture (and modernist) icon, the bulk of the heated debate was from area homeowners protesting the arrival of low-income housing in its place.

Bell Tower Plaza: Buddha’s Belly, Schoolkids Records, and Roundabout Art Gallery

Many might be surprised to learn that NC State owns the commercial property directly across from the Bell Tower. In this plaza are a barber shop, Buddha’s Belly, Roundabout Art Gallery, the Bell Tower Mart, and Schoolkids Records.

Bell Tower Plaza

While the date of demolition of this area may or may not be this year, NC State officials have recently entertained designs from all over the country. Firms are salivating at the chance to build a project here. The businesses here (including Schoolkids) are already looking at relocation options on Hillsborough Street.

Rumors have recently been circulating that Sadlack's is next, but there is nothing yet substantiating this

The Sadlack’s Rumor

Rumors have been swirling for months now that long-time Raleigh institution Sadlack’s Heroes will also be lost as a part of the Bell Tower redevelopment project, but I’ve seen nothing to substantiate this claim. Sadlack’s will only leave this location if the owner decides to sell the parcel to NCSU, and this has not yet happened.

The NC State Bookstore, destroyed just a few days ago

The NC State Bookstore (Demolished)

The loss of this building is unlike the others; it is on NC State campus and isn’t being replaced by a large apartment or condo project. It was demolished just a few days ago and will be replaced by a grass lawn. For more information on the Bookstore’s demolition, read the entry at raleigh modern.

Not All Buildings Should Be Preserved

Although I’ve used this blog to take a stand and draw awareness to preservation efforts of our city’s unique buildings, I certainly do not think that every building should be saved. There are times when it makes sense to tear down an existing structure so that something better can take its place.

Sadly, most of the current and future projects are replacing historic modernist buildings with uninspired cookie-cutter projects that all look the same.

Are We Getting Something Better Than What We’re Losing?

There is no doubt that high-density mixed-use projects are what urban areas (and Raleigh in particular) need more of. However, we’re witnessing a surge of investment from out of state limited liability companies eager to cash in because most other real estate markets are performing poorly. The problem here is that every one of these projects are very similar in appearance and amenities. The consumer market isn’t being presented with variety —  just several versions of a similar design, but in different locations.

I want Raleigh to grow closer to the center city and for more people to live downtown. But sadly, if the gamble of all of these projects doesn’t pan out in a favorable way, we’ll only know once the original buildings they replaced are long gone.

Related Articles:

• The Staudt Bakery: Vacant For 50 Years – What Next?
• The Fabius Briggs House: A Crumbling Raleigh Relic [Updated]
• Cameron Village: Modernism Loses; Bland/Generic Wins
• A Forgotten Treasure: The Raleigh Water Garden
• NC State: Please Don’t Destroy the Bookstore!

--- We are ad-free. Support this blog by buying City-Blox.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

One of the most overlooked historic houses in Raleigh is also one of the most important, the Dr. M.T. Pope House on S. Wilmington Street. Although modest in appearance, it’s a two-story Victorian row house, a construction type rarely seen in Raleigh today.

This house is currently part of the 2011 Community Challenge put on by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. So before learning about the history of the man and house, please go to the National Trust web site and VOTE for this house in the challenge. Registration takes only a minute.

The winner of the contest is eligible for up to $25,000 is grant funds. The Pope House is deserving of this and needs your help.

Dr. Pope in a Third Regiment photograph

An Extraordinary Man In Extraordinary Times

Dr. Pope’s life would have been extraordinary for anyone living at the turn of the century: a landowner, a medical doctor, a freemason (the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge is on a block adjacent to his house), and a Spanish-American war veteran. What made Dr. Pope even more unique was the fact he accomplished all of this being a person of color in the segregated South well before the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

Leonard Medical School, still standing today on Wilmington Street

A Part of History with Leonard Medical School

Leonard Medical School was a part of Shaw University and was the nation’s first 4-year medical school and the first school dedicated to training African-Americans in the South. Dr. Manassa Thomas Pope was part of the first graduating class in 1886.

Original nameplate on Dr. Pope's house

Building a Life as a Doctor

When Dr. Pope first set up in Raleigh after getting his medical degree, he did so on Fayetteville Street. Shortly thereafter, he moved his practice to Raleigh’s African-American main street, Hargett St. In his later years when his health began to fail, he would see patients out of his home.

Pope family on front porch facing Wilmington Street, around 1915

In deciding where to build a house, Dr. Pope chose the Third Ward area, which is around south Wilmington St. At the turn of the 20th century, it was a prestigious area for black professionals, but also had a few notable white residents as well. One of these white residents of the Third Ward was Josephus Daniels, who was Secretary of the Navy, Ambassador, and Editor of the N&O.

A residential island in an ocean of tall buildings

Pope chose the most prominent space he could, on the very edge of the division line between the white families that lived on Fayetteville St, and the black families that lived East of Wilmington St.

1903 Sanborn Insurance map of area

The 1903 Sanborn Insurance map above shows the block as being largely residential. All of the houses on that block are now gone.

Politically Active, and Challenging State Law

In addition to being a war veteran, a doctor, and community leader, Dr. Pope was also involved politically. This was at a time when blacks were not allowed to vote. He was active in the Republican party, and in 1902 was one of only seven men of color in Raleigh to vote. By doing so, he was directly challenging the state laws which prevented non-whites from voting.

A few years later he went significantly further, and ran for office:

Dr. Pope’s political activity reached a high point in the spring of 1919, when, in the midst of Jim Crow segregation and at a moment of extreme racial tension in the nation, he courageously ran for mayor of Raleigh. At that time the Raleigh city council consisted of only three members: mayor, commissioner of public safety, and commissioner of public works. Dr. Pope headed a non-partisan African American slate of candidates along with Calvin Lightner (whose son, Clarence Lightner, became the first black mayor of Raleigh in 1973) and J. Cheek in the April primary. [...] Of those registered, 2,550 cast ballots, with Dr. Pope receiving 126. As Calvin Lightner later remembered “we knew we wouldn’t win, and if we did win the whites wouldn’t let us administer, but we did it to wake our people up politically.”

– The Pope Museum Foundation

A lonely Victorian row house with no neighbors

What’s Left of the Residential Area Today

Today, it’s all gone except for the Pope House. By my estimation, it’s the only surviving single-family detached house in the core of the center city–the area between the Capitol Building and Auditorium, within a block of Fayetteville St.

Pope house interior, showing original lighting fixture that was connected to both electricity and gas

The House and Museum

The house was in the same family until the last of the Pope sisters (Evelyn and Ruth, daughters of Dr. Pope) died eleven years ago. Although a few parts of the house have been renovated, most of the original furnishings are in place, with countless original fixtures relating to turn of the century living.

Pope House interior, showing original maid call box in center-top of image

Particularly interesting is the original maid callbox in the photo above. Each room had a buzzer, which corresponded to a number on the box. Although I’ve seen door buzzers in several abandoned as well as restored Victorian houses, this is the first time I’ve seen the box they were connected to.

Antique medical supplies/equipment

There are countless boxes and shelves of Dr. Pope’s medical equipment. Unfortunately this and the other treasures of the Pope House are not generally viewable by the public. When the foundation took control of the house around the turn of the last century, there were grand plans to create a learning and history center open to the public.

Unfortunately, the amount of funding necessary for such a venture didn’t materialize and the house faces an uncertain future. While it certainly is not in any danger of being demolished, it is an unrealized local and national treasure. Most Raleigh residents are unaware of the historical treasure in the heart of downtown.

Please Help Spread the Word

As of this writing, the Pope House is about halfway up in the national rankings. Please consider sharing the National Trust web site link via email, Twitter, Facebook, and all the rest.

The Pope House is one of the most historically significant and well-preserved structures in Raleigh. It deserves some home town help in this friendly contest.

More From WRAL

Further Reading

• The Pope House Museum Foundation
• An American Success Story: The Pope House of Raleigh, NC (National Park Service)
• Dr. Pope House (National Park Service)

More From Inside the Pope House

--- We are ad-free. Support this blog by buying City-Blox.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook