Stone Hedge, Polk County, prepared by A. Cole and C. Griffith, listed 4/21/15

Located in the vicinity of Tryon in Polk County, Stone Hedge was constructed circa 1935 as the rural estate of Thomas and Lillian Costa.  Stone Hedge is significant in the architectural history of Tryon and Polk County for its distinctive use of stone. The property includes a two-story main residence reminiscent of a rustic Italian villa, one-story guest house, and two-story pool/guest house, all of which were built of uncoursed stone.  The property is well-landscaped, with an in-ground pool and stone walls, terraces, and steps that connect the buildings and other features.  The integrated use of stone construction on the house and associated buildings and landscape elements reinforces the cohesive design of the estate, which was influenced by Tryon's image as a popular mountain retreat and seasonal tourist destination.

United States Post Office, Cleveland County, prepared by D. Hood, listed 4/29/15

The United States Post Office in Kings Mountain is significant in the political and architectural history of Kings Mountain.  The well-preserved Colonial Revival-style building erected in 1939-1940 was designed by the Office of the Supervising Architect of the U. S. Treasury Department and constructed by the Greensboro-based firm of L. B. Gallimore, Incorporated.  The building remained in use as a post office until November 1986, when postal service operations were relocated to a newly-built post office building.  The 1939-1940 building was later acquired by the City of Kings Mountain and has housed the Kings Mountain Historical Museum since 2000.

Ashe County Memorial Hospital, Ashe County, prepared by J. Martin, listed 4/28/15

The Ashe County Memorial Hospital is significant in the architectural and political history of Ashe County as a largely intact public health facility constructed through the efforts of local leaders who raised funds to supplement the contributions of the Works Progress Administration and the Duke Endowment near the end of the Great Depression. The original building, erected in stone with modest Colonial Revival-style details, dates to 1941. In 1952, the county constructed a Modernist-influenced brick addition designed by Asheville architect Lindsey Madison Gudger. The Ashe County Memorial Hospital served the county's residents from November 1941 to 1970 when a new, modern hospital was opened south of Jefferson.

James H. and Anne B. Willis House, Guilford County, prepared by H. Fearnbach, listed 4/23/15

James Willis and his wife Anne hired the Greensboro architecture firm Loewenstein-Atkinson to design their Modern style house in 1965 in the Irving Park neighborhood. Edward Loewenstein had had a successful practice in Greensboro since 1946, and in partnership with Robert Atkinson Jr. from 1953. They designed both period revival houses and Modern houses. The Willis House is architecturally significant for its expression of distinctive characteristics of Modern house design:  its long, low front gable roofline, expansive floor-to-ceiling windows, open floor plan, and exposed beam structural system.   

R. F. Outen Pottery, Mecklenburg County, prepared by S. Mayer, listed 4/24/15

The R. F. Outen Pottery is locally important for the handmade pottery operation of Rufus F. Outen from 1952 to 1965 and for the design of the 1952 oil-burning rectangular downdraft kiln. Outen learned to throw pots from his father, who owned the commercial Matthews Pottery, and by the 1940s Rufus and his brother Gordon were running the pottery. Rufus decided to sell his share in the business as he wanted to make hand-thrown utilitarian pottery. In 1952, he built his own workshop and a smaller version of the large downdraft kilns at the Matthews Pottery. Outen produced pieces that were based on historic pottery designs--butter churns, crocks, pitchers, rabbit water bowls, and pots. He used an Albany slip glaze creating a rich, dark brown color.

Erwin Commercial Historic District, Harnett County, prepared by J. Martin, listed 4/27/15

The Erwin Commercial Historic District includes thirteen early to mid-twentieth-century brick commercial buildings that chronicle the mill town's early history, beginning with its founding in 1903 for Erwin Cotton Mills, a textile company owned by the Duke family of Durham. A location near the Cape Fear River and the surrounding abundant fields of cotton ensured the growth and development of the town. With its service and retail establishments, the commercial district served townspeople, who were primarily workers at the mill, as well as farmers in the surrounding area. The architecturally significant collection of buildings exhibits the predominant architectural types and forms executed in the business districts of small railroad towns in North Carolina's Sandhills region from the first decade of the twentieth century through the 1960s.

Belhaven Commercial Historic District, Beaufort County, prepared by S. Argintar, listed 4/24/15

The Belhaven Commercial Historic District comprises thirteen largely intact buildings erected to house banks, drug stores, general stores, and movie theaters. As Belhaven's primary commercial center, the district is significant for its expression of the town's commercial development during the first six and one-half decades of the twentieth century and for its collection of buildings primarily representative of small-town commercial architecture of the first two decades of the century.

Westview Cemetery, Anson County, prepared by R. Mattson and F. Alexander, listed 4/29/15

The original one-acre plot of Westview Cemetery is of local historical importance for its association with African American social history in Wadesboro. The cemetery is located on the edge of the town's African American neighborhood and very likely is the oldest extant historic resource associated with Wadesboro's African American community. It was established in 1898 by a black burial club, although oral tradition maintains that the area was already serving as the town's black cemetery. Two gravestones dating to 1890 and 1896 are in the oldest part of the cemetery.

Flyway Club, Currituck County, prepared by J. Martin, listed 5/12/15

Flyway Club is one of a small number of remaining fowl hunting lodges established in the early twentieth century in the northeast corner of North Carolina. Composed of a large late 1920s farm building and a large two-story, multi-gabled hunting lodge from 1960, it stands on the east shore of the Currituck Sound in Currituck County. Established on the isolated island in 1920, the lodge burned on Christmas Eve 1958, but was rebuilt in 1960 with exterior massing similar to the original, although with weatherboard siding instead of the original shingle sheathing. The interior is nearly the same as the 1920 building, with minor modifications. The farm building, constructed from 1928 to 1930, is a rare surviving local example of a substantial outbuilding designed both to contribute to the operation of the estate and to house workers who labored at Flyway Club.

Dr. Ezekiel Ezra Smith House, Cumberland County, prepared by M. Michael, listed 5/13/15

Dr. Ezekiel Ezra (E. E.) Smith was the guiding force behind the growth and development of the State Colored Normal School in Fayetteville, now Fayetteville State University. Founded in 1867 as the Howard School, it was the first public normal school for African American teachers in North Carolina and the first such state-sponsored teacher training institution in the South. Dr. Smith served as principal of the school for nearly fifty years, until 1933. In 1902 he purchased two city lots and had the large Queen Anne-style house built for his family. He resided there from 1902 to 1909, when he moved to housing at the new expanded college campus. The house is owned by the City of Fayetteville, which is working with a local group of citizens interested in the rehabilitation of the property. 

Forsyth County, Winston-Salem, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Factory #64 Complex

The early twentieth-century R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Factory #64 Complex comprises an entire block in the Winston-Salem Tobacco Historic District. The 430,000 square foot, four-building complex was rehabilitated 2011-2014 for mixed-use retail and residential with amenities and includes 244 market-rate apartments. This project was spurred by the use of the federal historic and state mill income-producing historic tax credits with an estimated private investment rehabilitation cost of $43,596,000.

R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Factory #64 Complex, before and after rehabilitation

Pitt County, Greenville, 201-205 East Fifth Street

201-205 E. Fifth Street, Greenville, before and after rehabilitation

Pitt County, Greenville, 207 East Fifth Street

The ca. 1925 commercial building at 207 East Fifth Street in the Greenville Commercial Historic District was rehabilitated 2013-2014 for office use. This project, done in conjunction with two adjacent buildings, was spurred by the use of the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with an estimated private investment rehabilitation cost of $1,336,000.

207 E. Fifth Street, Greenville, before and after rehabilitation

Pitt County, Greenville, 417 Cotanche Street

The ca. 1916 commercial building at 417 Cotanche Street in the Greenville Commercial Historic District was rehabilitated 2013-2014 for commercial use. This project, done in conjunction with two adjacent buildings, was spurred by the use of the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with an estimated private investment rehabilitation cost of $990,000.

417 Cotanche Street, Greenville, before and after rehabilitation

Buncombe County, Asheville, Jones House at Biltmore Estate

The late nineteenth-century Jones House is one of two houses on the Biltmore Estate that predate the construction of the Biltmore house. Rehabilitated in 2014, the former farmhouse now functions as a clubhouse facility, with classroom space. This project was spurred by the use of the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with a private investment rehabilitation cost of $331,000. 

Jones House, before and after rehabilitation

Buncombe County, Asheville, Mardis Building

The West Asheville-Aycock School Historic District was expanded in 2014 to include the 1925 Mardis Building after the 1970s veneer covering the façade was removed. This newly certified historic structure was rehabilitated in 2013-2014 for retail and restaurant spaces in the four first-floor bays, with ten apartments on the second floor. This project was spurred by the use of the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with an estimated private investment rehabilitation cost of $1,228,000. 

Mardis Building, before and after rehabilitation

Catawba County, Hickory, Southern Railroad Passenger Depot

The 1912 Southern Railroad Passenger Depot in the Hickory Southwest Downtown Historic District was the third railroad station constructed in Hickory and is architecturally similar to other Piedmont stations of the period. The building operated as a passenger station until passenger service ended in the 1960s and was renovated as a restaurant in 1987. Vacant since 2001, the station was purchased and rehabilitated from 2010 to 2013 as a new restaurant by the current owners. This project was spurred by the use of the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with a private investment rehabilitation cost of $635,000. 

Southern Railroad Passenger Depot, before and after rehabilitation

Forsyth County, Winston-Salem, 705 North Main Street

The ca. 1928 commercial building at 705 North Main Street in the Downtown North Historic District was rehabilitated in 2014 for commercial and office space. This project was spurred by the use of the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with an estimated private investment rehabilitation cost of $200,000.

705 N. Main Street, Winston-Salem, before and after rehabilitation

Nash County, Spring Hope, Valentine-Wilder House

 

This project resulted in the preservation of the Rustic Revival-style, ca. 1925 Valentine-Wilder House, also known as "Gourd Hollow." Built from trees on the property, the log house and outbuildings were rehabilitated in 2013-2014 for continued use as a rental residence. This historic rehabilitation was spurred by the use of the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with a private investment cost of $258,000.

 

Valentine-Wilder House, before and after rehabilitation

 

Rowan County, Salisbury, Hedrick Motor Company Building

 

Built between 1922 and 1931, the Hedrick Motor Company Building in the Salisbury Historic District was rehabilitated in 2012 to 2014 for retail use and parking on the first floor, with continued office use on the second floor. This project was spurred by the use of the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with an estimated private investment rehabilitation cost of $1,091,000.

 

Hedrick Motor Company, before and after rehabilitation

 

 

Wake County, Raleigh, Pure Food Grocery

 

The 1930s Pure Food Grocery in the Glenwood-Brooklyn Historic District was rehabilitated in 2014 for use as an interior design studio. This project was spurred by the use of the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with an estimated private investment rehabilitation cost of $168,000.

 

Pure Food Grocery, before and after rehabilitation

Mount Gilead Baptist Church in Fayetteville

Can You Help Us?

The HPO is looking for examples of modernist architecture in your community, specifically post-1945 structures, in an effort to initiate the process for a statewide thematic architectural survey. We are interested in banks, residences, city halls, libraries, places of worship, etc. Please send any suggestions to Jessica.dockery@ncdcr.gov. Images, documentary or current, are always appreciated. 

• The National Trust's PreservationNation blog has posted a series of interviews with Jim Gabbert, one of the historians for the National Park Service and North Carolina's National Register reviewer, about the National Register program and is meant to be a guide that answers basic questions about the program. Watch the videos on this website. 

• Follow this link to a research tool for those trying to track African American genealogy or movement throughout the U.S.

• Slow Road is a documentary film series dedicated to rediscovering Main Streets and forgotten places across the United States and the film directors are working in conjunction with the National Main Street Center to that end. For more information or to watch video follow this link: http://slowroadtravel.com/.

• Learn about authentic colors and sinks for restoring 1940s kitchens on this website. 

• Remember the pink bathroom? There is now a movement to save them. See photos of pink bathrooms here and learn more here. 

• A brief history of bank building architecture can be found on this website.

• Curbed.com has created an architectural tourist's guide to the country, which can be found on this website. 

• A timely piece on the evolution of interpretation at Drayton Hall,SC can be found on this website. 

• People often ask why preservationists are interested in mid-century modern architecture. South Carolina has an answer for them at this link.

• Like crowd-sourcing and want to use it to engage people in preservation? This artist used the idea to learn more about water around Charlotte, but what if you asked about buildings or neighborhoods?: http://keepingwatch.org/programming/home-basin.

• A presentation at the 2015 Mid-Century Modern Structures: Materials and Preservation Symposium in St. Louis, Missouri, explored the influence of space age technology on construction and architectural design. A link to a video of the presentation and the transcript can be found on this website.