Greensboro's Treasured Places

Town and Gown: Re-imagining Greensboro’s Smart New Future

For most of the twentieth-century, Greensboro was one of the region’s economic power-centers, fueled by three highly profitable manufacturing sectors: textiles, tobacco, and machinery. Corporate names such as Cone Mills, Lorillard Tobacco, and Carolina Steel were synonymous with the Gate City, and Greensboro grew as employment in the three sectors swelled. As recently as 1980, few could comprehend of the pending changes in global economics that would reduce the manufacturing footprint in the city to a fragment of its former size.

The collapse of the manufacturing sector is not isolated to Greensboro. Every American city has faced challenges in retaining industrial jobs over the past quarter century as employers relocate facilities to foreign shores where wages and production costs are lower. In response, America’s cities have, in the words of John H. Alschuler, Chairman of HR&A Advisors, “become centers of culture, education, and health care.” Metropolises once known as manufacturing and service centers are reinventing themselves as intellectual centers. The Gate City, home to seven institutions of high learning, is being transformed into an intellectual power house for the twenty-first century.

In recognition of this historic shift, and in anticipation of the looming growth of Greensboro’s educational institutions, Mayor Yvonne J. Johnson recently hosted an U. S. Environmental Protection Agency-sponsored roundtable that brought together the city’s colleges and universities, the City of Greensboro and local community leaders, along with nationally recognized professionals and consultants, including Alschuler.

The forum, held here on the campus of Blandwood Mansion in downtown Greensboro, opened a dialogue regarding Greensboro’s future growth and development. Initiated in the spring of 2007, the City of Greensboro sought assistance from the Environmental Protection Agency to formulate sound growth strategies that benefited institutions and their surrounding established neighborhoods. In response, the EPA brought together a consortium of skilled consultants and advisors who reviewed some “best practices” that identified common goals between institutions that may serve as launching points for collaboration with their surrounding neighborhoods such as College Hill (image, upper right).

The dialog revealed several conceptual themes, including:

• Re-imaging Greensboro as a “college town.” Opportunities exist to enhance Greensboro’s reputation as a college town by tapping into established efforts of area educational institutions. By collaborating on performing arts in the community, continuing education programs, student-centered local businesses, or developing tourism through parent and alumni-oriented events, Greensboro’s quality of life and image can be improved. In enhancing the city’s quality of life, efforts can be focused to mitigate the impacts growth on the environment by making smart choices regarding transportation, growth patterns, energy usage, natural resources and waste.

• Examining the university’s development needs and its impact on neighborhood stability. Several of Greensboro’s colleges and universities have already initiated shared off-campus development projects, including the Gateway University Research Park, but additional resource-saving ventures may be in the future, such as shared intramural sports facilities, performing arts centers, dormitory space, or additional multidisciplinary educational and research centers. These projects have the opportunity to positively impact their surrounding neighborhoods by working with area nonprofits and neighborhood organizations to improve building standards, prevent crime, expand opportunities for student housing, entertainment and work centers.

• Enhance economic development partnerships with institutions. Greensboro’s colleges and universities provide a key role in invigorating Greensboro’s economy through the development of jobs cultivated through university-based technology research. In identifying opportunities for “spin-off” efforts, development coordination and branding the community by building awareness of current projects and initiatives, Greensboro can build momentum in reconstructing its economy through its institutions.

Examples abound of innovative projects that brought together town and gown. Tony T. Brown, President and CEO of the Uptown Consortium, Cincinnati, OH shared a laundry list of collaborative efforts initiated through Cincinnati’s Uptown Consortium, a non-profit organization made up of the Uptown's five largest employers: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, TriHealth, Inc. and the University of Cincinnati. In recent years, over $400 million has been invested in the neighborhood through redevelopment, new construction (image, middle right) and neighborhood preservation initiatives (image, lower right). Such projects would be a boon for Greensboro’s institutions, and could strengthen established neighborhoods for preservation and investment.

In its 200th year, Greensboro is poised to enter a new economy that is radically different from the manufacturing reputation it earned in the twentieth century. The Gate City’s intellectual roots run deep, inspired by early African American, Quaker, Methodist, and Scotch-Irish settlers that valued then-radical ideals of equality and education for all citizens. It’s a strong base on which to build a future, and the city is well poised to strengthen its position in the region. With careful planning and coordination, the city has the opportunity to enter this new era …smartly.

Architectural Guide of High Point Published

After years of work, High Point has a publication dedicated to the architectural history of the city. In efforts of transparency and full-disclosure, I am its author. I will receive no financial benefit in the sale of the book.

The publication entitled “The Architecture of High Point, North Carolina” hit shelves in High Point last week. Books are available for purchase at the High Point Historical Museum (1859 East Lexington Avenue), the North Carolina Room (3rd Floor) of the High Point Public Library (901 North Main Street), City Hall at the Mall (Oak Hollow Mall, Lower Level), High Point City Hall, 211 South Hamilton Street), the Doll & Miniature Museum (101 West Green Drive), and Barnes and Noble Booksellers at Oak Hollow Mall. The book costs $49.99, and proceeds are returned to the High Point Historic Preservation Commission to invest in city preservation activities such as educational materials and programs.

The 263-page publication includes a comprehensive architectural history of the development of the city, coupled with an inventory of 202 individual sites; a glossary of architectural terms; end notes; works cites; and an index. The book is illustrated with documentary photos of city structures both extant and extinct, early maps, floor plans, and hundreds of contemporary images of historic sites. Twenty four color plates depict historic structures in High Point in which color plays a key factor in their design. The cover design features the newly renovated Briles House at 1103 North Main Street, the home of High Point’s Junior League (image, upper right).

With a lack of a comprehensive survey, High Point has been an unsung hero in North Carolina’s architectural history. The book reveals historic buildings in High Point that few are aware of, such as the impressive and sprawling Three Musketeer’s Estate in Emerywood designed by Winston-Salem architect Luther Lashmit and decorated by New York firm W. & J. Sloane (image, lower right). As I state in the preface:

Reflecting the city’s growth and influence is an architectural inventory epitomizing High Point’s increasing civic pride and cultural sophistication. Since the city’s early settlement, hotels and merchant-houses presented fashionable façades to visitors and discerning shoppers. Later, wealthy industrialists had ambitious houses and churches erected in popular styles that illustrated the growing town’s sense of style. Finally, civic projects such as schools and parks utilized modern designs that spoke to High Point’s progressive spirit and quickening pace. By the middle of the twentieth century, High Point had an impressive collection of architecture representing nearly every popular style since the city was founded, including designs by nationally recognized architects and planners.

I hope the book will make the case for increased awareness and protection of High Point’s remarkable architectural legacy. This legacy is a gift of past citizens, and need not be recklessly squandered by well-meaning developers, promoters, and planners. If cultivated, High Point will find that’s its architectural legacy is a tangible and enjoyable asset that newer communities in our region will never attain. In addition, investment in historic resources is an expenditure that will never be relocated to foreign shores, and serves to strengthen the city’s tax base and quality of life for all citizens.

With this publication, High Point joins 32 municipalities and 38 counties in North Carolina with published architectural surveys. Locally, the Guilford County architectural survey was published in 1970, and Greensboro’s survey was published in 1995. Other cities, such as Charlotte, have not yet published an architectural survey. Way to go High Point and happy 2008 Historic Preservation Month!

May is National Historic Preservation Month

Beginning next week, Preservation Greensboro Incorporated will celebrate the Gate City’s architecture and history through a variety of activities including neighborhood walking tours, free tours of historic Blandwood Mansion, a tour of Green Hill Cemetery and the beginning of the Bicentennial archeological dig on the grounds of Blandwood.

Greensboro will join thousands of individuals around the country in a nationwide celebration of 2008 National Preservation Month in May 2008. Orchestrated by by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, DC, this year's theme of the month-long celebration is “This Place Matters”.

Since the National Trust began celebrating historic preservation in 1971 to spotlight grassroots efforts in America, it has grown into an annual celebration. Preservation Greensboro has been celebrating Historic Preservation Month since the 1980s.

The following is a schedule of activities presented by Preservation Greensboro:

Wednesdays in May, 11am-2pm: FREE Tours of Blandwood Mansion: Tour Preservation Greensboro’s flagship house museum and see the restored main building and the two reconstructed dependencies, the law office and the kitchen of the home of former NC Governor John Motley Morehead.

Sunday, May 11, 2pm: “The Plants and the Planted”, $5. Tour historic Green Hill Cemetery and here about Greensboro’s famous citizens and the rich landscaping that surrounds them. Meet at the southern most gate on Wharton Street. Tour lasts about 1 ½ - 2 hours. Proceeds benefit Greensboro Parks and Recreation Cemetery Division.

Walking Wednesdays, 7pm, FREE Guided Tours of Greensboro’s Historic Neighborhoods:

April 30, Fisher Park: Meet at 7pm on the steps of Temple Emmanuel, North Greene and Florence Streets. Learn about homes designed by the city’s best architects during this tour of former swampland.

May 7, Westerwood: Meet at 7pm at Double Oaks, 204 North Mendenhall Street. Explore Greensboro’s early “back to nature” neighborhood, promoted as a place where residents were “Close to the Heart of Nature and to Greensboro!”

May 14, Downtown Greensboro: Meet at 7pm at the green bean, 341 South Elm Street. Find out why architectural historians consider Greensboro to be the best-preserved “big city” downtown in the state, with a special focus on modernism.

May 21, Historic Aycock: Meet at 7pm on the front steps of Aycock Middle School, 811 Cypress Street. Come learn abut the neighborhood that features a castle among other wide-ranging styles.

May 28, College Hill: Meet at 7pm at Tate Street Coffee House, 334 Tate Street. Learn how Greensboro’s first neighborhood blends quaint architecture with big-city amenities to create an energetic vibe.

May 26 – June 20: Bicentennial Archeological Dig at Blandwood, UNCG Field School. Funded by the History Committee of the Greensboro Bicentennial Commission, an archeological dig will be run as a field school by Dr. Linda Stine, Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The work will examine the back quadrant of the Blandwood property, bordered by McGee and Edgeworth Streets. Daily digging will occur Monday-Friday from 8:30am-2:30pm. Two Family Days are scheduled for June 7 and 14, 9am-12pm. Volunteers are invited to come and see how archeologists work. Please contact Dr. Linda Stine, 336-685-5996 for additional information on the dig.

Contact Preservation Greensboro for more information.

A Weekend with the Moreheads

The fantasy of the theater was blended with the reality of history this past weekend at Blandwood Mansion, where five intrepid and talented actors portrayed members of the Morehead’s extended family as part of Greensboro’s Bicentennial Heritage Festival. Over 200 visitors were able to get a glimpse of the lives of the Morehead’s on the days of April 12th and 13th of 1865. This was a weighty period in Greensboro’s past, as the power of the Confederate government was crumbling in the city and citizens anxiously awaited the arrival of Union troops.

In Blandwood’s vignettes, four scenes were portrayed to provide insights on the concerns and apprehensions of the historical characters. Actors Alison Walls and Lori Leigh played Emma Morehead Gray and her best friend Mary, both Edgeworth Female Seminary graduates. The women were concerned over their husband’s safety in battle, the number of wounded soldiers scattered throughout town, and whether the normalcy of pre-War years would return to Greensboro.

Eloise Hassell took on the role of Mrs. Morehead (image, upper right). Pacing about in her bedroom, the lady of the house fretted over her sons’ safety in battle, dwindling food rations, and overall uncertainties related to the future due to War. In his nearby law office, the former governor John Motley Morehead was portrayed by Dale J. Metz. Morehead pondered the wisdom of initiating the Civil War, the financial challenges that faced his beloved state of North Carolina, and the mounting casualties of a hopeless War.

Actor Mary L. Stevens took a contrasting perspective in the kitchen in carrying the role of the Morehead’s enslaved cook Hannah (image, lower right). Historical records indicate that the Morehead’s relied on Hannah for her resourcefulness in keeping the family well-fed, all the time anticipating the arrival of Union soldiers who might bring about change to the oppressive institution of slavery.

We are most grateful to Alison, Lori, Eloise, Dale, and Mary for bringing the Morehead’s to life. Participants enjoyed their heartfelt performances that were based on historical documentation from the period. Their professionalism and dedication to their craft was apparent throughout the long weekend!

History and art, when brought together, make a powerful combination.

Future-Perfect-in-Past-Tense: Reclaiming the Historic Warnersville Neighborhood

Future-Perfect-in-Past-Tense grammatical terms were once the topic of discussion in the classrooms of Warnersville’s J. C. Price Elementary School, but today, the term describes a new direction planned by residents of the historically black neighborhood.

Warnersville’s roots are deeply planted in Greensboro’s soil. Yardley Warner, for whom the settlement was named, was a Quaker missionary from Philadelphia who visited the South in the closing days of the Civil War. Alarmed at the plight of blacks in the region, he sought to enhance opportunities for African Americans freed from slavery and after traveling the American South, he found a home in Greensboro among other Quakers who were sympathetic to his ministry.

In 1867, Warner purchased 35 ½ acres of land on behalf of a Quaker aid organization from Philadelphia, and subdivided the property into one acre lots. Each acre was capable of supporting a large family, and lots were sold to families that could build equity and financial independence through home ownership. Soon, a community of 600 people featured tidy frame houses with garden plots (image, right), a school, a church, and the Union Cemetery on South Elm Street.

The self-sufficient community became a model for similar settlements in the region. Warnersville, in essence, became Greensboro’s first suburban community – predating other subdivisions by 20 years. Warnersville’s school grew to become Bennett College for Women. Residents became community leaders, most notably Harmon Unthank, a freed man employed as a carpenter at a local wagon wheel factory who grew to become Director of the People’s Savings Bank (believed to be North Carolina’s first mutual savings institution).

The community remained strong through the 1920s, when the J. C. Price School was erected and named in honor of Dr. Joseph Charles Price (1854-1893), the son of a slave who served as a minister, lecturer, and founder and president of Livingstone College in Salisbury. However, by the 1950s, the absentee landlords who owned much of the neighborhood had not improved housing to modern standards.

In the meantime, Greensboro instituted the first urban renewal program in the state with the intent of ridding the Gate City of vacant and substandard housing. The Warnersville neighborhood was promptly identified as an area of blight, and in 1965 the city moved to “renew” the neighborhood by rebuilding it to modern standards (map, right). This renewal project, funded by the federal government, was the first of its kind in North Carolina. The reconstruction process was so thorough that only the J. C. Price School and the Union Cemetery survived destruction. In place of the original frame houses and stores were widened avenues, suburban-style ranch houses, and garden apartments and townhomes.

Today, residents of Warnersville struggle with articulating their neighborhood’s deep history with a lack of historic structures. Unlike nearby College Hill and Southside, the neighborhood has only two community landmarks to show for their notable past.

The solution may lie in blending the neighborhood’s past with Greensboro’s future. As the Gate City begins to cultivate its reputation as a creative city with investment in the arts, opportunities exist to define the historic Warnersville using art. Portland, Oregon’s Pearl District has used art to enhance its neighborhood character, exemplified in the colorful totems that cover of the Portland Streetcar poles adjacent to Jameson Square (image, lower right). Warnersville could do the same using its history of artisan residents as a theme to unite the whole.

Neighborhood organizers Angela Harris and James Griffin describe other initiatives to expand awareness of Warnersville history. These include historical narratives that will be placed along the planned Downtown Greenway adjacent to the neighborhood.

Warnersville’s history may be largely destroyed, but spirit and enthusiasm for the neighborhood remain strong. With creative planning, the detriment of losing a community’s history may be countered with opportunity for interpretive expressions of the past. The historic neighborhood is sure to maintain a strong position as a defining neighborhood in the Gate City.

Secrets of the Greensboro Masonic Temple

Masons have had a presence in Greensboro since shortly after the city’s founding, but few know about the history and architecture behind the façade of the fraternal organization’s impressive Temple at 426 West Market Street.

The Masons that call this Temple home have deep roots in our community, having been chartered on March 1, 1821 as the Greensborough Lodge # 76 - roughly indicating its place in the sequence of lodges established in North Carolina. The organization has had notable influence in the community, claiming members such as hotelier Christopher Moring, industrialist Henry Humphreys, attorney and Mayor Cyrus Mendenhall, businessman Julian Price. The organization assisted in laying cornerstones for many landmark properties in Greensboro, including Greensboro College’s main building (August 20, 1843), the 1858 Guilford County Courthouse, the McIver Memorial Building at UNC-G (May 25, 1908), the First Presbyterian Church on (Dec 23, 1890), and the Guilford County Courthouse (May 22, 1918). They also dedicated the cornerstones of the Masonic & Eastern Star Home on Holden Road (Jan 1912), and their own Greensboro Masonic Temple on March 20, 1928.

As a prominent organization in the Gate City, the Masons set high standards for their own lodge. Greensboro architect John B. Crawford was hired to develop several schemes and James Fanning was selected as the project’s General Contractor. The monumental, stone façade is evocative of a Grecian temple, complete with fluted engaged columns topped by curled Ionic capitals, a Greek-key stylobate, a triangular pediment topped by an anthemion (Greek term for “flower”). Upon the entablature is inscribed eis doxan theou "for the glory of God."

Behind the impressive public façade is a highly ceremonial interior laden with symbolism and ritual. Stylized blue flowers on the floor of the entry symbolize Forget-Me-Nots, a flower representative of Masonic oppression in Germany during the Second World War. An antechamber ritually displays the charters of the five local lodges and other organizations that meet in the building.

The main meeting chamber or Lodge is arranged along the lines of a traditional Masonic Hall (see diagram and third image), with the chair for the commanding Worshipful Master placed on the eastern wall three steps above the floor. To the west is the second-in-command Senior Warden, whose chair sits two steps above the floor. On the south wall, backed by three symbolic pilasters, is the third-in-command Junior Warden, who sits just one step above the floor. Other officers have ritual positions throughout the chamber that reflect their duties and hierarchy within the organization.

Above the meeting chamber is the Scottish Rite Room (fourth image), a palatial space flanked by theater-style seats and centered upon an elaborate stage. The polychromatic room takes an Egyptian theme, with sphinxes guarding the stage, and high columns topped by papyrus capitals. The Rite is an appendant body of freemasonry that used the room for theatrical productions that represent themes of history and morality.

The Masons enjoy a rich history that teaches personal responsibility for betterment in the world. In their belief, each man, woman and child can do something to help others and to make things a little better. Their efforts range from financial support of area children's hospitals to individual aid for disadvantaged elders. Masons never solicit membership, so you will never be asked to join. Their motto “To be one, ask one” encourages each individual to follow their own leading to become a member.

Today’s Masons are no longer cloaked in the secrecy that might have been associated with their organization in the past. In fact, if you would like to explore the secrets of the Greensboro Masonic Temple on your own, you may do so during the Bicentennial Heritage Festival on April 12-13. On that day, the Temple will be open to the public. Though other impressive temples have been destroyed, such as the 1918 Egyptian Revival Charlotte Masonic Temple, Greensboro is fortunate to have one of the most impressive Masonic Temples in the state of North Carolina. Great preservation practices in the Gate City allow citizens here to visit places long lost in other North Carolina cities, and that’s something to celebrate during our Bicentennial.

Lost Greensboro: The Benbow House Hotel

In the economic devastation that followed the Civil War, Greensborough’s reputation as a city of comfortable hotel accommodations was badly bruised. Earlier fine hotels such as the Southern Hotel on West Street and the Planter Hotel on East Street were becoming worn and did not meet the improved standards set by wealthy northern industrial and port cities.

In recognizing the diminished state of Gate City hostelries, Dr. D. W. C. Benbow erected Benbow House one block south of Court House Square on South Street (South Elm Street). The hotel was built at a cost of $40,000, a lofty sum during the Reconstruction Era. The Benbow opened with great fanfare in late May 1871, featuring a dedication speech by former New York Governor David Hill, and former North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance being the first to register as a guest.

The building was an architectural masterpiece of French-inspired Second Empire style, featuring tall windows popularized in Paris and a diamond-patterned slate mansard roof enclosing the uppermost floor. Classical brick quoins at the corners of the building, balustrades and balconies centered above the front door, a wide modillion cornice, and a chorus line of dormer windows completed the continental European design.

When the hotel opened, an early guest from New York was disheartened to learn that no rooms had private baths. No worries! Upon discovering this inconvenience, he visited Odell Hardware on South Street and purchased a tin bathtub there for $2.50. He returned to his hotel room with his newly purchased tub with the honor of the occupying Greensboro’s first hotel room with a private bath!

Tragically, the Benbow House hotel burned (with no loss of life) at noon on June 17, 1899. By nightfall, only the tall brick walls remained of Greensboro’s prominent hotel. The ruin was purchased by B. H. Merrimon, his wife Nellie S. Merrimon and E. P. Wharton and rebuilt at a cost of $80,000. The facility was rechristened the Hotel Guilford. The new building was even more grand than the original, complete with Wilton carpets, marble floors, and – and private baths! The Hotel Guilford was destroyed around 1930 and replaced with a building occupied by F. W. Woolworths…today under development of the International Civil Rights Museum on South Elm Street.

The Secrets of Kirkwood

Long before Kirkwood became a neighborhood of tidy post-War housing, the area featured scattered semi-rural farms and estates with notable homes and varied recreation areas.

Development of neighborhoods north of Cornwallis Drive began during the roaring 20s, and fed off the success of Irving Park to the south. One by one, small family farms were developed as subdivisions, including the Kirkpatrick farm in 1928. The Kirkpatrick farm became Kirkwood, featuring patriotic names such as Liberty, Independence, and Colonial given to gridded streets with deep lots. A similar cluster of gridded streets was platted to the southwest - composed of streets with bucolic names such as Lawndale, Fernwood, Dellwood, and Fairfield (image, upper right).

Both neighborhoods had little chance for development before the stock market crash of 1929. For over a decade, streets remained largely undeveloped. Interspersed among the unbuilt lots were notable houses constructed just before the Great Depression began. Among these houses was the home of Lucille and Joseph Holt, located at 2000 Dellwood Drive.

The Holt House (image, right) was built in 1927-28, by Alabama native Joseph Holt and his first wife Lucille. Holt is remembered for his leadership in Home Federal Bank; Lucille is remembered for her petite form and flaming red hair. Both Holts were well connected to Greensboro’s social scene in the late 1920s and 1930s, hosting elaborate parties in a log cabin on the grounds of their home that were followed by dancing into the night.

As Alabama natives, the Holts asked Greensboro architect Harry Simmonds to design a residence evocative of the Gorgas House on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa (image, right). The original Gorgas House was built in 1828 as a dining hall for students. In the 1840s it was converted into a faculty residence, and after the Civil War it became the home of Josiah Gorgas, a Confederate general and seventh president of the University. The house was designed by architect William Nichols, who also won commissions in the Raleigh area. Greensboro's Holt House replicated the delicate descending stairs, portico, and symmetrical facade of the original Gorgas House.

With its period style, the two-story Holt House is illustrative of growing interest in historic preservation and early American architecture in the 1920s. As the Holt House was being erected, conservation efforts were just beginning to gain momentum in Williamsburg, VA and Charleston, SC. In addition to the recreated Gorgas House design, the Holts acquired architectural elements from throughout the Old South to compliment their project. Wrought iron elements found on the front and rear verandas were purchased from historic homes being destroyed in Baltimore, MD. Doors used in the house were found in Richmond, VA. Historic sites in Alabama supplied the salvaged fountain in the yard and fireplace mantles.

The grounds of the Holt’s home were equally sumptuous, incorporating an entire block of the new subdivision. The Holts preserved the mature oaks and poplars on the property, and beneath the trees they planted extensive azalea gardens. A stream was impounded to create a pond and swimming hole. To the rear of the property, a rustic-style log house was erected for lavish dinner parties and late-night dances.

Happy times ended with the passing of Lucille Holt around 1950. Holt remarried, this time to Emmaline (married nine times, he was number seven!). Joseph Holt passed away in the late 1960s, and Emmaline moved to Florida.

In 1966, the home and grounds were purchased by Laura Dean and Lawton Gresham, who selected Clyde Elrod to orchestrate renovations of the house. As a seasoned building contractor, Elrod knew the significance of the site, and guided the Greshams in preserving the most important attributes of the property. Today, the house looks much as it did when they purchased the property over forty years ago.

With their growing appreciation for historic preservation, the Greshams soon embarked upon a new project for the grounds of the historic Holt Home. Visiting downtown Greensboro in 1976, they became aware of the destruction of the old Major Stedman House on McGee Street for today’s Weaver Center. The grounds of the Stedman House contained a small cottage that dated to 1870. The cottage was said to have been built for Major Stedman’s aged manservant, who was too respected to be turned out upon being awarded his freedom after the Civil War. The cottage had been used as a tea and lunch room in the 1960s by preservationist Helen Miller. The Greshams acquired the Stedman Cottage and saved it from the bulldozers by relocating the Victorian structure to their Dellwood property. There, it was preserved as a guest cottage.

The Holt House and Stedman Cottage remain well-preserved landmarks in today’s Kirkwood neighborhood. Both remain benchmarks in Greensboro’s preservation movement and represent local examples of national trends in conservation. The property is an important reminder that all neighborhoods contain history that is more than skin deep. Our challenge as a city is to understand the significance of these historic sites before they are lost to bulldozers and redevelopment. Kirkwood, it seems, is home to one of Greensboro’s most treasured places.

More Clues Revealed in Albright House History

For those driving on Friendly Avenue in west Greensboro, it is clear that work is underway on one of Greensboro’s most highly anticipated restoration projects.

Recent insights on the history of the Albright House have been confirmed by the removal of aluminum siding and interior plaster – part of the scope of work currently being completed. Evidence continued to suggest the home was constructed around 1850, and research work currently underway through a UNCG historic preservation class will likely fill in more gaps in the historical narrative.

With removal of the aluminum siding, the decorative rafter tails – previously only glimpsed through a gap – are now open to sunshine (image, upper right). The rafter tails were a direct influence of Greensboro’s own Blandwood Mansion, whose Italianate details directed a national movement of architecture style. Interestingly, the rafters are not structural. Instead, they are applied beneath the structural rafters solely as a decorative feature.

Inside the house, the wooden sheathing used for ceiling boards in the east parlor are now exposed in the entry hall and beneath the stairs (image, center right). These wide boards are hand planed and affixed to wall studs and ceiling joists using c. 1850s period cut nails. They likely hold information on some original paint colors used in the house before the Civil War.

Structural members such as studs and joists all feature sash saw marks. Sash saws were most often water powered here in the Carolina Piedmont, and their use was quickly supplanted by steam-powered circular saws with the arrival of the Great Fayetteville and Western Plank Road through High Point in 1852. Sash saw marks are a rare treat among preservationists here in Guilford County!

Amid the many features that merely confirm previous findings, one important new find has been identified in relation to the original façade of the house. A notch cut into the front-facing wall studs has revealed the location of the ledger-strip on which the front porch roof rested. The ledger extended across the middle of
the front façade, terminating just inside the existing windows (image, lower right). This clue supports the theory that this house once looked very similar to the Walker-Scarborough House on McGee Street in College Hill. The grand, two-story Tuscan portico currently gracing the house was possibly added in the twentieth century in a lavish “updates” of the home.

The discovery of a previously unidentified nineteenth century home in Greensboro is an unusual gift to the city for its 200th birthday! The Junior League is not taking their newfound treasure lightly as they embark on a thorough restoration of the landmark for their new headquarters. With its historic materials and features recorded, more information will likely be uncovered by historical research. Keep up with new information on the (re)discovery of the Albright House right here!

It’s All About Greensboro: Evolution of a City

Ever wondered about Greensboro’s earliest neighborhoods? Can you identify Greensboro’s primary architectural styles?

Gayle Fripp, Greensboro historian and author, and I will join forces to help present an exploration of Greensboro’s nineteenth-century neighborhoods this Sunday, March 16 at 2:30 p.m. in Preyer Hall at the Greensboro Historical Museum. The evolution of Greensboro’s neighborhoods is a defining element in the character and personality of the Gate City. Greensboro draws its strength from being a city of neighborhoods, each with distinctive elements that add character to our city.

Gayle, whom the County Commissioners honored with the title County Historian in the 1970s, is the former Curator of Education at the Greensboro Historical Museum. She has authored several books on Greensboro history, including her landmark effort “Greensboro” A Chosen Center” published in 2001. She will lead an insightful overview of the development of the city, touching on turning-points of antebellum life, industrialization, and growth through the early twentieth century.

I will follow Gayle’s historical review with a primer on Greensboro’s architectural history. I will cover styles of early Greensboro, illustrated by landmark properties such as the 1820 Paisley House and the 1847 Bumpass –Troy House, through the Period Revival styles exemplified by the 1929 Tudor-style Sebastian House (upper-right) and 1927 Spanish Colonial Barton House (lower-right). I hope to establish a new way for residents to view their hometown neighborhoods, with an eye towards identifying architectural styles and the context.

Gayle and I will be joined by neighborhood representatives who will share their thoughts about the unique character of their own area of town. Representatives from all four nineteenth-century neighborhoods will be present to discuss the features that make their locale special.

Tickets: FREE Admission and FREE Parking
Info: (336)-373-2971

Greensboro Historical Museum
130 Summit Ave. Greensboro, NC 27401

UPDATE 3/14/08: This event is fully booked! Maybe we can offer it again sometime soon!