Greensboro's Treasured Places

Bringing Mohammed to the Mountain

Preservation Greensboro hosted Alfonso Narvaez November 13-15 as part of the National Preservation Institute’s Professional Seminars in Historic Preservation and Cultural Resource Management. The event was held at the Blandwood Carriage House, and included a diverse selection of professionals from places such as Fort Knox, Kentucky; Olympia, Washington; Mission Viejo, California; and Reynolda House, Biltmore Estate, and Blandwood Mansion here in North Carolina.

The focus of the seminar was managing and maintaining historic structures, and Alfonso is among the most respected professionals in historic building maintenance in the country. As head of the Preservation Technology Group at John Milner Associates, Inc. (JMA) office in Alexandria, Virginia, he has worked for a wide range of historic museum properties including the Johnstown Area Heritage Association, the Nantucket Historical Association, the Taft Museum of Art, Stratford Hall, Kenmore Plantation, and many others. JMA is a believer in the holistic approach to historic site management and has specialized in historic preservation since its founding in 1968.

Key to the session was the importance of understanding how a building functions, and how to steer a structure through change and time. All homeowners are (should be) building managers and must understand the importance of routine maintenance – be it cleaning gutters each fall, monitoring the roof for deterioration and leaks, or pruning vegetation away from the foundation. The challenge lies in the ability of each homeowner/manager to analyze their own structure and to formulate sustainable solutions to cope with issues that might arise.

For example, here at Blandwood Mansion, we have a continued challenge of plaster failure along a small section of a solid masonry wall in one of the parlors (image, upper right). A remedy could include sanding and repainting the plaster, but the failure is sure to return because the root of the problem was not solved. Our suspicion is that moisture is creeping into the wall either from a hairline crack outside, or rising from the subsoil via the foundation. Once we identify the source of the moisture, permanent repairs can be made. In fact, Alfonso gave us valuable free advice on how to identify the source of our mystery moisture!

Sustainable solutions to building management go beyond routine maintenance. Solutions also involve an understanding of materials, the deterioration process of materials (can bricks decay? Yes they can! Image, lower right), and understanding how the deterioration process be controlled or slowed. All of these points are important issues for owners of historic buildings where materials are crucial to the character and significance of the site.

For those of us who don’t know how to manage a building (and there are less of us trained to work with historic materials such as heart pine, copper cladding, slate roofs, and hand-made bricks every day), hope lies in a document called an Historic Structure Report (HSR). HSR’s are developed as a user’s manual for historic buildings to guide decisions, maintenance, and stewardship of a site through time. Popular in larger cities and other countries, HSR’s are just now creeping into the lexicon of building managers here in Greensboro. We are likely to see a rise in their use locally, and not a minute too soon.

If the mountain (aka Greensboro) won’t come to Mohammed (aka Alfonso Narvaez), Mohammed must go to the mountain. Thanks to the National Preservation Institute and Alfonso for coming to Greensboro and introducing professionals in our community to the merits of HSR’s and historic building stewardship. The next seminar held at the Blandwood Carriage House will be on April 10th, with the topic of “Green” and sustainable strategies for historic buildings. Nothing says “recycling” like saving an entire building from the landfill, but how can we extend conservation to include energy efficiency, materials, and smart design? The session will be led by Jean Carroon, a LEED certified architect at Boston-based architecture firm Goody Clancy.

UNCG + Greensboro = Great Project

When someone in Raleigh discovered that a friend of mine was involved in the Loewenstein Legacy project here in Greensboro in 2004, the Raleighite exclaimed "I hope Raleigh will be more like Greensboro one day!" In terms of appreciation of modern design, Greensboro has been at the head of the pack in North Carolina. Imagine...the City of Oaks hoping to be more like the Gate City...much of the progress due to student-powered UNCG.

Last Thursday, the same kind of project that Raleigh envies was was held again here in the Gate City: the Close to Home: Edward Loewenstein + Modernism in Greensboro exhibit. This massive undertaking culminated with a grand opening of more than 300 Modern design enthusiasts. The exhibit has been developed over the course of the semester by 18 UNCG Department of Interior Architecture students in Patrick Lee Lucas’ upper level studio. These students, in the spirit of hands-on and part-time instructor/ architect Edward Loewenstein, were joined by partners throughout the university and the Greensboro community to create an exhibit that expands our understanding of Greensboro’s past.

The ongoing exhibit celebrates the work of Modernist Edward Loewenstein and his impact on Greensboro’s mid-century design scene. The multi-sited exhibit can be viewed through 30 November in the Gatewood Building, 527 Highland Avenue and through 31 January 2008 at the Elon University School of Law, corner of Friendly and Green Streets. You may also run into additional kiosks, featuring the dramatic angled roofline (seen in image, right) for which Loewenstein is known today, throughout the community. For more information, visit the exhibit website .

Special thanks to all who were involved in the project; you have contributed much to Greensboro’s understanding of its unique past and built environment. As recently as five years ago, few even knew of Greensboro's modernist movement, nor could they identify Edward Loewenstein. My how things have changed. Our city is a better place for all of these efforts, and I can’t wait to see what further collaborations will turn up!

CityBuilding 101: How to make a Storefront

In Greensboro’s flight to the suburbs over the past 50 years, it sometimes seems as though the Gate City has lost its ability to build a great storefront. Great street-side storefronts share common features that some recently renovated storefronts throughout downtown Greensboro are lacking. No, it’s not rocket science, but we might be a little rusty in executing some of the finer details.

Greensboro has some great examples of classic storefronts right here in our own backyard. The late and great architect Charles C. Hartmann designed several storefronts that remain today. Examples include the front of the Jefferson Standard Building (1923), as well as the Guilford Building (1927).

Other storefronts in downtown were likely designed by carpenters 100 years ago, and incorporate time-tested traditions. One of my favorite storefronts can be found on Lewis Street, designed by an unknown builder (upper right). This storefront engages the passerby and encourages – not discourages – window shopping. Stores need customers, and the storefront facilitates that end. Here, a maximum of glass – the full-width and full-height that technology at the time allowed – is incorporated into the storefront. Windows near the main entry are placed at an angle to the sidewalk, to better engage the attention of sidewalk shoppers.

Proper storefronts incorporate quality materials. As architecture critic Blair Kamin said “… if your building is third rate, then your company’s image will be third-rate.” Vinyl siding, hardiplank, or plexiglass are poor substitutes granite, marble, or plate glass. Granite was a favorite because it was not porous and stood up well against salts used to discourage ice formation in the winter.

Great storefronts also have awnings that shelter window shoppers from sun, rain, and snow…and provide a great place for a sign. Park Slope Books in Brooklyn (lower right) has an awning that is rolled over the sidewalk each afternoon. Great storefronts also have simple, but effective displays that are well lighted, colorful, and engaging.

Greensboro may have lost some of its storefront mojo, but I hope it’s a short term loss. Getting a storefront right is not a guarantee in any city, but recent strolls through our downtown illustrates we can do better. Storefront details are a small part of the big picture, but they can make, or break, our city’s streetscapes.

Charlotte Developer Proposes Walgreens near Irving Park

The Greensboro Zoning Commission will hear a proposal (see section L) by Tribek Properties of Charlotte to demolish an entire square block of houses at the intersection of Lawndale and Cornwallis drives for a 14,820-square-foot Walgreens store and townhouses. The project will require rezoning of the block from Residential Single Family use to Planned Unit Development – Infill use. Though technically not infill (infill projects are constructed on urban land previously left undeveloped), the mixed-use project proposes townhouses along with the drugstore and its drive-thru. A high masonry wall of eight (8) feet is planned to separate the two uses.

Many questions remain unanswered about this project, including its impact on traffic at the busy intersection of Lawndale and Cornwallis. A turn-lane will be required on Lawndale that could result in loss of the tree canopy over the thoroughfare. Additionally, some traffic will be routed to the rear residential
Fairfield Street.

Perhaps the bigger story is whether this development will signal a green light for a continuous strip of commercial development the length of Lawndale from Cornwallis north to Liberty Drive. Many in Greensboro recognize this stretch of Lawndale for its grand canopy of Willow Oaks (image right); while others admire one of the Gate City’s last remaining Lustron Houses a block north on Lawndale. The homes are part of the Kirkwood neighborhood, a collection of post World War II houses that have historically buffered the strip development of Battleground Avenue on the west from established housing to the east.

Planning Department staff recommends denial of the project due to its incompatibility with the single family residential character of the neighborhood; possible negative impacts on the neighborhood; the destabilization of the surrounding residential properties; its located at an already congested intersection; and finally, the existence of other “like” commercial services within easy walking distance. The decision, however, will be made by the Zoning Commission members.

The Zoning Commission meeting will be quite active with several other key issues being discussed, including

• Near Fisher Park: a rezoning from General Office and General Business to Central Business – for a portion of the property located on the east side of North Eugene Street and west side of Simpson Street between West Fisher Avenue and West Smith Street.

• A block east, a rezoning from General Business and General Office to Planned Unit Development – Infill for the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.

• Near Guilford College, a rezoning from Institutional and Residential Single Family to General Office – High Intensity for property located on Dolley Madison Road north of West Friendly Avenue. Conditions state that the existing historic house, the 1904 Hodgins House at 811 Dolley Madison Road will be renovated – though not specifically to historic preservation standards. Learning opportunity: if the developer does this project using tax credits, he/she could receive 40% of project investment back through federal and state tax credits. That’s a lot of money to leave sitting on the table.

UPDATE 11/13/07: Rezoning for the Cornwallis/Lawndale tract was denied in a tied vote (a tied vote results in a denial). If the applicant wishes to pursuit rezoning, it will be taken to City Council.

My Two Cents: Perspectives of Greensboro from Chicago

Blair Kamin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, made many key points last month during his visit to the Gate City to challenge our thinking of architecture and urban design.

Architecture matters to Greensboro's citizens in many ways, both in defining our day-to-day lives, as well as the perceptions others have our city:

But if your building is third rate, then your company’s image will be third-rate. And if your city’s buildings are third-rate, then the image of your city will be third-rate. And if the image of your city is third rate, then how on Earth are you going to attract the most desirable people—“the creative class,” as Richard Florida calls them?

You won’t. You’ll be a provincial backwater. You won’t be fully equipped to move into the 21st Century. It’ll be as though as you were living without cell phones and Blackberries and computers. They’re all essential right? Well, good design is too.

Our downtown is just beginning to awaken to a new period of urban growth with projects such as East Market Street redevelopment, Southside, Bellemeade Village, and the First Horizon Stadium. How should we shape this reinvestment and construction in our center city into the next decade? Kamin encourages Greensboro to use an urban model, perhaps like this walkable neighborhood of Lincoln Park in Chicago (right):

You can simultaneously add density to your downtown and strip it of urbanity. By urbanity, I mean the qualities associated with the late, great urbanist Jane Jacobs: Human scale, eyes on the street, a mix of uses, short blocks.

I think you can do better. Surely there are other, more appropriate models for mixing density and urbanity: Human-scaled mid-rises or neo-traditional neighborhoods like your Southside, where the cars are deftly tucked behind the street and shops enliven the ground-level facades. It was good to read in this morning’s News & Record that both mayoral candidates consider Southside a model for combating sprawl.

Along North Elm Street, we may have the opportunity for a civic symbol in the form of a skyscraper. Greensboro should think boldly. By using “the postcard test” …our city may find itself with an expressive skyscraper that redefines the city skyline with iconic style.

I love the old Jefferson Pilot Building, with its twin towers, its terra cotta façade and its bust of Thomas Jefferson overlooking Elm Street.

I don’t think it was at all a coincidence that somebody put this building on a postcard. This skyscraper was a civic symbol as well as a piece of real estate. It spoke of craftsmanship and attention to detail and a prosperous Greensboro that had fully embraced the 20th Century.

But would anybody put [contemporary] Greensboro skyscrapers on a postcard? They are utterly undistinguished, wasted opportunities to enliven the civic realm. They flunk what I call “the postcard test”: If a skyscraper is beloved enough, it will enter the realm of popular culture and you’ll see it on T-shirts, key chains and dinner plates.

But the broader point all these buildings raise for Greensboro is this: The next tall building on your skyline may be residential, not office; that building may be tall and thin, not short and squat; and this building could be boldly expressive, a skyline icon, not just another box like the one now being built across from Center City Park.

Finally, he issued a challenge to our business leaders, politicians and citizens to take Greensboro to the next level through good design. As he points out, we get the urban environment we deserve…and in Greensboro, every building counts.

My challenge to you--to the business leaders of Greensboro, to the political leaders and to the citizens--is to recognize that architecture matters and to act on that understand in fresh and creative ways. You’ve made a good start in reviving your downtown, but now it’s time to raise your game to the next level. You can:

• Expand the downtown revival beyond Elm Street to create lively districts; right now, you have one lively street and everything else is pretty much a desert;

• Extend the vitality of downtown into the skyline, which desperately needs a powerful vertical presence, a new campanile, to symbolize downtown’s rebirth;

• Encourage the creation of contemporary architecture that will signal that the downtown is not standing still and that it has moved decisively into the 21st Century

• Ensure that density is accompanied by urbanity in new downtown residential developments—indeed, in all projects

• Keep on preserving the past—the whole past, not mere slivers of it

• And green the downtown, its buildings and public spaces, in a way that gives new meaning to the name Greensboro.

There’s an old saying: You get what you deserve. Well, we get the built environment we deserve, especially in a small city. Chicago, a big city, can take the occasional bad building; it fades into the woodwork. But here, every building counts; it has a disproportionate impact on the urban fabric. There is not a lot of room for error. So my advice to you is this: Seize every chance you get. Be bold. And absolutely, positively, do not accept mediocrity.

Well said.

You can read his full address here.

UPDATE 2/28/08: Greensboro has scored (the only North Carolina city to do so) on a list of America's 50 Greenest Cities compiled by Popular Science. A step in the right direction in "putting new meaning to the name Greensboro."

Junior League's Historic Headquarters Open for Tours

If you want a chance to peek into one of High Point’s classical homes, you will have a special opportunity on Saturday.

The Junior League of High Point has just completed renovations to the Briles House on North Main Street in time for its 100th birthday. The neoclassical-style house is now the home of the local chapter of the Junior League. Crafts and snacks will be available for kids, and adults will (hopefully) enjoy tours of the main public rooms of the Briles House conducted by yours truly. The house will be open from 10:00am to 2:00pm, but my tours will only be given between 11:00am to 1:00pm (a guys voice can only go so far).

The Briles House was one of the earliest houses built along North Main Street, erected in 1907. Though High Pointers initially teased the Brileses that their home was located halfway to Winston-Salem, the Briles House inspired the construction of a parade of magnificent houses along upper Main Street, many of which remain today along with their prototype.

The house was built by Bertie Wallace and Lee Briles, who returned to the area from Florida in order for Lee to be head cashier at the North Carolina Savings Bank and Trust Company. Lee Briles passed away early in life, but his family remained in the house for nearly one hundred years until the death of Ruth Briles in 2002.

Ruth Briles recalled that her parents retained an unidentified Greensboro architect to design their large Southern Colonial mansion. I think the design similarities between the Briles House and the Double Oaks Bed and Breakfast on North Mendenhall Street indicate the mystery architect was Will Armfield, but we may never know for sure. The resulting residence stands today as an excellent example of Neoclassical Revival architecture, demonstrated by its monumental Ionic entrance portico, the full modillion cornice and tripartite windows on the main façade. The city once contained more than twenty houses constructed before 1920 with monumental porticoes, but the Briles House remains today the sole survivor of this group of early grand High Point houses.

The house also is notable for its foundation of Mount Airy granite and its cypress siding. The main entrance features hand-crafted lead glass windows that were cut and formed to fill the front hall transom and sidelights. Above the front door, the beveled glass forms the face of a lion. The interior features a center-hall plan, quarter-sawn oak floors and trim, pocket doors, wainscoting and anaglypta wallpaper.

The Junior League purchased the home from the Briles estate in 2004, and commenced on renovating the house for the organization’s needs. A similar effort might be starting here in Greensboro with the historic Albright House on West Friendly Avenue, constructed around 1870.