Greensboro's Treasured Places

Quietly, Greensboro’s Biggest Preservation Project Continues Momentum

In almost every measure, it’s the biggest.

No matter what terms are used to describe this project, there is no doubt that this is the most substantial preservation project in the history of the Greensboro. With a projected final price tag of $130 million, and incorporating nearly one million square feet of mills and warehouses in the northeastern section of the city, the renovation of the Revolution Mill complex at 1200 Revolution Mill Drive and adjoining mills and warehouses will redefine Greensboro in the twenty-first century…much as the mills redefined the city in the nineteenth century.

Comprehension of the scope the project is daunting. In the past 35 years, the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office estimates $28,190,404 has been spent on historic preservation projects throughout all of Guilford County. This includes high-profile projects, including the sprawling Tomlinson Furniture/Market Square complex in High Point and the conversion of Greensborough Court Apartments. The Revolution project exceeds all past expenditures combined by a factor of four and exemplifies Greensboro’s commitment to history, especially in contrast to the wholesale destruction of Cannon Mills in Kannapolis here
and here
.

When completed, the Revolution Mill complex will consist of a mixed-use city-within-a-city, composed of office, retail, commercial, and residential space. The developers, Jim Peeples, and Greensboro contractor Frank Auman, estimate there will eventually be between 1,500 and 1,800 workers in the complex, coupled with über-trendy residential units that will flank an extension of the city’s greenway system along the nearby Buffalo Creek. The entire campus will be united with the common theme of historic brick walls, 15-foot high ceilings, worn wooden floors, and massive windows that let in copious amounts of light.

The Revolution Mill complex represents an important chapter in the development of Greensboro as one of the largest cities in North Carolina. The mill was a keystone of Tennessee-born brothers Moses and Ceasar Cone’s textile empire, established in Greensboro after observing opportunity in the rapid expansion of the southern textile industry. Revolution Mill (so named for the “revolutionary” idea of manufacturing flannel here in the American South) was founded in partnership with Emanuel and Herman Sternberger and quickly grew in success and national stature. By 1930 the mill was the largest exclusive flannel producer in the world, and representing the diversity and innovation of Greensboro’s textile interests.

Most of the buildings related to the Revolution Mill complex were erected within three major periods of expansion beginning in 1900, when the company began operations. The second period of building in 1904 saw the initial mill doubled in size. The final major expansion in 1915 witnessed a second doubling in size. Nearby mill complexes such as Olympic Mill and White Oak Mill mirror Revolution in materials, appearance, and association.

Today, large windows, brick firewalls, heavy timbers make these mills flexible and highly sought after for adaptive reuse projects. The entire complex was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 based on its associations with early industrial development in Greensboro, the Cone and Sternberger families, and its distinctive construction techniques. The National Register designation is crucial to the project, since Peeples and Auman have sought to tap into available federal and state preservation tax credits. Roughly $14 million in historic tax credits are available for early phases of the project, and the entire project will likely qualify for more. The partners were able to market the tax credits nationally, selling them to Chevron, which infused the project with capital.

Appropriate to its rank as the number one preservation project in Greensboro, the 42nd Annual Meeting of Preservation Greensboro will be held in the newly opened Event Center at Revolution Mill. We are excited to have the opportunity to hold our event in an historic structure that has meant so much to our city’s history, and on which so much of our future hangs today.

Happiness and "Hello, Bill!"

Christmastime was on the minds of mill workers at Greensboro's Revolution Mills in October of 1920, when the regional Mill News: The Great Southern Weekly for Textile Workers was published. The newspaper was "Devoted to the Textile Industries" with a particular focus on the latest advancements in living standards in mill villages across the region. As tsars and kings in Europe toppled during the World War, owners of mill villages locally wanted to make sure there was contentment in the American South by improving overall living standards. Mills from Alabama to Virginia are included in the newspaper, made available online through the University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The paper provides insights into mill village life in several other villages in Greensboro such as Proximity and Pomona, but this cheery review of the Revolution Mill Village (today centered around 1200 Revolution Mill Drive) provides insights on their own Christmas traditions.

Revolution Cotton Mills
MANUFACTURERS OF COTTON FLANNELS
GREENSBORO, N. C.

On the northern boundary of the historic city of Greensboro, on the waters of North Buffalo Creek in a beautiful plateau section of North Carolina, is located the plant of Revolution Cotton Mills, the largest of its kind in the South.

In building these large mills, the first thought in the minds of the owners was the health, comfort and happiness of those who had to live near them and spend their time working in them. This industrious city was buildt on a slight elevation so as to furnish perfect drainage and beautiful landscape views in every direction.

The snug and comfortable homes, with cool artesian water and electric lights furnished to everyone, are set well back from the streets, and are surrounded by lovely green lawns and large shade trees. Beautiful flower gardens are in evidence everywhere, causing the village to border upon the unique.

The problem of caring for the physical and mental development of children and others was not forgotten, and to this end schools with spacious rooms and large playgrounds surrounding them, were erected. More than a dozen teachers are employed in these schools. Welfare cottages were built, and kindly disposed workers, together with trained nurses, were put on full-time duty, to care for and teach those who wish to take advantage of the privilege.

The mills are within a mile of the heart of Greensboro, N. C., and are located in a county that has a greater number of miles of hard-surface roads than any other county in the State and they are connected with the city by fifteen minute street railway schedule.

Amusements have been provided for all the folk in the village. Picture shows, bowling alley, public parks and a large recreation building are numbered among these. Living and working conditions have reached the top notch in this contented and home-like village. A walk through this industrial city, comprised of more than five hundred homes, reveals bright, happy children with faces beaming with intelligence, and contented old folks. Vigorous young manhood, as well as the blushing maiden, is in evidence here, and to judge from their appearance, one would think that their work were just play for which they got pay.

One of the biggest fellows in the whole place around Christmas time is Santa Claus, who has a date each year with the children, and has never failed to put in his appearance every time--big, fat and jolly, with his sacks over flowing he always comes. He creeps into every pay envelope and every school desk. There is no home into which he does not find a way to enter. Scrooge and Marley are two characters unknown to the people who live in this modern village. Happiness and "Hello, Bill!" is the password here.

High Point Loses Modernist Architect

High Point lost a leader in architectural design last Friday with the passing of Robert W. Conner, at the age of 93. Bob was a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where he was born on September 8, 1914. He grew up in Utica, New York, before attended Duke University, and later studied architecture at N.C. State College. He worked for legendary High Point architects Louis Voorhees and Eccles Everhart from 1948 until he opened his own practice in High Point in 1956.

Bob was so well-regarded in the community because he, among other High Point architects, incorporated national architectural trends into commissions in the Furniture City. Styles such as Modernism, New Formalism, and Neo-Expressionism would likely have never found their way to the streetscapes of High Point had it not been for Bob Conner. In fact, High Point’s position as a leader in North Carolina’s modernist movement can be credited to Bob and his fellow designers.

Among his earliest works is his own home (image, upper right), constructed in 1956 at 1405 Emerywood Drive. An avid environmentalist, Bob blended his home with its heavily forested environment through use of western red cedar sheathing and a low roofline. Inside the house, windows enjoy broad vistas into the woods, and walls are built of historic bricks salvaged from a demolished downtown building. The home is understated in design, yet features carefully chosen materials that express natural colors, textures, and patterns.

In 1958-60, Bob designed a two-story office building at 1813 North Main Street for Harold C. Bennett, owner of Bennett Advertising. The sleek and modern building was groundbreaking for High Point at the time, featuring a façade of multiple surfaces and shapes. The cantilevered second floor dominates the composition, featuring a masonry-framed border surrounding a recessed tile wall containing four ceiling-to-floor windows. An automobile passage supported by columns that widen as they rise skirts north of the building. The composition presents a remarkably modern face in the midst of later strip development of the 1960s and 1970s.

Around 1960, Bob designed an innovative structure for the Washington Street Branch of the High Point Public Library (construction image, center right). The inward-oriented structure presents pink Roman brick walls to the public streets surrounding the site. Rising one story, the walls are broken only by a ribbon of short windows placed high on the façades. Above the window band are turquoise-colored panels that rise to the roofline. The main entryway permits access from Fourth Street to a covered courtyard, richly landscaped and surrounded by generous windows. The building shelters its occupants from the noise of the surrounding city streets, yet opens into a controlled courtyard full of light and vegetation.

Bob designed an unusual church in 1960 for the First Reformed United Church of Christ. The sanctuary is sheltered beneath a striking parabolic roofline sheathed in copper, which has been allowed to oxidize into a soft verdigris color. The brick façade of the sanctuary, defined by the high arch of the roofline, features a large cross superimposed on a field of stucco. A freestanding spire rises to the east. The building stands as one of the most architecturally striking and progressive in the West End area.

He also designed a sleek Modernist building for the Scottish Bank in 1962 (image, lower right). Rising four stories over Hayden Place, the bank is constructed of a pale concrete, with walls on the east and west interrupted by bands of windows. The main entry, aligned to take advantage of clear sight lines toward Main Street, is in a recessed two-story glazed curtain wall accentuated by bold green aggregate trim and complemented by an expanse of small green and red tiles arranged in a textile plaid pattern. A broad plain of concrete stamped with a diagonal shingle pattern extends from the entry to the northeast corner of the building.

Around 1965, Bob designed a building for High Point’s only synagogue; the B’Nai Israel Synagogue located to 1207 Kensington Drive in Emerywood Forest. This unique Neo-Expressionism-style building established a sense of permanence as well as progressiveness for the congregation. The complex includes a large sanctuary complemented by an extended educational building to the north. The sanctuary rises to a height of two stories and is topped by a dramatically undulating roof. The concave stuccoed façade wall bears a menorah and the name of the congregation in Hebrew.

Among his other projects were designs for Ragsdale High School and Junior High in Jamestown, Grace Lutheran Church in Thomasville, First Union Bank on North Main Street, and Christ United Methodist Church.

During his career, Bob did what some architects can’t do today. He enticed clients to embrace the importance of good design and style, and was able to produce commissions that remain landmarks of their time throughout the city. His body of work expressed the wealth and sophistication of High Point during the 1950s and 1960s in ways few communities in North Carolina have the benefit of. The city is better for having Bob Conner contribute his life’s work in it, would it be that same could be said for all of us.

Images courtesy of High Point Museum.

Following the Lead on Lead Paint Issues

Recent awareness and discussion of Guilford County’s 2005 lead paint ordinance has challenges that could pertain to a majority of homeowners in the county, including historic homes. Lead paint, quite possibly present in all structures built before its use was outlawed in 1978, can lead to risk for children who ingest the material. As citizens throughout the community demand safe housing for all county residents, what is an appropriate treatment for historic residences in which wood moldings and doors contribute so much to their craftsmanship and quality?

The issue of lead poisoning is not new. Leaded gasoline and lead in pencils were issues when I was a kid in the 1970s, but the awareness of the issues involving existing lead paint began to gain traction in the early 1990s. Immediately, federal health, housing, and preservation agencies began to work together to better understand the issues and to prescribe a solution to remedy any dangers that be present to residents of lead-painted homes.

By 1995, the National Park Service of the US Department of the Interior released a public guide to address issues of lead paint in historic homes. Entitled “Appropriate Methods for Reducing Lead-Paint Hazards in Historic Housing," the Preservation Brief premised that:

“historic housing can be made lead-safe for children without removing significant decorative features and finishes, or architectural trimwork that may contribute to the building's historic character.”

Debate here in Guilford County has been heightened since 2005, when the Guilford County Department of Public Health adopted the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Regulations. Guilford is currently the only county in North Carolina to have local regulations that are more stringent than the state concerning lead-based paint. This coming January, NC Department of Environmental Resources, Children’s Environmental Health Branch, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Harvard University will be conducting an evaluation of the Guilford County program to determine the efficacy of its regulations.

In the meantime, the federal Preservation Brief contains valuable information that could go far in establishing a solution to local issues. As the Brief states:

“Typical health department guidelines call for removing as much of the surfaces that contain lead-based paint as possible. This results in extensive loss or modification of architectural features and finishes and is not appropriate for most historic properties. A great number of federally-assisted housing programs are moving away from this approach as too expensive and too dangerous to the immediate work environment. A preferred approach, consistent with The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, calls for removing, controlling, or managing the hazards rather than wholesale-or even partial-removal of the historic features and finishes. This is generally achieved through careful cleaning and treatment of deteriorating paint, friction surfaces, surfaces accessible to young children, and lead in soil. Lead-based paint that it not causing a hazard is thus permitted to remain, and, in consequence, the amount of historic finishes, features and trimwork removed from a property is minimized. “

The Brief reviews several different treatments, such as encapsulating lead pain in modern latex paint, or removing paint from chipped or mouthable trim such as windows sills. The Brief concludes with the statement:

“Reducing and controlling lead hazards can be successfully accomplished without destroying the character-defining features and finishes of historic buildings. Federal and state laws generally support the reasonable control of lead-based paint hazards through a variety of treatments, ranging from modified maintenance to selective substrate removal. The key to protecting children, workers, and the environment is to be informed about the hazards of lead, to control exposure to lead dust and lead in soil, and to follow existing regulations. In all cases, methods that control lead hazards should be selected that minimize the impact to historic resources while ensuring that housing is lead-safe for children.”

Our local initiatives can come together on this issue. The Guilford County Department of Public Health is trailblazing in its initiatives, but let’s see that these ordinances not be at the unnecessary loss of Greensboro’s cultural and historic treasures.

Something New for the Holidays

Preservation Greensboro has tried something new this year with our Holidays Card, mailed to our friends and members.

The card is a holiday tradition for our organization, and the way we distribute our two free passes for admission to Blandwood mansion to our membership. In the past, we have selected standard cards offered through a national card distributor. This year, with our connections to Greensboro’s arts community through executive assistant Judi Kastner, we were able to secure original art for the front of our card – at less cost that stock cards! In the process, we not only recognize a Greensboro-based artist, but we showcase what our mission is all about; an historic house in a classic neighborhood.

The painting we chose for our 2007 card is an oil on masonite by Judy Meyler, completed in 2005. The work is titled “Fisher Park Home,” and depicts a typical Greensboro residence with white clapboard siding surrounded by redbuds, dogwoods, and azaleas. The colors are bright and vivid as any holiday decoration, and we are pleased with how it turned out!

Judy is an artist who practices exclusively in oil paints, with her subject matter ranging from portraiture to still lifes, landscapes and city scenes. You can view some of her works by visiting her website.

Judy has been painting since she was a child, and she continued her studies in art at North Carolina A&T State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. A true conservationist, she has painted on the grounds of Blandwood Mansion and other historic sites, and was recently accepted into the Piedmont Outdoor Painting Society, a plein air group that paints on location in the surrounding areas including land conservation sites. She maintains her studio at Winter Light Gallery and Art Studios, in the historic Swaim House at 410 Blandwood Avenue.

For those of you who are members and receive our card, we think you will like it! We hope to make this a tradition at Preservation Greensboro in the future; perhaps highlighting great old houses saved annually by our efforts!

Happy Holidays.

Senior Superlatives

Last weekend, I was asked the question “What is the oldest house in Greensboro?”

The answer depends on how you ask the question.

Greensboro has been around for almost 200 years, and in that time houses have been modified, restored…and often have changed uses. Early preservation efforts resulted in the creation of museums, or involved relocation of buildings in order to preserve them. This impacts how architectural historians qualify the pedigree of a building.

If it had not been dismantled (and later reconstructed as part of Winston-Salems Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA)), the McLean Log House (image being dismantled, top right) would have easily stood out as the oldest house in the county. Built around 1767, the house was an impressive example of log construction, featuring a stone gable end, vertical corner posts, and few, if any, windows. It was dismantled, and portions later reused for furniture display in MESDA around 1965.

If you are referring to the oldest known house in the city, the answer would be the Francis McNairy House (image, right) on the grounds of the Greensboro Historical Museum. The two-story corner-timbered house is said to have been used as a field hospital after the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on March 15, 1781…indicating it predates the famous battle. Corner-timbering is the insider’s term for log construction, of which the McNairy House is a great example. The v-notch logs were originally covered by clapboards (a common characteristic of early Guilford architecture), which provided additional insulation and protected the mud chinking between logs from weathering.

For historical purists, however, the McNairy House can’t be counted as the oldest house. Though the building was preserved for use as a museum, its original context, foundations, and chimney were lost when it was removed from its historic location off Battleground Avenue in 1967, and resituated adjacent to the Greensboro Historical Museum in the center city. Though it’s a very early structure, relocation disqualifies the house in the minds of some.

If original foundations and context are important, then Blandwood gets some serious consideration. The house was built for Charles Bland around 1796 as a two-story, timber-frame house on a hill that now overlooks downtown Greensboro. It’s a miracle the house survived at all considering it predates the establishment of the Gate City by 12 years. If it was not for the constant expansion of the house by influential occupants such as Henry Humphries and John Motley Morehead, the house would have long ago been lost to “progress.”

However, Blandwood is no longer a house. It is preserved as a house museum – open to the public to look and learn about North Carolina’s early history. The last family of Blandwood was the Gray family, many of whom died of tuberculosis in the 1890s. The last residents, sisters Annie, Mary, and Emma Fry were children when they moved from the house in 1901.

The oldest inhabited residence in Greensboro is likely the Paisley House (image, right) of circa 1820. However, like the McNairy House, it too was relocated from its original foundations on West Market Street to new digs in the Westerwood neighborhood. It remains well tended on Hillcrest Drive.

Here is where things get sticky. Several houses stand today (on their original foundations), some inhabited as residences, others reused as offices and others as inns, of comparable date of construction. The Walker-Scarborough House (image, lower right) on McGee Street in the College Hill neighborhood was thought to
have been constructed as a wedding gift for Letitia Morehead and William Walker when they were married in 1845. Nearby, the Troy-Bumpass House is thought to have been constructed around 1847 on South Mendenhall Street. Over in Fisher Park, the Cummings House stands unrestored on Cherry Street. It likely dates from around 1850. Among this group, one is likely to hold title as the oldest home on original foundations in Greensboro.

Though it is admittedly confusing, it’s great to have a wealth of options to consider as far as what constitutes the oldest house in the city. Nearby, Winston-Salem’s oldest occupied residence on its original foundation would likely be found within Old Salem, and would possibly date from the 1768. Fellow blogger GK has identified one of central Durham’s oldest houses as having been built around 1860-1865.

As an architectural historian here in Guilford County for 25 years, I have often made the claim that our oldest house may very well be an innocuous looking farmhouse on a country road in the suburban fringe of our city. Could it be true that Greensboro’s oldest residence is yet unidentified…lurking beneath a massive white oak, unrecognized by any historic marker? Not only do I think it is possible, I think it is probable.