Greensboro's Treasured Places

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.

Green Strategies for Historic Buildings

Can we give new meaning to the name Greensboro?

In April, Preservation Greensboro will host the National Preservation Institute's workshop on combining efforts of green design with historic preservation. The session, entitled "Green Strategies for Historic Buildings" will be led by Boston architect Jean Carroon, AIA, LEED, principal of preservation at Goody Clancy.

The April 10, day-long workshop will qualify for 6 learning units in the American Institute of Architects Continuing Education System. This is the first such workshop of its kind in North Carolina.

The seminar will review practical applications of using green building strategies for historic structures. The environmental goal of "reduce, reuse, recycle" can enhance the cost competitiveness of preservation projects. Participants will review the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards used to assess building performance. They will also focus on preservation challenges relating to energy efficiency, windows, lighting, indoor air quality, HVAC, and local and national codes and regulations.

Tuition is charged for the seminar that will take place in the Blandwood Carriage House at 447 West Washington Drive. For additional information including the seminar description, agenda, and registration material, please visit the NPI Website or contact the National Preservation Institute at Telephone: 703.765.0100 or email.

Greensboro is gaining ground in efforts to grow more environmentally responsible. Historic preservation is an important part of building recycling, and this event is sure to reveal valuable information in putting the GREEN in Greensboro.

The Davis Code: Investigating Architecture at Blandwood

When constructed in 1844 -1846, A. J. Davis’s charmingly Spartan façade for Blandwood was groundbreaking not only for North Carolina, but for the United States. Researchers long ago established that Blandwood was among the earliest, if not the earliest, residence designed in the Tuscan style (there was no Italy in 1844 – Tuscany was a recognized as an independent state) in America. It’s construction and publication in a popular book entitled A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening by Andrew Jackson Downing initiated a nationwide admiration for things Italian. It influenced American architectural style for decades by introducing features such as prospect towers, wide overhanging eaves, and low-pitched rooflines to the lexicon of Victorian design for the next fifty years.

Less explored are the architectural antecedents that influenced the form of Blandwood’s façade. Building forms and aesthetics spoke to the period’s classically trained minds, and influenced their perceptions and associations of the house. Like the mysteries exemplified in Dan Brown’s 2003 novel “The DaVinci Code,” Davis incorporated unspoken codes and associations into the façade of Governor Morehead’s mansion that evoked ancient ideals of perfection and harmony.

Born in 1803, Davis developed an eye for aesthetics early in life, trading his toys for a set of paints and illustrating views of cities. At the age of twenty, he moved to New York where he honed his drawing and drafting abilities by enrolling in the Antique School, an informal assembly of painters and sculptors. Increasingly, Davis grew interested in classically inspired buildings, demonstrated through a composition entitled “view through a monumental Greek portico” of ca. 1828-1830, and a “Design for an Academy of Arts” of the same period depicting a building based on Greek temple-form plans. His interest was fueled by observing illustrations in popular architectural books and by keeping scrapbooks of prints and drawings of early European architecture. In 1829, Davis was invited to become the partner of established architect and engineer Ithiel Town, and the two immediately won prestigious commissions in and around New York City.

Davis was introduced to North Carolina through Robert Donaldson, a wealthy New Yorker and North Carolina native who was a patron of Town and Davis. Their firm was commissioned to design several buildings in the state, including the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, and additions to the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. In both cases, new and progressive designs inspired from ancient classical architecture were brought to the state for the first time.

Governor John Motley Morehead sought Davis’ suggestions for an addition to his traditional fifty-year-old frame residence “Blandwood” on the outskirts of Greensboro. According to Davis’ detailed diary, the two men rode by Morehead’s impressive carriage to Greensboro on February 3, 1844 where spent three days with the Governor making careful observations of the house, its site, and its potential.

In contrast to many of Davis’ commissions that were often executed by request through mail, Morehead and Davis were able to articulate their expectations and collaborate on ideas for the new wing to Blandwood over the course of their stay. It is likely that both men came to the site with strong ideas, but the mutual respect illustrated by their long friendship encouraged compromise in the final plans for the design of the structure. Though correspondence continued between the two for months, letters on file at Blandwood indicate the content of communication was on details of windows locks, hardware and doorknobs; indicative that the composition of the façade had been finalized (image, right).

The plans Davis developed for Blandwood are based on ancient principles based on three’s, otherwise known as the tripartite theme. The tripartite theme is quite extensive at Blandwood, appearing in form, decoration, and proportion. For example, the main house and flanking dependencies create a tripartite ensemble, linked by arcades of three openings; the three-story, three-sided tower contains three-part windows and is a component of a three-bay composition. Even the chimney caps at Blandwood contain three opening from which smoke could pass. The three main chambers of Davis’ wing and three interior staircases simply add to the intriguing theme.

Davis did not invent the tripartite theme, rather, he likely adopted its logical principles from Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). Palladio’s designs were widely celebrated by neoclassical architects of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, including Thomas Jefferson, Charles Bulfinch (Boston), and Robert Adam (United Kingdom), who studied a publication Palladio wrote in 1570 entitled Four Books on Architecture. The widely distributed book was translated into the primary European languages and reviewed materials, plans, and elevations of early Roman buildings, including temples, villas, bridges, and palaces, outlining the features of the formal Orders (Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Tuscan), as well as proportion, and form. Palladio is remembered for what is known today as the Palladian window, featuring a central arch flanked by two narrow windows, often seen in Colonial Revival and Neoclassical Revival architecture in Greensboro. Palladian architecture often features tripartite themes, including hyphens, bays, and flanker wings as A. J. Davis designed for Blandwood. His designs and observations were valued for their classical reference, proportion and symbolism.

The symbolism of the number three was significant to Renaissance minds, who reveled in logic, science, and humanism. Tripartite themes were used to meld ancient Greco-Roman beliefs with Christianity. Where Greeks had three Fates, three Graces, three Gorgons, and three Furies, Christians had the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost of the Holy Trinity. The theme also carried into science and logic with three ideas of matter –mineral, vegetable, animal, three tenses –past, present, future, and the three divisions of mankind –spirit, soul, and body.

The perfection and harmony of the number three was a widely popular theme surely known by two great minds such as Davis and Morehead. During his three-day stay in Greensboro in 1844, the two men likely discussed and concocted how the new façade for Blandwood would look, and imbued the design of the residence with symbols that spoke of Morehead’s logic and sophistication. Blandwood was to be a showplace for North Carolina, no longer the Rip Van Winkle state but a progressive state with one foot in New York and the other firmly fixed in Europe. The Italianate style of the house, along with proportion, and the symmetry of threes would illustrate to the cultured visitor that North Carolina, Greensboro, and Governor Morehead were enjoying a Renaissance of their own.

2007, the Year Greensboro Turned Cool?

Architecture enthusiasts have observed for some time that Greensboro’s progressive design prowess reveals itself in fits and starts. Periodically the avant-garde of North Carolina architecture (exemplified by A. J. Davis’s Blandwood 1844, Walter Gropius’s East Market Street Factory of 1944, and Odell Associates Burlington Industries Headquarters 1972 [destroyed]), some would opine that Greensboro has fallen into a slumber of boring design lately. While the rest of the world is experiencing a resurgence of exciting and dynamic architecture, they taunt, Greensboro has barely maintained the status quo in contemporary design.

However, if you know where to look, progress can be found in corners of the city to illustrate that Greensboro has not truly become Greensboring. The statistics look dim: the city did not win any of this year’s 5 Merit Awards or 5 Honor Awards issued by the American Institute of Architects North Carolina chapter, recognition that instead went to places such as Fayetteville, Charlotte, Elizabeth City, Mount Pleasant (SC), and Atlanta (GA). Raleigh received recognition for four of the ten awards in 2007. In spite of this record, progressive architecture (though often unrecognized professionally) can be found in the Gate City.

Proximity Hotel
This project at 704 Green Valley Road by the Quaintance-Weaver company is Greensboro’s most high-profile representation the global trend towards “green” design in architecture. The hotel’s design is evocative of mid-twentieth century textile mills, however this inspiration has been abstracted beyond “cut-and-paste” historicism to incorporate solar panels along the roofline and utilitarian elements including the main porte-cochere and a courtyard garden. The deeper significance of this project has been its adherence to guidelines of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. ™ LEED is a standard for the design, construction, and operation of buildings that have a low impact on our natural resources. For example, some of the ways in which energy is conserved through building construction include utilization of solar energy to heat water, the use of large windows to utilize natural light, use of recycled building material, and use of high-efficiency Kohler plumbing fixtures. It is expected that the hotel will become a demonstration site for sustainable practices including tours and outreach programs for students of all ages.

Center City Park
While Center City Park at 200 North Elm Street incorporates themes and details inherent to Greensboro’s ecology and culture, it has also been designed to represent the city as a progressive and open place of diverse citizens. With local guidance through J. Hyatt Hammond Associates, Halvorson Design Partnership, Inc. of Boston was selected as lead park designer. The firm is known worldwide for innovative designs that are “place-making” and unique to their settings. This was accomplished by using native materials such as brick and granite, native trees and shrubs such as white oaks and pines, deigning a watercourse evocative of the Piedmont’s streams, and by incorporating works created by local and national artists in the park’s features. For example, Jim Cooper designed an urn fountain, Judy McKie created “bronze bird” benches, and Fred Johnston contributed works of pottery that represent the Piedmont’s folk pottery tradition. Center City Park is at once an authentic expression of early twenty-first century design that incorporates elements of Greensboro’s unique character and aspirations.

North Carolina A & T State University School of Education
The most notably progressive project in Greensboro in decades, the School of Education is currently rising in the 100 block of North Benbow Road on the eastern side of the A&T campus. Scheduled for occupancy in spring of 2008, the 64,000 square foot building was designed by Freelon Architects of Durham, and has already won recognition from the AIA Charlotte and the AIA North Carolina as a work in progress. The Education Building is organized into two parallel masses flanking a central atrium. The western mass primarily contains faculty offices, while the eastern wing contains classrooms. The classroom mass cantilevers over an adjacent plaza to define a gateway to the campus green. The central atrium is conceptually at the heart of the scheme and serves as the social hub of the building. This energetic building focuses to the future, not to the past, and is appropriately set within the context of a university campus that has long embraced architectural modernism.

New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff recently commented on New York’s once-faltering architectural prowess by saying “For decades I’ve been whining about how far New York has slipped behind other world cities in the support of serious architecture. While Abu Dhabi, Shanghai, Beijing and even Paris have been pushing the boundaries, churning out one adventurous building after another, our city was wallowing in a swamp of pseudohistoricism and corporate mediocrity that — to skeptics like me, at least — threatened to transform it into a dull theme park for the superrich.” Today, New York seems to have turned a corner, at least in Ouroussoff’s opinion, with numerous projects announced across the city that will redefine the city’s streetscapes and skyline.

Greensboro seems to be making the same movement towards an architectural reawakening exemplified by projects such as the Proximity Hotel, Center City Park and A&T’s School of Education. Take a quick trip outside of Greensboro, and you can see where we this momentum could lead. New York, Chicago, and Charlotte sport recently constructed wonders that change color, defy gravity, and take forms never before seen. Check out New York’s Time Warner Center
on Columbus Circle at night (image, right) incorporating illuminated LED color-changing panels into its facade. Or, take a look at Aqua, an 83-story condo being constructed in Chicago – its watery façade evocative of ripples on a pond. Even nearby High Point has entered into the world’s dialog on design with the Natuzzi Building on West Commerce Avenue. It’s the only American work of Italian architect Mario Bellini, who gave the building the form of a ship’s bow.

Comments made here recently by Chicago Tribune critic Blair Kamin summed up the state of Greensboro’s architecture succinctly. “If your city’s buildings are third-rate, then the image of your city will be third-rate.” If our city’s image is third rate, how will we compete with Charlotte and Raleigh, let alone Atlanta, New York, and Shanghai? The three projects revealed here certainly boost efforts in reclaiming the Gate City as a creative, dynamic, and progressive place. All three are first-rate buildings worthy of any first-rate city. The challenge is to make sure these projects do not fade into the landscape as part of the “fits-and-starts” that have characterized our city’s architectural past, but that the quality of these projects initiates become a standard of a mature and confident city that expects nothing less than best for itself.

Happy New Year!

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.

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.

Greensboro: Got Architecture?

Ouch, that hurts.

Greensboro fared poorly on two recently published lists by the American Institute of Architects of North Carolina ranking North Carolina’s Favorite Architecture (List A was solicited from the general public, list B was drawn from AIA members). Our beloved Jefferson Standard Building was the only mention, coming in at number 22 of 23 favorite places.
Our railway station and even Blandwood (designed by one of three founding member’s of the AIA) were bested by such popular structures as the Charlotte / Douglas International Airport Parking Deck (image right: AIA NC website), tobacco barns, and a building destroyed seven years ago – the Catalano House in Raleigh.

High Point earned a mention with the Natuzzi Americas showroom on South Elm Street, and Winston-Salem won kudos for Graylyn Conference Center as well as Old Salem. Asheboro saw recognition of the African Pavilion at the NC Zoo.

Does this mean the Gate City pales in comparison to the architectural splendor of Charlotte and Raleigh, each receiving six and eight nominations respectively? I really don’t think so. However, both of those cities are far ahead of Greensboro in understanding the power of architecture and good design. Raleigh has developed an appreciation of architecture in being the home of the NCSU School of Design since 1948. Charlotte was hit over the head with the importance of good design with architect Robert A. M. Stern’s 1986 proclamation that Queen City was “the ugliest collection of third-rate buildings in America.” Through the years, the press in both cities has cultivated a population that has an appreciation of architecture and design. In contrast, the Greensboro News and Record has provided little coverage on design issues, focusing instead on historic preservation (and often on the conflicts therein).

So, there you have it: very poor representation for the Gate City in terms of awareness of architecture in a statewide context. Preservation Greensboro’s own polling confirms that the Jefferson Standard Building ranks high in the minds of our citizens as an important landmark…along with our collection of unique college campuses, South Elm Street, and our neighborhoods. That appreciation has not, evidently, translated to higher levels.

PGI continues to cultivate initiatives intended to raise public awareness of architecture and design in Greensboro; it’s part of our mission. As Tribune critic Blair Kamin said last Thursday “If all of your city’s buildings and public spaces are third-rate, then the image of your city is third-rate.” We don’t need to head off on that path. Greensboro can do much better than that.

Thanks to Mac Whatley for the link to the AIA NC site.

Please DON”T reinvent the wheel!

Sometimes, you don’t realize that the greatest treasures are those you already have.

This morning, I have had the privilege of walking around downtown Greensboro with Blair Kamin, the architectural critic from the Chicago Tribune and keynote speaker of today’s program Architecture Matters: Downtown Greensboro and Beyond. Needless to say, his insights on the Gate City’s downtown are both perceptive and enlightening!

If you think our Chicago visitor would disregard Greensboro as a civic backwater – don’t. Kamin has been impressed with many things he has seen here. He described Blandwood as “fascinating,” the First Horizon Stadium as having “good connection with the street with careful detail,” and Southside as “a great model” for new urban development. However, our strongest point is on South Elm Street, described as “an authentic and vibrant street.” The buildings are historic and attractive, its scale is human, and the street life hums with activity from early morning to very late at night. South Elm Street is, essentially, what every American city wants their downtown to be. Greensboro should be giving lessons on how to create a vibrant downtown!

The success of South Elm Street is no mystery to citizens of Greensboro; most people recognize it is a much different place than it was just a few years ago. However, many limit their vision of how downtown Greensboro could grow and develop by not extending the success of Elm Street to other avenues downtown. Why couldn’t Greene Street, or Davie Street enjoy the same vibrancy as Elm? Why does the Elm Street north of Friendly Avenue turn into a dead zone after 5:00?

The answer is: it can. Greene Street has the greatest potential, sporting downtown icons such as the Carolina Theater and the Elon Law School (right). Unfortunately, these strong points are weakened by dead-spaces on the street, such as the massive parking decks at Friendly and Washington, the raised terraces of Governmental Plaza, and the high podium on which the Lincoln Financial Tower sits…all features that remove interaction with the street.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Large undeveloped lots still exist on Green Street around the Carolina Theater and behind the Civil Rights Museum that could hold street-smart development. With appropriate development that values foot traffic over auto traffic, the success of Elm Street could be shared with Greene, Davie, and many other streets. It takes good planning from the city coupled with visionary developers to make it happen.

So, Greensboro, please don’t reinvent the wheel in downtown development. Let’s use our own homegrown success as our pattern for the future of our downtown. South Elm Street is one of our greatest treasures…we should work towards spread the wealth.

Blair Kamin will speak this evening at 5:30 at the Empire Room at 203 South Elm Street. The event is free to the public.

Architecture Tours of Greensboro

Preservation Greensboro will be holding a series of architectural tours of the city this fall. Established in 1808, Greensboro has the good fortune to have examples of nearly every American architectural movement, ranging from First Period Log Houses, through elaborate Italianate, Queen Anne, Prairie, and Period Revival styles. Join your friends at PGI for a series of three minicoach tours that will examine three very special periods of Greensboro’s history, and the architectural styles that represent them. Greensboro’s classic antebellum buildings will be explored, as well as the city’s Victorian and Gilded Age past. Who knew Greensboro had so much style? Attendees will gain insights on the gate City’s history, architecture, and the people who made the city what it is today.

TOUR A
Ante-bellum Greensboro
Sunday, October 14, 2007, 2pm
DESCRIPTION
Greensboro has a great collection of architecture built before the Civil War. This period was one of the most exciting in American architecture, encompassing Federal, Greek Revival, Italianate, and vernacular styles. Preservation Greensboro Executive Director Benjamin Briggs presents a look at the buildings and architecture of ante-bellum “Greensborough,” including several of the city’s oldest and most regarded landmarks. Learn about themes and styles of Greensboro’s oldest buildings, ranging from modest houses to generous residences designed by a New York architect.

Tour B
Victorian Greensboro
Sunday, October 28, 2007, 2pm
DESCRIPTION
Greensboro grew from a courthouse-market town to a transportation center during the Victorian period, and the city has one of the finest collections of Victorian architecture to show for it! Tour guide Benjamin Briggs will demonstrate examples of Gothic Revival, Queen Anne, and Romanesque-style buildings in hidden neighborhoods and forgotten neighborhoods in every quadrant of the city. Examples in the “Gate City” range from college buildings to row houses, and churches to mansion as we explore Victorian-era Greensboro.

Tour C
Gilded Age Greensboro
Sunday, November 11, 2007, 2pm
DESCRIPTION
New York has their Rockefellers, Biltmore had its Vanderbilts, but Greensboro had its own set of Gilded Age millionaires who set the tone for gracious living in the Gate City during the 1910s and 1920s. This period of economic prosperity saw splendid profits from textiles, insurance, and real estate turned into grand housing on a scale never seen before in the city. The tour examines Fisher Park, Greensboro’s first Gilded Age address, and Irving Park, which catered solely to high income residents.

The cost for each tour is $25 for Preservation Greensboro members (members may invite a guest at member cost), $35 for non-members. Join PGI and save $30 for all three tours!

Due to the intimate nature of the tour, only 31 seats are available and children under the age of 13 may not attend. Reservations must be paid in full 10 days prior to the event. No refunds will be given if cancellation is made five or less days before the event, or for no-shows. Tours begin at the Blandwood Carriage House. Please make checks payable to Preservation Greensboro, and mail to PO Box 13136, Greensboro, NC 27415. Please act immediately, reservations are first come, first served, and interest is high.