Greensboro's Treasured Places

Old Carolina Cadillac Dealership a Step Closer to National Register

Often undervalued, an East Market Street building that reminds us of the early auto era is a step closer to listing on the National Register.

The Carolina Cadillac Company building, located at 304 E. Market St., passed an important mile marker in the drive to earn a place on the National Register of Historic Places. North Carolina’s National Register Advisory Committee approved the building for inclusion to the National Register Study List, a step that identifies the old dealership as a good candidate for a spot on the National Register. The National Register listing, notable as an honor, also allows properties planning protection and tax benefits. Tax benefits often make a difference in the viability of projects that require a great deal of restoration work.

The Carolina Cadillac Company building is a two-story brick building overlooking East Market Street, Greensboro’s major east-west artery through downtown. It was built by Greensboro developer J. E. Latham using plans by architect Harry Simmonds. According to recent research completed by historian Beth Keane the building was constructed in 1923 as one of a cluster of auto-related establishments along the East Market Street corridor. The building is an example of Mediterranean Revival architecture, including stuccoed pilasters topped by diamond tiles and a central, arched pediment. The original small-paned and pressed-glass transoms are intact over the central entry and plate-glass display windows. A decorative, metal awning suspended over the entrance is an original feature.

Interior appointments are appropriately rich (as a Cadillac dealership), including two-story –high showroom, original black-and-white, diamond-patterned tile floor, and paneled wainscoting and doors. A wide central staircase rises to the rear of the showroom that splits to provide access to a second-level loft overlooking the room below.

The Greensboro showroom was a branch of the Winston-Salem Carolina Cadillac Company. In fact, the manager of the Greensboro franchise was Eugene Boyd (E. B.) Adamson, who came to the city from the position of the assistant bookkeeper in the Winston-Salem office. The Greensboro branch first operated with just one salesman, two mechanics, a janitor, and only four cars. Though the company declared bankruptcy in the Great Depression, it was reorganized under the name Adamson Cadillac and Olds Company. In 1955 dealership was sold to William H. Black, who renamed the company Black Cadillac and Olds, Inc. The Cadillac dealership moved from the East Market Street location around 1965.

The green light by the state is important for downtown Greensboro, where preservation projects have long focused on South Elm Street. Consideration for National Register designation is at the request of the building’s four owners: Chester Brown IV, Daniel Craft, Jay Jung and John Lomax. The consortium purchased the building in September, and has been awaiting a decision from the Advisory Committee. Rehabilitation plans for the building could include restoration of the 85-year old building’s façade to its original appearance. Listing to the National Register is contingent on the reconstruction of the decorative tile pent roofline of the façade, a key feature of the building. All rehabilitation work will need approval from the Restoration Branch of the State Historic Preservation Office in order to qualify for tax credits. Work can now begin on the formal request for National Register listing for the auto dealership.

The Secrets of Fisher Park

Before there was a Center City Park, before there was a Lindley Park, and even before there was an Irving Park, Fisher Park reigned as Greensboro’s premiere civic open space.

It’s true that one of the secrets of Fisher Park is that it is the geographic center of Guilford County. This point featured prominently in 1807, when the county seat was relocated from Martinville (near Guilford Battleground) to the relative wilds of central Guilford County. When surveyors established the center point in 1808, they found it “in the middle of a duck pond in a brush thicket.” Unsuitable for the location of a new town, lawmakers rectified the situation by platting the village of Greensborough a mile south at the intersection of today’s Market and Elm streets.

By the turn of the twentieth century, the area around today’s Fisher Park remained undeveloped. Historian Ethel Stephens Arnett reported the area to be “a famous haunt for birds, squirrels, and ‘possums, which provided great sport for hunters.” One hundred years later, the park remains popular with all three long-term inhabitants.

The story of the creation of Fisher Park is a much celebrated part of Greensboro’s history. The fact that a wealthy British gentleman and gold prospector deeded the heart of his new subdivision – named in his own honor – to the city for perpetual public use is an inspirational lesson in civics. Few, however, know that this gesture of largess came with a few conditions.

Captain Fisher (also an astute businessman) required in the deed that the approximately 14 acre parkland be sold to the city for five dollars in exchange for the city “building a drive-way around the park” (now North Park Drive, South Park Drive, and Fisher Park Circle). The remaining natural space was “to be kept open for the joint benefit for said City of Greensboro … for the purpose of a public park and pleasure ground.” Fisher, who wanted to add value to his subdivision through the transaction, left nothing vague in his expectations on the city’s side of this deal.

In the 100 years since it was created, the park has seen elements come, and go. Few people today remember the shallow round concrete wading pond located just east of North Elm Street. It was a grand affair, roughly 30’ in diameter, and contained a central fountain to the enjoyment of area waders. This element was removed in the mid-twentieth century.

Others remember the “Summer House” a substantial wooden structure with a roof and open on all sides located just west of North Elm Street. The structure was a favorite meeting place for families, neighbors, and especially neighborhood kids. Whether it was round (as remembered by some), or octagonal (as remembered by others) it provided a central focus for the park for decades until it was removed in the mid-twentieth century.

Others recall the wooden bridges (image, right) that crossed the small stream passing through Fisher Park. The rusticated bridges were built of railroad ties with rough-hewn and bark-covered branches forming handrails. These bridges likely did not last long, and were likely replaced during the 1930s by today’s handsome stone arched bridges. Possibly constructed through efforts of the Civilian Conservation Corps as
part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s initiative to put Americans back to work after the Great Depression, the stone bridges act as a uniting theme for the park and a popular subject for local artists’ canvases (image, right).

Recent efforts in park improvement have centered on honoring the park’s past, including the East Park’s “Genesis Monument” erected by historian Jim McLamroch to recognize the County’s center. Another monument along North Elm Street recognizes the history of the park through a gift from neighborhood resident May Gordon Latham Kellenberger.

Stewardship of the park has gone beyond routine maintenance. Over the past century countless city residents have volunteered their time and energy to the preservation of the public space. Such stewards include, but are not limited to Mr. Craft and Dr. Gerard, who did much of the landscaping in the west park in the seventies and eighties.

The Philadelphia landscape firm Wallace, Roberts, and Todd designed park improvements that worked to solve the longstanding problem of erosion caused by cars parking along the edges of the park. The solution was found in the form of landscaped parking bays lined by concrete curbing and aggregate gutters around the park, funded by a capital improvements bond in the 1980s. The project included decorative lighting and street signs (image, right).

A grant from the National Trust for Historic Places helped fund a reforestation plan for the park in the 1990s. With help from resident landscape architect Chip Callaway, the project focused on the park but included consideration of neighborhood street trees as well. The City of Greensboro contracted with Keely Nursery near McLeansville to supply the trees for the project. These efforts were complimented by the Neighborhood Association, which rebuilt the wisteria arbor in the West Park in 1996.

Recent work includes the addition of “New York City-style” trash receptacles in 2002, the replacement of playground equipment, and construction of a hand-crafted stone entrance to the park by scout Will Copeland in memory of his grandmother and long-time park advocate Mary Lee Copeland (image, right).

Fisher Park has had a lasting effect on the city’s popular consciousness, resulting in a civic appreciation for open spaces such as the Greensboro Arboretum and the Bog Garden. Momentum continues with plans for a Bicentennial Greenway and Gateway Gardens. These projects define the city in an age of homogenization in which Durham sometimes blends with Charlotte. Clearly Greensboro has a love affair with its system of public parks…and Greensboro’s public parks began with Fisher Park.

Who done it? Reading the Clues of an Old House

The Junior League of Greensboro may have a real treasure on their hands!

Named to Preservation Greensboro’s inaugural Treasured Places Watch List in 2005, the Albright House has kept its history close to its vest. Drive-by estimates of age dated the two-story frame residence with a notable two-story portico overlooking West Friendly Avenue to the third quarter of the nineteenth century (1850-1875). A recent investigation reveals these preliminary estimates might have been conservative.

Carl Myatt, the architect for the project, arranged a recent visit by Mitch Wilds of the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, along with Junior League president Daniela Helms and myself. The purpose of the meeting was to analyze the physical evidence of the house to determine what was old and what was not; as well as what is worth preserving…and what is not. The evidence discovered suggests the history of this house is more than skin deep.

The small group explored several elements of the house, with special interest in determining the date of construction using key components such as structural members and decorative elements. We found that the house has been well-cared for throughout its history, and that occupants have maintained an interest in embellishing the house with the latest and most popular styles using quality materials throughout its history. This characteristic of the Albright House made identification of materials easier.

Material investigation involves an understanding of building technology as well as the understanding of popular styles. Just as “Motown” has its unique fingerprint of sound, so does architecture.

Style

From the street, passersby notice the low-pitched hipped roof of the Albright House. The façade is symmetrical, with a central portico flanked by six-pane sash over one-pane sash windows. The building was covered by aluminum siding in the 1980s, which has hidden some of its identifying features. Beneath the siding the review team found heart-of-pine siding and wide overhanging eaves. The eaves, in fact, were embellished with heavy exposed rafters – now covered with false-siding (image, right). Considered together, the low-pitched roofline, wide overhanging eaves with rafters, and symmetrical façade are all characteristics of Italianate architecture…likely influenced by Blandwood Mansion’s innovative façade of 1844.

Saw Marks

Lumber dimensioning technology witnessed several key changes throughout the nineteenth century. Early in the period, timber in Guilford County was dimensioned in saw mills using water power. Saw mills relied on a “sash-saw,” a mechanism that left distinctive parallel marks on the wood face. Around 1852, steam-powered circular saws were introduced to Guilford County with the construction of the Fayetteville and Western Plank Road. Easier and more reliable, circular saws quickly became the tool of choice in dimensioning lumber in the region. The structural members used to build the Albright House, ranging from floor joists to roof rafters, reveal the parallel marks of sash saws, an indication that the Albright House could date before 1852.

Nails

Like saw technology, the method of manufacturing nails changed rapidly in the nineteenth century. Earliest nails here in Guilford were hand-forged, but nail-making machinery quickly reduced the time and cost involved in making nails by the 1820s. Instead of being forged over a fire, machinery cut iron using force, resulting in nails with a squared cross-section. After 1880, nails were manufactured from extruded wire, resulting in the rounded cross section familiar to us all today. Predictably, the Albright House features cut nails throughout its frame, with the exception of the roof of the front portico, which contained wire nails. This could indicate the portico is a post-1880 addition.

Chimneys

Before the days of forced air and/or radiator heat, residents of Guilford County relied on wood-burning fireplaces for warmth. Every room of consequence required a heat-source during our cool Carolina winters. However, the Albright House today has only one chimney! The question of the existence of chimneys perplexed the group until we gathered in the basement. There, embedded within the flooring system, was a shadow of an old fireplace hearth. The placement of the hearth indicated the house had side-wall chimneys that vented fireplaces in all four original rooms.

All things considered, the Albright House now appears to have been built between 1845 and 1860. Additional research is needed, especially in terms of the Albright family history and land records. However, the physical clues hidden within the walls of the house indicate that it is among the earliest buildings in the city and holds a special place in the history of Greensboro. Ironically, in terms of age and appearance, the Walker-Scarborough House (image, right) on McGee Street in College Hill stands out as a close representation of how the Albright House once looked. Standing two-stories in height, the clapboard residence with symmetrical façade, wide overhanging eaves supported by exposed rafter tails, and a modest front porch is likely similar to the original appearance of the Albright House.

Further investigation and restoration will bring the Albright House back to better days. Already it is appareent that the original historic windows, the oak floors, the 1920s era trim, double panel doors, and staircase are treasured details in the house. The generosity of the Starmount Company, and the dedication of the Junior League will result in the preservation of part of Greensboro’s antebellum past. The project goes to show that you never know what history will reveal.

March 2008: See update HERE

September 2008 See update HERE.

Post Script: Deed research and oral history have aligned well with material history. A deed from 1847 Jacob Albright transferred 247 acres of land to his son Daniel E. Albright, at which time he presumably built his home. Albright family historian Reverend Fred P. Albright, Jr indicated the house originally stood near the intersection of Pembroke Rd and West Friendly Avenue. The house remained in the Albright family until the Great Depression, at which time it was purchased by the Benjamin family who relocated the house closer to the intersection of Pembroke Rd and Kathleen Drive and added the two-story portico. Just a few years later, around 1935-37, the house was moved to its present location on Friendly Avenue.

Letting the Pictures Speak: A New Model For Preservation

For our Annual Meeting this week, the membership and friends of Preservation Greensboro were fortunate to have Clark Schoettle here in the Gate City to talk about historic preservation, reinvestment, neighborhood renewal, and community development. Clark has served as Executive Director of the Providence Revolving Fund in Rhode Island since 1983. His presentation was fact filled, but his pictures presented the evidence of his efforts on their own.

My introduction to Providence Rhode Island came when I was a graduate student, working towards a degree in historic preservation at nearby Boston University. One of the classes I took at BU was Real Estate Development and Adaptive Reuse, taught by Roger Lang of the New York Landmarks Conservancy…and it was through this class that I met Clark Schoettle. While other class teams fought each other over projects in the city of Boston, I encouraged my little group to look an hour down the road to Providence. There, Clark helped steer us to a great industrial property, an 1830s stone factory with impressive windows and long shed skylights, on which we began an effort to complete a feasibility study of, and hopefully help preserve. The project was a great learning experience, and our pet project, the Phenix Iron Works, did end up being preserved and still stands today.

In working with Clark in Providence, I learned the city is quite similar to Greensboro. Both cities have a strong Quaker background, both have a flagship neighborhood called College Hill. Both have deep history with textile manufacturing, and in both, you could meet a friend downtown at the corner of Washington and Greene streets! Both cities have been struggling with their declining industrial bases. Both have great affordable neighborhoods stocked with historic houses. Both have strong downtowns and strong colleges and universities. Both are known, through the Providence Revolving Fund and Preservation Greensboro, for historic preservation.

So it was logical to look to Providence for ideas on progressing historic preservation here in the Gate City.
Their's is an urban model to facilitate the preservation and reuse of historic buildings, many of which are located in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. A few lessons Clark taught us in constructing our own preservation fund:

• Make loans for exterior rehabilitation in target areas working in tandem with neighborhood residents.

• Prepare plans and specs and supervise construction with professionally trained staff.

• Make loans in Downtown for development loans and storefront improvements through partnerships with other stakeholders.

• Develop affordable housing in historic buildings, including artists housing and owner-occupied duplex units.

• Sponsor affordable housing in private development projects to increase the livability of our city.

• Provide technical services on a fee-for-service basis, including historic tax credits, National Register nominations, construction management, construction specs and drawings as a way to facilitate private-sector restoration efforts.

This revolving fund has built a national reputation for building strong neighborhoods, with special attention to low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. The Fund is directly involved in the revitalization of historic places in Providence through the use of rehabilitation loans, home ownership, development assistance, and partnerships with private and nonprofit groups. As our audience learned this week, they do this by representing themselves as a proactive, relevant, and positive agent for change and improvement in Providence.

This is the future of preservation in Greensboro.

Life in the Fast Lane: Exotic Architecture Mirrors Notorious Past

On the Greensboro Road in eastern High Point, there stands two exotic houses like no others in the Furniture City. Newcomers, if they catch a glimpse of the homes through the trees, marvel at their wonderfully unusual architecture. Old timers, however, remember one the homes as the site of one of North Carolina's most sensational murders. Here at the Terry and Peggy Harper House, the unique architecture is matched by its intense and dramatic history.

Rewind to the early 1920s, when two High Point men, Terry Harper and J C Welch, met a pair of attractive showgirls in Chicago. The beautiful women fell in love with their newfound suitors and soon were engaged to be married. The future Peggy Calligan Harper was from Chicago; the future Wilna Welch hailed from New Orleans.

After marriage, both couples settled in High Point and commenced construction of two well-designed and eccentric houses in 1926. The homes were built side by side and designed by Glendale, California architect Clarence D. Tedford. They were the talk of the town not only because of their exiting out-of-town inhabitants but their dramatic architecture as well.

The Terry and Peggy Harper House was designed with an Arabian theme, featuring a keyhole entry, barrel-tile roof, and a turban domed front porch roof supported by spiral colonettes. The J. C. and Wilna Welch House was a bit more subdued, but featured a Spanish theme. Spanish style homes were popular in California at the time with movie stars as it was both luxurious and exotic. The two houses were stuccoed and originally painted pink, which only accentuated their stage presence on the Greensboro Road.

Both homes were opened for numerous and some say, quite memorable parties. They quickly gained a reputation as a place to see and be seen.

Tragedy struck at the Harper Home in 1931, however, that tarnished the exuberant spirit of the house. A Jamestown man, Charles Holton, had made the acquaintance of Peggy Harper. Mrs. Harper, by later newspaper accounts, decided to leave her husband and marry Mr. Holton. Two days before Christmas, Charles Holton was found by Mr. Harper in the Harper Home, and shot four times in the living room of the house.

Mrs. Harper’s account of the murder follows: “Mrs. Harper and Mr. Holton entered the living room together...Mr. Harper came in excitedly through a side door. She, fearing trouble, grabbed him as he passed the room door, but he knocked her down and rushed into the living room where there were a few brief words and then several shots rang out. Mrs. Harper got to her feet as quickly as possible and ran into the room and attempted to wrest the pistol from Mr. Harper, suffering a powder burn on one hand in the scuffle which started before Mr. Harper had fired the final shot from the pistol.”

Mr. Holton, in a statement before his death, stated that he had been set up. He claimed that Mrs. Harper asked him to the Harper residence where Mr. Harper awaited to discuss arrangements for a divorce with his wife. Upon entering the home, he said, he was ambushed by Mr. Harper and shot.

The trial captured the attention of newspapers for days, resulting in numerous “Extra” publications. Despite accusations that she was known as ‘Chicago Peggy’ (and all a nickname like that would imply) during her vaudeville days, Mrs. Harper was acquitted when the judge allowed a motion for non-suit in the murder charge against her. She remained a participant in the case, taking the witness stand in defense of her husband.

Mr. Harper had his own version of the evening, insisting that he found Holton sitting on his living room settee. When Mr. Holton sprang up and made for an end table with a pistol on it, he shot to protect himself.

After the Judge completed his one hour charge, the all male jury rendered a “not guilty” verdict after 27 minutes of debate. According to newspaper reports, the Judge “rapped for order in the courtroom suddenly gone wild in a demonstration of its approval of the verdict.” Mr Harper collapsed under the stress of the trial and was helped into the judge’s chambers while Mrs. Harper was carried into an adjacent jury room to recuperate.

Once the sensational trial had ended, attention centered on the future plans of the Harpers. Much to everyone’s surprise, the couple reconciled and remained in their home. In 1945 they moved to south Florida. Happy times did not remain at the adjacent Welch Home either. The Welches divorced in the mid 1940s and Wilna moved back to New Orleans.

Certainly, the fast lane did not lead to High Point in the 1920s. However, a few of the big city’s bright lights did shine in High Point during the Roaring Twenties in the form of exotic houses, big parties and ended in a scandalous trial. Today, the parties are over, the trial is forgotten, and the participants long gone, but High Point still has two fantastic houses as a reminder of faster times.

Keeping Our History Whole

Fisher Park is one of North Carolina’s treasured places. Catherine Bishir, one of the state’s preeminent architectural historians, referred the neighborhood as “one of the state’s premiere streetcar suburbs” with “remarkably varied houses” as well as what she termed a “masterpiece”, the First Presbyterian Church. Bishir
integrated her laudatory comments on the Fisher Park neighborhood (right) to carefully include the richness of its houses and its institutions. As components of the whole, its residences and religious buildings create one of our states richest built environments, that stands as a testament to the accomplishments achieved by Greensboro residents by the 1930s.

Today, however, we are looking at the unfortunate predicament of having two of our great resources at odds with each other. The masterpiece First Presbyterian Church, designed by Hobart Upjohn in 1928-29, and recipient of an award by the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architect in 1930, is at odds with the
Historic District Program Manual and Design Guidelines enforced by the Greensboro Historic Preservation Commission, itself a role model in the state and steward of Greensboro’s second oldest historic district, designated in 1982.

Both entities have made positive contributions to Greensboro’s historic preservation movement. The First Presbyterian Church has kept its sanctuary (right) in an excellent state of preservation throughout its 80-year history at this site. It has remained a steward of its sanctuary while other congregations fled the center city for the suburbs. Additionally, the church has been a steward of its original nineteenth century burial ground, of which efforts have been heightened for this year’s Bicentennial celebrations. The Historic Preservation Commission has worked tirelessly for 30 years to preserve Greensboro’s historic center-city neighborhoods by fostering an environment that encourages reinvestment by homeowners and families.

With such superlative credits to both institutions, it would seem possible to arrive at a superlative compromise in terms of the preservation of the S. A. Holleman House at 701 North Greene Street. This is an important property to the nearby church because of its adjacency to the congregation’s campus. It is also of
great importance to the Fisher Park Historic District. The Holleman House (right) was erected between 1905 and 1910, making it one of the oldest homes in Fisher Park. Its paired Ionic columns, balcony and unusual 45 degree-angled entryway aligned to the street corner is a gateway to the historic district from downtown Greensboro. This house would be a handsome landmark in any neighborhood in the city, but it is part of the fabric of Fisher Park – and a defining feature of the district.

Compromises could include solutions that allow for expanded parking for church attendees in the lot’s side yard – along with rehabilitation of the historic house for new uses. It may be possible to develop a plan that would allow the church to remain the owner of the property, and invite a private investor to partner with the church to enjoy available federal and state tax credits of up to 40% of the value of the restoration. Such a partnership could be constructed to provide a positive cash flow that could be diverted back to the church for outreach initiates. If the Holleman House could be restored in this way – at little of no cost to the congregation while creating a cash flow – it would present a smart alternative to the nibbling away of the historic fabric of one of North Carolina’s treasured places. The property was placed on Preservation Greensboro's Treasured Places Watch List in 2007.

One Wednesday, the Historic Preservation Commission delayed demolition of the Holleman House for one year in order to allow for constructive dialog between members of First Presbyterian Church and the city's preservation community - including Preservation Greensboro. The leadership at First Presbyterian Church has shown interest in discussing financing opportunities, and that is a positive step. I hope that by working together in the spirit of our city’s Bicentennial celebration, we can assure that future generations will admire Fisher Park the same way we do today: as a whole.