Hillside is a grand home in Fisher Park built by Julian Price that has been recognized by the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Officer to be of statewide significance.
The significance stems from the home's builder Julian Price, a nationally known insurance executive, business and civic leader, and philanthropist who had a leadership role in many business enterprises and philanthropic causes across North Carolina and who developed one of the largest life insurance companies in the American South.
Julian Price (25 Nov 1867 – 25 Oct 1946) is most remembered as chairman of the board of the Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company and philanthropist. He was born in Meherrin, Lunenburg County, Virginia near Richmond, the son of Margaret Greene Hill and Joseph Jones Price. He was educated in a one-room schoolhouse in the rail-road stop village of Meherrin. It was with the railroad in which he found his first employment in cutting firewood for use by wood-burning locomotives. He learned Morse code and found employment as a telegraph operator and dispatcher for the Southern Railway. This position took him to North Carolina in 1895, moving first to Durham and shortly thereafter to Greensboro.
In Greensboro, Price took a position in 1903 a representative of the American Tobacco Company, though he was more intrigued by the insurance business where he found a position by 1905. In that year, he began working for the Greensboro Life Insurance Company. When Greensboro Life joined with Jefferson Standard in 1912, Price was elected vice-president and agency manager. He was promoted to president of the company in 1919 and served in that capacity for twenty seven years until 28 January 1946. When he took the position of president of Jefferson Standard in 1919, the company held assets of $9.7 million and insurance in force of $81.6 million. When he stepped down as president, the company held assets of $179.2 million and the insurance in force exceeded $672 million. At that time, Jefferson Standard ranked thirteenth in the nation among insurance companies.
Price held additional accomplishments outside of his presidency of Jefferson Standard. Governor Angus W. McLean (1924-1928) selected Price to head the North Carolina Salary and Wage Commission, which was instrumental in developing a fair system of employment and pay for state employees. He grew to become one of McLean’s most trusted advisors, and Price was mentioned as a successor to McLean as the nominee for the Democratic Gubernatorial ticket in 1928, but he refused to have his name placed in nomination.
Other business interests included a majority stake in the Greensboro Record, one of the city’s two leading newspapers. He held a role as president of the Atlantic and Yadkin Railway, a short line railroad within North Carolina from 1899 to 1950. It ran from Mount Airy southeast through Greensboro to Sanford, primarily serving the central Piedmont region.
Price also held civic memberships. He was a thirty-third degree Mason, an honorary member of the Patriotic Order Sons of America, and a life member of the Elks and the Sons of Confederate Knights. He was a commander of the Knights Templar and a member of the Southern Society of New York – a charitable and social organization. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws degree at the sesquicentennial of the University of North Carolina in 1946, just months before his death. During the ceremony, Frank Porter Graham, president of the university characterized Price as an “insurance executive and community builder who had a creative part in many business enterprises and philanthropic causes and who developed one of the largest life insurance companies in the southern states.”
Price had a statewide influence on business activities. He was one of the charter members of the Business Foundation at the University of North Carolina. The Foundation worked through the university to aid and promote research and education related to business interests across the Old North State.
Julian Price was a patron of architecture. In 1919, New York architect Charles Hartmann came to Greensboro to design a Foor and Robinson chain hotel named the O.Henry Hotel on North Elm Street. Price offered Hartmann the job of designing a major project, the corporate tower for Jefferson Standard Insurance if he’d move to Greensboro and open a practice. Hartmann accepted the offer and spent the rest of his life in Greensboro designing notable buildings throughout North Carolina.
Price sought to build the corporate tower for Jefferson Standard (image, right) as the highest building between Washington and Atlanta because he recognized the manner in which the public sought “to identify their financial institutions with impressive buildings that inspire confidence.” Pragmatically, he wanted all employees of his growing company in one building instead of being scattered in a half a dozen buildings all over Greensboro. The skyscraper cost $2.5 million, plus $177,000 for the land, both paid in cash. The insurance company occupied only five floors in the tower the rest was leased to doctors, dentists, lawyers, insurance agents, various clubs, and contractors. The eclectic architectural theme of the tower leans on Romanesque Revival design with rounded arches and Solomonic columns.
In addition to his company’s headquarters, Price selected Hartmann to design the Price family home, named “Hillside.” Located on a bluff overlooking the western lobe of Fisher Park in Greensboro, the sprawling 1929 residence (image, right) is an example of Period Revival architecture, specifically designed to evoke a rambling English Tudor home. The façade features rough stucco, herringbone brick, and false-half-timbered walls, massive brick chimneys with articulated flues and clay pots, and an asymmetrical massing that features gables, wall dormers, and a stair tower. The landscape is equally detailed, containing low stone retaining walls, serpentine flagstone walkways, and mature evergreen trees.
Price was recognized as a prominent member of the Catholic faith in North Carolina at a time that Catholicism was modest in relation to protestant worshippers. He was introduced to Catholicism through marriage to Ethel Clay (1874-1943). Their forty-six year marriage ended when she died in October 1943. In memory of her life and faith, Price honored her with a $500,000 gift to construct Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church at 2205 W Market Street in the Sunset Hills neighborhood of Greensboro. The grand pink granite edifice was designed by Brooklyn, New York architect Henry V. Murphy, personally selected by Price for the project.
Mrs. Kathleen Price Bryan Edwards, a granddaughter of Julian Price, remembers an incident that reveals the personality of her grandfather. During World War II, Guilford County did not allow use of alcoholic beverages, and this was disappointing to local Air Force base personnel. One officer inquired of the name of the local bootlegger and was told it was a man named “Price.” The officer called Julian Price one Sunday afternoon and asked if he were the local source of liquor. Price asked what kind the captain wanted and when told, Johnny Walker, he asked the young officer, “Black or Red?” “Black,” replied the stunned officer, who was then told to drive up to the back of the Price home on Fisher Park Circle. The captain could hardly believe his luck when he tried to pay, for Price said, “No, no, young man, nothing is too good for our boys in the service.” That afternoon the Air Force base was enthralled with the captain’s awed description of how well he had been received by Greensboro’s leading citizen, Julian Price, whose profession and community standing was so much different from the local bootlegger with which he shared his surname!
Price died as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident while travelling to his mountain retreat near Blowing Rock. In memory of their father, his children established a professorship in life insurance at The University of North Carolina; funded with an original endowment of $80,000, it was increased in value to $500,000 in the 1970s. Also, together with Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, they gave their father’s estate in near Blowing Rock to the US Government as part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, a site which is today known as the Julian Price Memorial Park.
The determination of the site as having statewide significance is an important one. As stated in the North Carolina General Assembly General Statutes, properties of this level of importance may be denied demolition or destruction. Other properties in Greensboro with statewide significance include the A North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University Historic District, the Revolution Cotton Mill, and the First Presbyterian Church, Smith Memorial Building, and First Presbyterian Church Cemetery (Greensboro Historical Museum).
A nationally recognized construction company with over $2 billion in construction currently underway, with experience in 38 states, and countless awards under its belt is planning to restore Greensboro’s historic Cascade Saloon to house its regional office.
The Christman Company is a fully management-owned general contractor that is nationally recognized for its work in historic preservation. The company was founded in 1894 by H.G. Christman in South Bend, Indiana, and has eight full-service offices nationwide—Lansing, Detroit, and Grand Rapids in Michigan; Reston, Virginia; Augusta, Georgia, Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Greensboro, North Carolina.
The Cascade Saloon was constructed in 1896 on South Elm Street between the North Carolina Railroad tracks to the north, and a spur of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railway to the south. The architect of the building is unknown, but it is clearly part of a family of Elm Street buildings designed by the same hand that share granite window sills and lintels, as well as patterned brickwork, and elaborate cornices.
By 1907, the building housed an “eating house” owned by Wiley Weaver. Weaver and his wife Ida were African-American, and the couple operated the café at a time when Jim Crow Laws sought to segregate African-Americans apart from white-owned businesses. The fact that the Weavers ran their business on Greensboro’s main commercial street is an unusual footnote in Greensboro’s history.
Christman plans to complete a “ship in a bottle construction” that will see a new support structure erected inside the historic brick walls. The building’s exterior will be preserved and restored using historic photos. Upon completion, Christman will place its Greensboro office in the building to showcase as an example of its work, employing engineers and project managers in the building. Creative professionals in the construction industry from throughout North Carolina and beyond will travel to Greensboro to conduct business in the building, being reminded in the process of Greensboro’s position as a leader in adaptive reuse and preservation of iconic historic structures.
The structure was included on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and it was recognized as a Guilford County Landmark in 2005. South Elm Street enjoyed a revival as investors and preservationists have restored shopfronts for artists, restaurants, and antique dealers.
The project is complicated. The adjacent North Carolina Railroad claims a right-of-way that includes a number of important buildings in downtown Greensboro including the Cascade Saloon. In addition, state historic tax credits have been discontinued. That likely would have doomed the project if an anonymous donor had not stepped forward to make a large private contribution to the effort. If the building is demolished, the railroad’s proximity will likely preclude any reconstruction on the parcel, denying Greensboro the tax revenue, the connectivity north and south of the tracks, and economic revenue that a revitalized Cascade Saloon will contribute to the city as a rehabilitated and occupied structure. Once removed, the site would likely be relegated to use as a gravel parking lot, creating a wide rift separating the 300 and 500 blocks of Elm Street.
Through this partnership with Christman, Greensboro is taking a path that is both historically respectful and fiscally prudent. The city is enjoying reinvestment in a key landmark building, and it will enjoy the construction jobs, the property tax revenue, and the salaried positions that come with this project, says Benjamin Briggs, Executive Director of Preservation Greensboro. “This is a win-win-win for the city.”
Built as the home for prominent lawyer and businessman Alfred Moore Scales (1870- 1940) and his wife Mary (1892-1960), this two-story, brick Neoclassical Revival residence at 1207 Lakewood Drive is located in the heart of Greensboro’s Hamilton Lakes neighborhood. When the house was built in 1926, Scales was a practicing attorney, mayor of the village of Hamilton Lakes, president of the local Ford Motor Car dealership, and served in various capacities on boards of several insurance and real estate development companies in Greensboro. The house was likely the first built in the town of Hamilton Lakes, which featured curving streets punctuated by Lake Hamilton and Lake Euphemia.
Architect Christopher Gadsden Sayre of Anderson, South Carolina designed the house with two prominent facades. The West façade faces Lakewood Drive and features an impressive two-story portico with a classical entry. The East façade overlooks Lake Hamilton and features a full-width and full-height portico of Corinthian columns topped by a Chippendale balustrade. The Scales house remains as a tangible reminder of Greensboro’s rapid economic growth in the 1920s, and the grand scale of buildings and landscapes afforded during that period.
The home has a remarkably intact set of panels of Zuber & Cie wallpaper. Zuber & Cie is thought to be the last factory in the world to produce woodblock printed wallpapers and furnishing fabrics. Since its founding in 1797 by Jean Zuber, Zuber & Cie has maintained its headquarters at Rixheim, France. Jean Zuber's wallpapers were so respected that King Louis Philippe honored him in 1834 with the Legion of Honor.
Zuber & Cie uses woodblocks engraved during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The scenic panoramas a variety of themes such as Vue de l'Amérique du Nord, Eldorado, Hindoustan, les Guerres d'Independence, and Isola Bella. The Scales House features Eldorado…which dates from 1848 and was installed in 1926. It depicts scenes from four major continents, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.
Zuber wallpaper panoramas can be seen in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, Prestwould Plantation near Clarksville Va, the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, and governor's mansions in Columbia SC and Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Tragically, the family lost the home with the Great Depression. As a pragmatic course of action, they moved into Tar Haven, the home across the lake occupied by Scale’s brother. The loss of the house to creditors in the 1930s might have inspired a turn against Capitalism in the heart of youngest son Junius Irving Scales (1920–2002). In 1935, young Scales began frequenting the Intimate Bookshop in Chapel Hill, an off campus gathering space for intellectuals and bohemians with a clandestine Communist Party printing press in a back room. He was soon hired as a clerk in the store at the age of 16, and started attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill the following year. In 1939 he joined the Communist Party and quit school to become a union organizer in the Southern textile mills. The attack on Pearl Harbor brought an end to his organizing efforts, but he returned to Chapel Hill and completed work on his bachelor's degree after serving in the Army. He became the state Communist Party chairman in 1948, serving openly and publicly, leading to newspaper stories that alarmed his once wealthy Capitalist family.
The FBI periodically monitored him, leading to an arrest in 1954. He was not charged with any overt acts, but was indicted under the provisions of the Smith Act as a member of an organization which advocated violence. Scales lost his final appeal, Scales v. United States, in the United States Supreme Court on a 5-4 decision. He served 15 months of a six-year sentence at Lewisburg Penitentiary in Pennsylvania before President John F. Kennedy commuted his sentence on Christmas Eve, 1962. He became the only Communist Party member to serve in prison on these charges.
The Scales House was recognized in 1988 as a Guilford County Landmark Property.
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The home will be open Saturday May 16 and Sunday May 17 as part of Preservation Greensboro's 5th annual Tour of Historic Homes & Gardens. Tour tickets are now available.
Advanced PGI Member Tickets are $15 each and a member may purchase as many as they would like at that price. Member tickets are available at Blandwood, 447 Washington Street in downtown Greensboro or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Advanced General Tickets are $20 each and may be purchased at Blandwood, the Extra Ingredient in Friendly Shopping Center, online at www.preservationgreensboro.org or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Group Tickets (minimum of 10 people) are $15 each and may be purchased at Blandwood or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Why not upgrade to a Patron Pass? Tickets are $75 each and include: tour ticket for the weekend plus an invitation to the Patron's Gala on Thursday, May 14th 6-8pm in a beautiful private home overlooking Lake Euphemia in the neighborhood. This special event will have live jazz music, hors d'oeuvres, wine, beer and a Silent Auction benefiting Preservation Greensboro. These tickets may be purchased at Blandwood, online or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Day-Of Tour Tickets are $25 for all and can be purchased with cash or check at any of the houses on the tour. Credit cards will also be taken at House #1 throughout the weekend.
Among the homes of Hamilton Lakes, the Howard House at 3905 Henderson Road stands as an eye-catching example of Mid-Century Modernism. Built for Diane (1929-2009) and Will (1927-1996) Howard in 1955, the house has been substantially reconstructed in 2014-15 in order to address long-term challenges related to materials, drainage, and sustainability. It retains its original H-shaped plan and honors the scope, scale and materials of the initial design.
Will Howard was a native of Charlotte, where his father established a construction company under his own name, the Paul Howard Construction company. One of three sons, Will and his brother Paul “Pug” Howard operated the Greensboro branch of the company, which specialized in civil construction including road and runway projects across the globe. Will was married to his wife Diane in 1949, and this project was their first new construction. They chose Will’s fraternity brother, Tommy Hayes, to design the home, and selected a heavily wooded site in the Hamilton Lakes neighborhood. The neighborhood’s large wooded lots were perfect for a Mid-Century modern home.
Architect Thomas Thurman “Tommy” Hayes, Jr. Hayes was a graduate of North Carolina State University, where he received a degree in architectural engineering in 1949 and a degree in architecture in 1951. Those formative years at NCSU’s School of Design were under the leadership of the school’s Dean, Henry Kamphoefner, and it quickly earned a reputation as a center for modernist doctrine. Hayes was undoubtedly part of that movement.
After graduating from State, Hayes worked with other established architects including Raleigh’s William Deitrick and Greensboro’s Edward Loewenstein, before initiating his own practice in 1952. One of his earliest commissions was the Hayes Residence.
Hayes designed the Howard home in 1955 and broke from the traditional lines established in Hamilton Lakes a generation earlier that reflected Colonial and European design inspirations. Their home featured a flat roofline and solid wood and brick exterior walls that alternated with voids of glass. Interior spaces were austere; featuring areas of terrazzo and carpet coupled with masonry and textured walls. Unusual details include clerestory windows located between ceiling joists and a copper hood above the fireplace. True to the style, public spaces are logically separated from private as the form of the house is dictated by the function of spaces. Form follows function.
Diane and Will enjoyed their eclectic and unusual home by decorating the interior with unusual features such as Japanese swords and wrought iron coffee tables, and threw parties and events among fashion-savvy residents of Greensboro. Their family story is profiled in the March 2015 O.Henry magazine. The couple moved from the home in 1967.
The house has been acquired by Liz and Mike Felsen. The couple found the original plans for the house and retained Martin Felsen and Sarah Dunn of UrbanLab of Chicago for reconstruction, and consulted with Brent Skelton of Greensboro for the landscape design.
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The home will be open Saturday May 16 and Sunday May 17 as part of Preservation Greensboro's 5th annual Tour of Historic Homes & Gardens. Tour tickets are now available.
Advanced PGI Member Tickets are $15 each and a member may purchase as many as they would like at that price. Member tickets are available at Blandwood, 447 Washington Street in downtown Greensboro or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Advanced General Tickets are $20 each and may be purchased at Blandwood, the Extra Ingredient in Friendly Shopping Center, online at www.preservationgreensboro.org or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Group Tickets (minimum of 10 people) are $15 each and may be purchased at Blandwood or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Why not upgrade to a Patron Pass? Tickets are $75 each and include: tour ticket for the weekend plus an invitation to the Patron's Gala on Thursday, May 14th 6-8pm in a beautiful private home overlooking Lake Euphemia in the neighborhood. This special event will have live jazz music, hors d'oeuvres, wine, beer and a Silent Auction benefiting Preservation Greensboro. These tickets may be purchased at Blandwood, online or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Day-Of Tour Tickets are $25 for all and can be purchased with cash or check at any of the houses on the tour. Credit cards will also be taken at House #1 throughout the weekend.
Thanks to North Carolina Modernist Home for research on this property.
Tar Haven is one of the earliest homes in Hamilton Lakes. It was built in 1926 at 3907 Henderson Road for a Rear Admiral in the US Navy.
Rear Admiral Archibald Henderson Scales (1868-1952) was the son of Junius Irving and Euphemia Hamilton Henderson Scales. He was born in Greensboro, the nephew of Governor Alfred Moore Scales and the great-grandson of Chief Justice Leonard Henderson. After receiving a primary education, he received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, and graduated in 1887. He was commissioned as an officer two years later.
Scales first saw action at sea in 1895 during the Spanish-American War, for which his service earned him the Sampson Medal. Around 1900 he married Harriet Pierce Graham (1872-1925), and the couple had three daughters before Harriet died at the age of 52.
Scales rose in rank to command the USS Severn and then the USS Columbia, and in 1907, as a lieutenant commander on the USS Missouri. As a captain, he commanded the USS Delaware that saw action in the North Sea as part of the British Grand Fleet during World War I. For this service he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and was decorated as Commander of the Order of Leopold (Belgium).
After the war, and until February 1919, Scales commanded the Great Lakes Training Station, where he was elevated to the post of superintendent of the Naval Academy. The rank of rear admiral was granted him in June 1921. That year he accepted the command of the Battleship Division Five, and then commanded the Fourth Naval District from Philadelphia beginning in 1923 until his retirement in 1926. He retired to Greensboro and lived at the Hamilton Lakes home he named “Tar Haven”. When his brother A. M. Scales lost his home across the lake due to foreclosure, he and his family lived in Tar Haven for several years. After a long illness, Scales died at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md., and was buried in the Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis.
The Scales House is a good example of Colonial Revival architecture. Constructed around 1926, the three-level brick home features a symmetrical façade mimicking Early American homes of the Chesapeake region. Colonial Revival homes were the dominant domestic style throughout the country during the first half of the twentieth century, especially along the East Coast where history runs deep. Interior appointments are traditional, with a wide central hall graced with a stair and flanked by a deep living room to the right and a dining room to the left. The second and third floors contain five bedrooms and 3 and a half baths. Unusual appointments seen on this house is the false chimney on the left gable end of the home, utilized to achieve balance and symmetry of the façade, demilune windows in the uppermost floor, and the original garage to the rear. The shutters are thought to be very early, if not original!
Nancy and Malcolm Jones acquired the house in 1965, and owned the home for 50 years. It is currently for sale and is not furnished.
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The home will be open Saturday May 16 and Sunday May 17 as part of Preservation Greensboro's 5th annual Tour of Historic Homes & Gardens. Tour tickets are now available.
Advanced PGI Member Tickets are $15 each and a member may purchase as many as they would like at that price. Member tickets are available at Blandwood, 447 Washington Street in downtown Greensboro or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Advanced General Tickets are $20 each and may be purchased at Blandwood, the Extra Ingredient in Friendly Shopping Center, online at www.preservationgreensboro.org or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Group Tickets (minimum of 10 people) are $15 each and may be purchased at Blandwood or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Why not upgrade to a Patron Pass? Tickets are $75 each and include: tour ticket for the weekend plus an invitation to the Patron's Gala on Thursday, May 14th 6-8pm in a beautiful private home overlooking Lake Euphemia in the neighborhood. This special event will have live jazz music, hors d'oeuvres, wine, beer and a Silent Auction benefiting Preservation Greensboro. These tickets may be purchased at Blandwood, online or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Day-Of Tour Tickets are $25 for all and can be purchased with cash or check at any of the houses on the tour. Credit cards will also be taken at House #1 throughout the weekend.
Bright sunlight floods the interior of the Louise and Vernon Barrickman House, highlighting a cheery art collection by one of Greensboro’s best known artists. Located on a low bluff overlooking the intersection of Kemp Road West and Erskine Drive West, the Barrickman House was first occupied by Louise (1913-1957) and Vernon (1908-1961) Barrickman. The couple financed their home through Starmount Builders, indicating the home might have been built through that company. Barrickman was an ad salesman with the Greensboro News when he and his wife moved into the home around 1953.
The couple only lived in the house for four years. When Louise passed away in 1958, Vernon sold the house to Lena and Ben Krieger. The Kriegers owned Benlee’s women’s clothing at 936 Summit Avenue. The family operated the store there and in subsequent locations for over 60 years. Ben died in 1969 of a heart attack and Lena remained in the home until 1976.
The Barrickman House is an example of the American Ranch House. The 3,020 square foot house is identified through its one-story form with a low-pitched roof featuring no dormers. It features a wide overhanging roof, an off-center entryway, and a garage attached to the side of home. Large windows, including picture windows, grace the façade.
Ranch style homes first appeared in subdivisions of Southern California in the mid-1930s, and their popularity was boosted by their convenient one-level form which qualified for Federal Housing Administration financing. Plans for Ranch-style homes were shown in leading shelter magazines of the day such as House Beautiful and House and Garden.
Homebuyers quickly embraced the house form that featured an open living room with generous access through a dining area to a convenient kitchen. In turn, the kitchen was located adjacent to the garage for an increasingly car-oriented market. Modest bedrooms were located away from the kitchen, and often shared a full bathroom.
Over the course of the past 60 years, many Ranch-style homes have been modified to suit homeowner’s needs, including expanded families with an increasing appetite for space. The Barrickman House is an excellent example of this popular trend as interior spaces have been expanded. In this example a bright artist’s studio, has also been enclosed to the rear of the house, and a dining area has been expanded to the front of the house.
The Barrickman House features a large private yard with courtyard filled with eclectic art.
Today, the home is owned by Dori and Paul Jalazo. Dori is a well-regarded artist. Her work is in public and private collections throughout the world, including those of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Elie Weisel, actor Henry Winkler, and musician Harry Connick Jr.
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The home will be open Saturday May 16 and Sunday May 17 as part of Preservation Greensboro's 5th annual Tour of Historic Homes & Gardens. Tour tickets are now available.
Advanced PGI Member Tickets are $15 each and a member may purchase as many as they would like at that price. Member tickets are available at Blandwood, 447 Washington Street in downtown Greensboro or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Advanced General Tickets are $20 each and may be purchased at Blandwood, the Extra Ingredient in Friendly Shopping Center, online at www.preservationgreensboro.org or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Group Tickets (minimum of 10 people) are $15 each and may be purchased at Blandwood or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Why not upgrade to a Patron Pass? Tickets are $75 each and include: tour ticket for the weekend plus an invitation to the Patron's Gala on Thursday, May 14th 6-8pm in a beautiful private home overlooking Lake Euphemia in the neighborhood. This special event will have live jazz music, hors d'oeuvres, wine, beer and a Silent Auction benefiting Preservation Greensboro. These tickets may be purchased at Blandwood, online or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Day-Of Tour Tickets are $25 for all and can be purchased with cash or check at any of the houses on the tour. Credit cards will also be taken at House #1 throughout the weekend.
To buy tickets online, visit our website.
The Rachel and Harry Barton Residence, located at 104 Kemp Road West in the Hamilton Lakes neighborhood will be included in next month's Tour of Historic Homes & Gardens.
Harry Barton (1876-1937) designed and occupied this eye-catching Mediterranean house with his wife Rachel (1875-1957). Barton was born in Philadelphia and attended Temple College. He completed a degree in architecture at George Washington University where he studied at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design. After graduation, he practiced in Philadelphia and Washington D.C., in the Office of the Supervising Architect, for the United States Department of Treasury.
In 1912, Barton relocated to Greensboro with his wife where he joined the firm of Frank A. Weston, an architect who had arrived from Denver. There, Barton developed strong civic ties to the city and its citizens, to the extent that he established his own practice with a client base among the city's industrial and financial leaders. Barton was one of the first licensed architects in North Carolina after a professional practice license act became law in 1915.
By 1918 he led the architecture committee for the new neoclassical Guilford County Courthouse on West Market Street. Barton was proficient in a broad selection of styles and building types. He designed classically inspired courthouses and municipal buildings, churches in Gothic and Colonial Revival modes, and numerous educational buildings.
For his own residence constructed in 1927 in the new suburb of Hamilton Lakes, Barton selected an exotic Spanish Colonial theme. The white stucco walls are contrasted against the red Spanish tile roof. A variety of window shapes and sizes are accentuated by Solomonic columns that twist as they rise.
In 1963, the Barton House was acquired by Francis and Edward Zane. Zane was born in Tennessee, and received a law degree from Georgetown University in 1921 followed by a master's in accounting from Pace Institute in Washington, D.C., in 1923. He moved to Greensboro in 1929 to work for Burlington Industries as an accountant. He was promoted to Chairman of the Executive Committee of Burlington Industries and later the company’s Comptroller.
Zane served as Mayor of Hamilton Lakes when it was an independent community. After the town’s merger with Greensboro, he joined the Greensboro City Council in 1957. He held this position during the 1960 sit-ins, and students who participated in the sit-ins remembered Zane as a key figure in getting Woolworth and the Kress stores to agree to integrate. He served as chairman of the mayor's Advisory Committee on Community Relations in 1961, and his high-ranking position with Burlington Industries provided him with a strong leadership position from which he could work with protestors to further integrate the city.
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Advanced PGI Member Tickets are $15 each and a member may purchase as many as they would like at that price. Member tickets are available at Blandwood, 447 Washington Street in downtown Greensboro or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Advanced General Tickets are $20 each and may be purchased at Blandwood, the Extra Ingredient in Friendly Shopping Center, online at www.preservationgreensboro.org or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Group Tickets (minimum of 10 people) are $15 each and may be purchased at Blandwood or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Patron's Tickets are $75 each and include: tour ticket for the weekend plus an invitation to the Patron's Gala on Thursday, May 14th 6-8pm. This special event will have live jazz music, hors d'oeuvres, wine, beer and a Silent Auction benefiting Preservation Greensboro. These tickets may be purchased at Blandwood or by phone with a credit card at 336-272-5003 x3.
Day-Of Tour Tickets are $25 for all and can be purchased with cash or check at any of the houses on the tour. Credit cards will also be taken at House #1 throughout the weekend.
At its 49th Annual Meeting, Preservation Greensboro board, members, and guests celebrated re-investment in the Gate City. With help from the Keynote Speaker the North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, attendees recognized those who see that some of the most challenging properties are in fact some of the most treasured places. The past year has been prolific for historic preservation in Greensboro. A record number of projects were completed in neighborhoods all across the city, continuing Greensboro's reputation as a city with character and soul.
The Coltrane-Gray House at 316 Murray Street in Southside is quite unusual in that it is accentuated by “Milk Quartz”. Milk quartz is found here in Guilford County, and is characterized by a durable glazed texture and an opaque appearance. The Coltrane-Gray house contains numerous milk quartz features, including the front porch supports, foundation, chimney and the interior fireplace mantel. Constructed around 1923, the house was built by contractor Thomas Starr who lived a few doors up the street at 312 Murray Street. After completion Starr sold the property to Nora Coltrane, who managed the house as an investment property by renting it, and finally selling the home in 1932 to newlyweds Mary Margaret and Floyd Ernest Gray. At the time, Gray held a position at Southern Public Utilities as a clerk.
The house was in very poor condition and vulnerable to destruction when it was acquired by Cheryl and Tracy Pratt, a team well known in preservation circles having completed a magnificent restoration of a bungalow in Fisher Park. The Coltrane-Gray house is the couple’s first speculative project in which they have corrected structural issues, updated mechanical systems, added a new kitchen and bathrooms, improved the floor plan, and refinished surfaces. Their reinvestment in the Coltrane-Gray House makes the neighborhood that much safer and stronger.
Standing prominently on its hilltop lot, the Pitts House at 114 West Bessemer Avenue in Fisher Park is a great example of Colonial Revival architecture. The home was constructed in 1927 and first occupied by Julius R. Pitts who ran a company that brokered lumber, millwork, and building material. The symmetrical three-bay façade features graceful segmental-arched dormer windows, and a front portico with fluted Corinthian columns.
Sheila Sanders and Craig VanDeventer made their decision to purchase the Pitts House after only one visit! Pam Frye of Chaney-Frye Properties managed renovations. Her observation that the home was a “diamond in the rough” couldn’t be truer. Through the use of the North Carolina Historic Preservation Tax credits, modern conveniences such as kitchen and bathroom were added and character-defining interior appointments were retained, including a grand hallway staircase.
Fifth Avenue in Aycock has enjoyed a revival in the past year. A streetscape full of worn but architecturally fascinating homes has been transformed as homeowners and contractors have sought out re-investment opportunities. The Peele House at 614 Fifth Avenue is a great example of this trend.
The Peele Home was built in 1920 and was first occupied by Mrs. Mary Peele and her daughter Minnie. By the time J. J. Brown found the home, it had fallen into poor condition. Brown selected in New Age Builders to complete all of the skilled and licensed repairs, and then finished the exterior paint and final landscaping with just a little elbow grease! This project utilized the North Carolina Historic Preservation Tax credits and saw a much needed reinvestment into the period bungalow. Today the home is an active part of the great Aycock neighborhood revival.
This proud Philadelphia-style Colonial style house in College Hill has always been eye-catching, but little was known about its history until the recent restoration undertaken by Amanda and James Keith. Located at 303 South Mendenhall Street, the Keith’s discovered their home was built by a woman named Effie Anderson. Mrs Anderson was recently widows when she persuaded one of Greensboro’s star architects, Harry Barton, to design her home in 1915. Barton included impressive features for the fine home including beamed ceilings, high wainscoting with plate rails, and a grand staircase.
By the time the Keith’s found the house, it was used as a rental facility for a women’s volleyball team. The house featured patched-in wiring, window air-condition units, and a compromised structural system. The Keith’s completed a meticulous restoration utilizing North Carolina’s Historic Preservation Tax credits by replacing the mechanical systems, kitchen and bathrooms, and restored charming details such as the side porch and the pent roof.
Olive Street is Fisher Park’s answer to 5th Avenue in Aycock. Over the past few years, the street has seen a make-over that has seen a much needed re-investment into worn housing stock. This charming Craftsman home was constructed in 1917 by grocer George Blackmon at 810 Olive Street. The house was heavily altered in the 1960s, at which time much of its historic character was hidden by false coverings such as aluminum siding.
That didn’t deter contractor Pam Frye, who could see the charm and character of the home. Frye had her crew remove the aluminum siding and opened up an original side porch that long ago had been enclosed to make a closet, thus restoring the home’s original architectural integrity. With five bedrooms, it was no surprise that the house was contracted for purchase by a family even before the job was finished. This is the third house on Olive Street to receive significant exterior renovation in recent months.
Not too many months ago, preservationists were troubled that Irving Park’s oldest home could be knocked down for new construction. The McAdoo-Sanders-Tatum House at 303 Wentworth was caught up in a defaulted mortgage and the corporate owner of the property did not necessarily hold history in its list of interests. The house was to be sold to the highest bidder with no regard to preservation.
Fortunately, the home caught the eye of Katie and Brian Bode, who fell in love with its generous floor plan and intriguing architectural history. The Bodies have discovered that theirs is a house with a mysterious past! In spite of the work of several researchers, including myself, we cannot determine a clear date of construction! Happily, the couple has utilized the North Carolina Historic Preservation Tax credits to enhance the home, and is pursuing designation of the property as Local Landmark property through the county. As a post note, research and oral history indicates that the home is the oldest house in Irving Park, and most likely dates between 1895-1910!
Greensboro is a city that appreciates its past, and that sense of history is well demonstrated in the story of the King's Chair. The chair was constructed in the backyard of the home of master stone mason Andrew Leopold Schlosser, a native of Slovakia who moved to Greensboro in 1899. Schlosser was selected to complete numerous commissions on fine homes and parks throughout Greensboro, but he is best remembered for his contributions in Fisher Park. Seventy years after his death, the Schlosser family wanted a safe and public site for the fanciful composition they called the “King Chair”. Working with the City of Greensboro, the Fisher Park Neighborhood Association and Schlosser family members, architect Carl Myatt spearheaded efforts to site the chair – where else? In Fisher Park’s West Park. Today, everyone can enjoy this whimsical piece that designed by one of Greensboro’s earliest artists...surrounded by homes and bridges also by his hand.
On April 14th last year, the charming bungalow at 703 Fifth Avenue in the Aycock District sustained damage from a fire. The mid-day blaze was focus to the rear of the structure, but smoke and water damage occurred throughout the house. The insurance company that covered the house balked at the task of repairing the damage. Neighbors worried that the house would be destroyed rather than be restored.
Fortunately, the home that was acquired by Pam Frye, our veteran general contractor that you met earlier this evening! Frye restored the house that was first occupied by Katie and Robert Denny in 1920 by upgrading the mechanicals, kitchens and baths, and repairing all traces of damage. Today, the Denny House is under contract for a new family that will call Historic Aycock their home.
Angela and Tyree Dillard were the first people to call this two-story Colonial Revival home at 1012 North Eugene Street in Fisher Park their home. Tyree Dillard was travelling salesman when the couple moved into the fine frame house with weatherboard siding in 1923. The Colonial Revival-style home features a symmetrical façade centered on a classical stoop that is a classic in Fisher Park.
Shelley Johnson and Bill Norman chose the Dillard House to restore as their own. Six months of construction was needed to reconstruct the kitchen and back porch, and to bring the house into the twenty-first century. Notable features were retained using North Carolina’s Historic Preservation Tax credits, including several the original flip-down windows that open an upstairs bedroom to the fresh air of the outside! The window’s design had been a mystery to Bill and Shelly until a gentleman who grew up in the house demonstrated to them how the units easily slipped below the windowsill into the wall below.
The handsome Bain Building at 302-304 South Elm Street was one of several buildings constructed around 1900 during an economic boom time in Greensboro’s history. One of the earliest occupants of this neoclassical structure was W.C. Bain, a noted local contractor who built many impressive downtown buildings. The structure may have been designed by J.H. Hopkins, a local architect who used this style in other buildings. The Bain Building features elaborately sculpted terra cotta panels beneath large arched windows on the uppermost level.
The building was acquired in 2013 by City Council member Nancy Hoffmann who restored the building for a mix of uses including apartments on the upper floors and room for the iconic Scuppernong Books on the ground floor. The street level has remained well-preserved and still exhibits its original cast iron columns and glass transom. This much needed reinvestment utilized North Carolina’s Historic Preservation Tax credit program, and has strengthened our tax base and brought more activities to our center city.
William C. Callum was the first occupant of this grand home at 600 Summit in the Aycock neighborhood. Constructed in 1912, its features a Neoclassical Revival façade with a full-height portico of paired Ionic columns, and a pediment that features an unusual demilune window with tracery. The house also sports an unusual corner bay window with curved plate glass, and a one-story wrap around porch supported by Tuscan columns.
The home was occupied until the great recession of 2008, but then abandoned. Preservationists feared that the home could have been lost to neglect. However, veteran Matthew Thomas saw the potential in the building that few others could imagine. He worked to address structural issues, reworked the floor plan, refinished floors and painted walls to bring the grand structure back. With the reinvestment made in this home, the Aycock neighborhood continues its upward trend!
Constructed in 1918, the handsome Dutch Colonial home at 606 Simpson Street in Fisher Park needed a comprehensive makeover when Peggy McGinty purchased the property. Peggy is no stranger to us, she received an award in 2012 from us for restoring a bungalow in the Aycock neighborhood, and we are glad she has come back!
The unusual home with brick first floor and gambrel roofed second floor was first occupied by Mary and Edward Michaels. At the time, Michaels was secretary of the Dixie Fire Insurance Company, whose building remains a landmark in our city at the corner of South Elm and February One Place. With a new kitchen, bathrooms, and a handsome paint job, the house stands proudly among other recently restored homes in an historic corner of Fisher Park.
Preservation Greensboro’s members and guests had the opportunity to recognize three individuals for their volunteer work with the organization. Jon Enos, former Architectural Salvage of Greensboro Co-Chair, received a “Volunteer of the Decade” Award. Enos began volunteering his free time with Architectural Salvage in the 1990s, shortly after ASG was established. He took the position of Co-Chair in 2003, and held the title until December 2014.
The Blandwood Volunteer of the Year was awarded to New Garden Select for their contribution of time and expertise in restoring the grounds of Blandwood and making the National Historic Landmark site the greenest patch of ground in downtown Greensboro.
The 2014 Preservation Greensboro Volunteer of the Year was presented to Anne Daniel. Daniel began volunteering with the organization in the 1980s, and she soon rose to President of the organization, a position she held 1988 and 1989. During her presidency, the organization launched a Capital Campaign entitled “Our Heritage Our Future”. Daniel also served as chair of the Morehead Commission 2001-present. She navigated the Morehead Commission through the transfer of ownership of Blandwood from the Commission to Preservation Greensboro in 2011.
Guilford County’s hometown hero was John Motley Morehead, who used his role as governor to advance a number of social and economic causes that led to his nickname "The Father of Modern North Carolina." Among these causes, the construction of the North Carolina Railroad was nearest to his heart. The transportation route, he felt, would open the Piedmont of North Carolina to trade and commerce in ways it could never have imagined previously. Morehead was so fond of "Iron Horses" that he insisted the railroad pass through his hometown and that he be buried "alongside of it in the bosom of my own beloved Carolina!" Alongside his legacy of rail infrastructure in the county, Guilford also features three splendid train stations that stand as an impressive trio in the state.
With the arrival of the North Carolina Railroad in 1856, Guilford County did indeed flourish. The cities of High Point and Greensboro were connected to Durham, Raleigh and Morehead City to the east, and to Charlotte, Columbia, and Charleston to the south. Other rail lines followed linking Greensboro to Winston-Salem, Mt Airy, Fayetteville, and Danville VA. In fact, Greensboro’s connectivity was so impressive that the city was nicknamed "Gate City" in recognition of its hub position for statewide rail service.
Befitting such an important rail center, the Southern Railroad Company commissioned an impressive station to be built at the rail crossing of South Elm Street just as the century turned. The new depot was opened on June 9, 1899 to serve the growing number of passengers in and out of the city. It was designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, featuring a grand three-story turret at the corner of South Elm and Smother’s Place, elaborate patterned brickwork, and an array of dormer windows topped with finials and a clay tile roof.
The 1899 depot was replaced by a larger station in 1927, at which point the building was adaptively reused for office space. The Victorian architectural features were removed, and the structure was given a Neoclassical appearance, though the turret still remains as a semicircular feature on the structure. The building was inscribed to the National Register in 1982 as part of the Downtown Greensboro Historic District. The station remains used today, most recently for Norfolk Southern offices.
In High Point, the Southern Railway Passenger Depot is one of the most recognized landmarks in the city and one of the best examples of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in North Carolina. Design of the depot is attributed to the office of the chief engineer of M.W. & S. of the Southern Railway. An article in the High Point Enterprise on April 18, 1906, stated:
The new passenger depot which is now underway here will be one of the most complete structures, costing under $40,000. The building will be erected of Mt. Airy granite up to the window sills and finished in red brick with granite trimmings. Near the center of the building there will be a bulged room for operator and ticket agent. The other rooms in the building will be white and colored waiting rooms, ladies dressing room, baggage and express rooms and large boiler rooms. So far the work has progressed very slowly on account of the wet weather, but the contractors informed us this morning that much better time would be made on the work in the future. The foundation has been put down, and much of the stone has been dressed ready to be placed.
Additional details of the one-story building include a hipped roof topped by orange French tiles, round-arched windows and arched braces supporting the wide overhanging eaves. The building has been used as a passenger depot continuously since constructed, though from 1975 to 2003 the waiting room was located on the platform in a small pre-manufactured room under the wide eaves. In 2003, the building was restored to its original appearance, including a polychromatic paint scheme. It was rededicated as a rail passenger facility and received a Merit Award by the Federal Highway Administration in 2004. The building has not yet been recognized to the National Register, though it is likely eligible.
By the roaring twenties, Greensboro’s had outgrown its 1899 station on Elm Street and as a railroad town it was richly rewarded by Southern Railway with construction of the grandest railroad station in North Carolina. Designed by the New York architectural firm of Alfred Fellheimer & Steward Wagner, the firm responsible for stations such as the Union Passenger Station in Macon, Ga. (1915); the New York Central Rail Road Buffalo Passenger Station (1927-1928); and the Cincinnati Terminal in Cincinnati, Ohio (1930-1931).
Greensboro’s station was constructed in 1927, and features a Beaux-Arts facade consisting of a monumental Ionic portico with columns and a full entablature that screens a three-story arched entry. Inside, the cavernous ticketing area features neoclassical demilune windows and a vast mural displaying the service area of the Southern Railway system in the 1920s. At its peak in the 1940s, more than 40 passenger trains came through the station daily.
Following the decline of passenger rail service after World War II, the station was closed in May 1979. The facility dodged demolition through Southern Railroad’s donation of the facility to the city for adaptive reuse. In the meantime, rail passengers waited for the train in a small facility several miles near Lindley Park. As early as 1993, the North Carolina Department of Transportation and city of Greensboro began working on plans to return passenger rail service to the 1927 station and integrate transit connections with city buses.
Construction began in 2001, and restoration included the passenger tunnel beneath the tracks and refurbishing boarding platforms and canopies for train passengers. Additions to the platform included track side escalators and digital arrival/departure monitors. As part of the Downtown Greensboro National Register Historic District, the historic depot building was carefully restored back to its sumptuous 1927 architectural appearance.
In 2005, the station was returned to service as the city's sole Amtrak passenger station. This year, it is estimated that 134,191 people utilized the station, one of the busiest south of Washington DC. While other North Carolina cities such as Charlotte, Durham, and Raleigh long ago lost their historic stations, Guilford County retains these classic touchstones to the past.
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