The collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice.
The North Carolina Buildings Collection includes drawings, specifications, construction contracts, and correspondence relating to individual buildings in North Carolina. Unbuilt projects are included. The finding aid contains a description for each project, including the name of the architect(s), a brief description of the project, and an inventory of documents. Projects are arranged by type of building.
The late 19th century saw radical changes in building practices in North Carolina, brought about by the rise of professional architects and contractors, increased industrialization, and the standardization of building components. Population booms between 1900 and 1940 precipitated increased construction, and suburbs emerged where major cities doubled or tripled their populations during this period. Increasingly, professional architects were responsible for the design of housing, as well as commercial, industrial and civic buildings. In 1905, North Carolina became one of the earliest states to enact a uniform building code. The North Carolina Architectural Association (NCAA) was formed by a group of Charlotte architects in 1909. Their aims were ultimately to form a North Carolina Chapter of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and to promote the passage of an architectural Practice Act Bill in the General Assembly. The North Carolina Chapter of AIA, chartered in 1913, regulated fees to eliminate unfair competition and provided a code of ethics for professional standards. The Practice Act Bill, ratified in 1915, provided for the examination and licensing of architects. A similar "Act to Regulate the Practice of General Contracting," passed in 1925, regulated the construction industry. Regulation of architectural and building industries led to increased uniformity in working drawings and specifications for buildings, as national industry standards for drafting and construction were followed. Still largely rural and conservative following World War II, North Carolina nevertheless made rapid economic and architectural progress. The 1950s found the state on the cutting edge of architectural development, as the internationally renowned faculty of the School of Design at North Carolina State College vigorously promoted modernism as the only "correct" style. Modernism was embraced for governmental and institutional buildings, while housing remained, for the most part, rooted in traditional forms.
The late 19th century saw radical changes in building practices in North Carolina, brought about by the rise of professional architects and contractors, increased industrialization, and the standardization of building components. Population booms between 1900 and 1940 precipitated increased construction, and suburbs emerged where major cities doubled or tripled their populations during this period. Increasingly, professional architects were responsible for the design of housing, as well as commercial, industrial and civic buildings.
In 1905, North Carolina became one of the earliest states to enact a uniform building code. The North Carolina Architectural Association (NCAA) was formed by a group of Charlotte architects in 1906. Their aims were ultimately to form a North Carolina Chapter of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and to promote the passage of an architectural Practice Act Bill in the General Assembly. The North Carolina Chapter of AIA, chartered in 1913, regulated fees to eliminate unfair competition and provided a code of ethics for professional standards. The Practice Act Bill, ratified in 1915, provided for the examination and licensing of architects. A similar "Act to Regulate the Practice of General Contracting," passed in 1925, regulated the construction industry. Regulation of architectural and building industries led to increased uniformity in working drawings and specifications for buildings, as national industry standards for drafting and construction were followed.
Still largely rural and conservative following World War II, North Carolina nevertheless made rapid economic and architectural progress. The 1950s found the state on the cutting edge of architectural development, as the internationally renowned faculty of the School of Design at North Carolina State College vigorously promoted modernism as the only "correct" style. Modernism was embraced for governmental and institutional buildings, while housing remained, for the most part, rooted in traditional forms.
Based on material in: Architects and builders in North Carolina : a history of the practice of building / Catherine W. Bishir ... [et al.]. Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 1990.
The materials in this collection include drawings, specifications, construction contracts, and correspondence relating to individual buildings in North Carolina. Unbuilt projects are included. The description for each project includes the names of the architects, designers, builders, and/or contractors; a brief description of the project; and a container list. Materials for the Caviness House were originally accessioned into this collection but have been moved to the Preservation North Carolina collection (MC 00137). Materials for the Edenton Cotton Mill were originally accessioned into this collection but have been moved to the Edenton Cotton Mill Collection (MC 00317).
Projects are arranged in six series by type of building: Residences, Railroad Stations, Hotels and Inns, University Buildings, Office and Commercial Buildings, Chapel.
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
[Identification of item], North Carolina Buildings Collection, MC 00225, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
Gifts of George W. Poland, 1995 (Accession 1995.0012); Julius Crowell, 1995 (Accession 1995.0013); the Joyner family, 1996 (Accession 1996.0011); the Historic Districts Commission, 1997 (Accession 1997.0008); the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, 1997 (Accession 1997.0009); Glaxo Wellcome, 1998 (Accession 1998.0005); Thomas Alexander, 1998 (Accession 1998.0006); and unknown sources. Transfer from the North Carolina State University College of Design, 2007 (Accession 2007.0243).
Processed by David L. Warren, 1997
Encoded by Steven Mandeville-Gamble, 2005 November
Finding aid revised by Todd Kosmerick, 2009 October
The Special Collections Research Center created this collection from materials received from several sources. The materials are physically arranged in the order they were received. They are listed in the collection guide by type of building and by date within each type.
The collection is organized into six principal series:
2 items
(includes bond, dated 7th July 1916; Contract between owner and contractor, dated 5th June 1916; and Specifications, undated) : typescript.
A craftsman style bungalow with characteristic bracketed eaves, square porch pillars, and decorative gable trusses.
11 sheets
(plans, elevations, and details on 10 sheets) : vintage blueprints ; 17 x 22 in.
(1 sheet) : vintage blueprint ; 35 x 19 in. (Signed, Hiram S. Balch, L.A.)
A small, Craftsman style bungalow.
12 items
(5 sheets) : vintage blue prints ; 21 x 29 in. (2 copies)
typescript (2 copies)
Frank K. Thomson and partner Charles W. Barrett were exponents of the Colonial Revival (or so-called Southern Colonial) movement in domestic architecture. Their booklet "Colonial Southern Homes" helped to popularize the style. The floor plans of the Vann residence, with its symmetrical plan and central, recessed portico of two stories flanked by terraces on the ground floor, suggest a Colonial Revival facade.
6 sheets
(3 sheets) : pencil on tracing paper ; 22 x 27 in.
(3 sheets)
1 item
typescript.
A small modernist house, designed for NC State faculty member George Poland (Foreign Languages and Literature Dept.).
33 sheets
Originals in The Papers and Drawings of George Matsumoto, FAIA, (Manuscript Collection 42)
(10 sheets) : blue line print ; 24 x 36 in. Scale varies (2 copies)
(plans on 5 sheets) : blue line print ; 15 x 19 in. Scale: 1/4 in. = 1 ft.
(plans and elevations on 4 sheets ; blue line print ; 15 x 19 in. (2 copies, one with revisions in pencil)
This modernist house, built in 1957, exemplified many of the principles and practices of the NC State School of Design faculty. Sensitive to its wooded site, it nevertheless presented a strong presence in the landscape and offered uninterrupted views from its glass rear facade overlooking a lake.
This series consists of 6 color photographs from the exhibition "Simplicity, Order, and Discipline : the Work of George Matsumoto from the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections." Exteriors and interiors are shown, along with one photograph taken during the house's demolition in 1996.
6 photographs
The Fadum House is one of several Modernist houses built in Raleigh from the 1940s to the 1960s. These houses were the manifestation of architectural concepts embraced by the faculty of the School of Design, established in 1948 at North Carolina State College (now North Carolina State University). The Fadum House has a single-slope flat roof supported by large, built-up wood columns, giving it a wedge-shaped section. Built on a two by four module, the house displays finishes throughout of exposed brick, stained and sealed plywood, or tongue-and-groove pine, cypress or redwood. Its deeply cantilevered overhangs, orientation to the southeast, and large expanses of glass allow for supplemental solar heating in the winter. Influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian mode of design, the Fadum House presents a mostly blank facade with carport toward the street, while opening up elevations toward a natural site on the sides and rear. Usonian design is characterized by small scale, affordable construction, open plan interiors, integration of interior and exterior spaces, flat roof and large glazed areas such as windows and doors. In 1952 the Fadum House was featured as the House of the Year in Architectural Record. It is a designated Raleigh Historic Landmark.
18 sheets
Copies of drawings of the Fadum Residence in Raleigh, NC. House designed by James Walter Fitzgibbon, and landscaping designed by J.B. Godwin. Includes floor plan, site plan, elevations, and details. 18 sheets.
Architectural drawings
Acquired from the College of Design development office.
No. 644. American Architect and Building News. Print shows exterior view of railroad station, enhanced with water colors, with inset plan of first floor and black and white view of rear. Copyright 1888 Ticknor & Co. Heliotype Printing Co.
The Hamlet railroad station stands at the intersection of major North-South and East-West railway lines. A deep pent roof supported by brackets shelters the platform, a typical feature of turn-of-the-century railroad architecture. The Hamlet station is distinguished from simpler stations by the swelling bay of its round waiting room, located in the "elbow" of the L-shaped building.
34 sheets
(plans, elevations, details, site plan on 11 sheets) : sepia and blue line prints : various sizes. Scale varies.
(plans, details, sections, schedules on 6 sheets) : sepia prints ; 26 x 37 in. Scale varies.
(17 sheets)
Plans for small, frame railroad depot, early 20th century.
8 sheets
(Measured drawings of existing building: perspective, details, electrical plan, elevations, floor plan, foundation plan, plot plan, site plan on 8 sheets) : pencil on vellum ; 12 x 18 in. Scale varies.
No. 813. American Architect and Building News. Print shows exterior view of hotel, enhanced with water colors. Copyright 1891 Ticknor & Co. Heliotype Printing Co.
No. 817. American Architect and Building News. Print shows exterior view of hotel, enhanced with water colors. Copyright 1891 Ticknor & Co. Heliotype Printing Co.
The South Building was constructed on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill between 1798 and 1814. Extensive additions to the campus in the 1920s included the remodeling of South Building, which stood at the northern end of a new north/south quadrangle. Under the direction of the New York architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White, supervising architect Arthur Nash and engineer Thomas C. Atwood were responsible for many of the new buildings and alterations made on UNC's campus during this period.
Alterations to the South Building included the addition of a portico on the south facade, as well as new doorways and classical ornamentation.
24 sheets
(plans, elevations, sections and details on 24 sheets) : black line prints ; most approximately 30 x 37 in.
The neo-classical D.H. Hill Library was designed by Hobart Upjohn and built in 1926. Following the Library's relocation to a new building on central campus in the mid 1950's, the building became the home of the School of Design and was renamed Brooks Hall in honor of former NC State College president E.C. Brooks. In 1954, F. Carter Williams designed a modernist addition in collaboration with School of Design faculty member George Matsumoto.
51 sheets
(plans, sections, and elevations on 7 sheets) : pencil on tracing paper ; 20 x 31 in.
(plans, details, sections and elevations on 5 sheets) : pencil on vellum ; 25 x 36 in
(working drawings on 39 sheets) : pencil on vellum and sepia print ; 25 x 36 in.
No. 888. American Architect and Building News. Print shows exterior view of City Hall, enhanced with water colors. Copyright 1892 Ticknor & Co. Heliotype Printing Co., Boston.
Gothic-detailed skyscraper with arcade base designed in 1926. The arcade was completed in 1929, but the tower was never built.
1 sheet
1 blue line print ; 46 x 24 in. No scale given.
The Haywood Store Building was constructed in Raleigh in 1925 to replace several earlier commercial buildings. The simple 3-story brick and steel structure featured space for stores on the ground floor, and unpartitioned spaces above.
The ground floor facade was redesigned in the popular Art Deco style for Fallon's Florist around 1942.
ca. 40 items
(plans on 1 sheet) : blue print ; 21 x 32 in. (3 copies, 2 with annotations)
(site plan on 1 sheet) : pencil (?) and ink on drawing paper ; 18 x 24 in.
(entrance plan and elevation on 1 sheet) : blue print ; 19 x 17 in.
(plan and elevation on 1 sheet) : pencil on paper; 22 x 20 in.
(11 sheets) : blue prints, some annotated ; various sizes.
(elevation on 1 sheet) : 1 photostat and 3 blueprints ; various sizes.
(3 items)
Architect Paul Rudolph described the modernist Burroughs Wellcome Building as a "man made extension of the ridge upon which it is built." With its many angled set-backs and overhangs, the building was expressly designed to accomadate additions to any section without compromising the integrity of the original design.
6 folders
3 copies
(photocopy)
5 color photographs of scale model.
Black and white photographs of building, model, and renderings. Color photograph of rendering. Negative of rendering.
Black and white photograph of architect. Black and white photographs of building dedication. Negatives.
1.5 inch medallion with Burroughs Wellcome Building represented on one side and unicorn on the other.
The collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice.
For more information contact us via mail, phone, or our web form.
Mailing address:
Special Collections Research Center
Box 7111
Raleigh, NC, 27695-7111
Phone: (919) 515-2273
[Identification of item], North Carolina Buildings Collection, MC 00225, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.