NC Libraries Receive Grant to Make Architectural Drawings Available Online

Contact: David Hiscoe , NCSU Libraries, (919) 513-3425

The North Carolina State University Libraries, in conjunction with the J. Murrey Atkins Library at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the North Carolina State Archives, has received a substantial grant to digitize 3,831 architectural drawings and 923 photographs documenting approximately 730 buildings constructed from 1900 to 1940.

Titled Beaux Arts to Modernism: Early Twentieth Century Architecture in North Carolina, the project will digitize drawings of Richard C. Biberstein, Martin E. Boyer, Eric G. Flannagan, Northup & O’Brien, and Herbert Woodley Simpson—five architects/architectural firms who designed important and representative buildings of the time period. This project will create an online resource available to scholars, educators, students, and the general public.

The period covered by this project was an important one in North Carolina history. A large number of buildings were constructed as the state saw significant urban growth and industrial expansion. Many of the buildings from this period still stand today and are of interest to architects, historians, preservationists, and the general public. The early twentieth century also saw the professionalization of architecture with the establishment of an academic architecture program at NC State University, the creation of professional organizations, and the licensing of the profession by the state.

The New South economy demanded new and specialized building types reflecting complex functions: factories, skyscrapers, mill villages, suburban houses, apartment buildings, auditoriums, hospitals, and other structures. Also during this era such buildings as city halls, post offices, courthouses, train stations, hotels, and churches were treated more prominently than in previous times. Civic boosters wanted “showpieces,” and the architects obliged with buildings in styles then popular in the United States—first various historically based styles (Beaux Arts, Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Craftsman, Moravian Revival, etc.) and later Art Deco and Modernist styles.

Richard C. Biberstein and his firm (which became Biberstein, Bowles, Meacham & Reed) were important designers of mills and other industrial buildings. Their work includes Nantucket Mills (Eden) and the Nebel Knitting Mill (Charlotte).

Martin E. Boyer was a designer of prestigious residences in Charlotte’s Myers Park and other early suburbs. He also planned the reconstruction of the Mint Museum in the 1930s.

Eric G. Flannagan designed Henderson High School, Lee County Hospital, and a variety of other buildings, especially schools, colleges, and hospitals in small towns in the Piedmont and eastern regions of the state.

Northup & O'Brien were the architects of numerous buildings in the state’s major cities, including Graylyn in Winston-Salem, Durham’s Snow Building, and the Department of Justice Building in Raleigh. Northup developed the “Moravian Revival” style based on historic North Carolina precedents.

Herbert Woodley Simpson designed stately homes, churches, and commercial buildings in Greenville, New Bern, and other eastern North Carolina communities.

Beaux Arts to Modernism will create a single web resource that will facilitate research that compares the work of different architects or different buildings of a single city or across regions. Researchers will be spared the time and distance of traveling to Charlotte and Raleigh, as well as the cost of making photocopies. Through this digitization project, patrons will also be able to access materials that they might not otherwise be able to view at the libraries and archives because of their fragility and size. The project will result in less handling of the original drawings and photographs, thus ensuring their preservation.

In addition to the online drawings and photographs, Beaux Arts to Modernism will also feature virtual 3D models of 30–35 buildings. Created with Google Sketchup™ software, the virtual models will provide researchers a unique way to study these historic buildings without actually visiting the sites. The web site will also feature maps to indicate locations of buildings, timelines of architects and buildings, and K-12 educational resources.

“We are proud to join our colleagues and capitalize on the strengths of the NCSU Libraries’ Special Collections in architecture and design,” says Susan Nutter, Vice Provost and Director of Libraries at NC State University. “We will build something that will be invaluable to those—both scholars and the general public—who love the transformative work that North Carolina architects did in the last century.”

Beaux Arts to Modernism will draw upon the success of other architectural history resources developed by the NCSU Libraries. The Built Heritage of North Carolina: Historic Architecture in the Old North State project digitized 5,401 slides and photographs and 2,710 drawings documenting buildings primarily constructed in the 1700s and 1800s. The NCSU Libraries has also created North Carolina Architects and Builders , an online biographical dictionary that highlights hundreds of the architects and builders responsible for North Carolina's architectural culture for more than 300 years.

Beaux Arts to Modernism: Early Twentieth Century Architecture in North Carolina is made possible, by funding from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources. For more information, please contact Todd Kosmerick, University Archivist, at todd_kosmerick@ncsu.edu or (919)513-3673.