329 replies to this topic

[Flash]

Raleigh circa 1909:

>>>>>

>>>>>


You would think that with Raleigh's early advantage on steel and glass highrises that we would have gotten a little further by now.  

Edited by ChiefJoJo, 24 January 2007 - 01:56 PM.

[monsoon]

Wait!  How did that skyscraper get into that photo?

[DigitalSky]

who knew Raleigh was so ahead of the times

[Spartan]

lol, you'd think that Raleigh would get a little more credit for having the tallest building in the world back then

[Raleighmark]

Here are a group of photos I scanned showing Raleigh around 1991 when several project were being built. I apologize in advance for the graininess of the pics.

Here is a photo taken from the parking deck next to the bus transfer facility showing the cranes getting ready to start construction on the First Union building.




Same parking deck, camera rotated to the left to show the Raleigh Federal building and the Wachovia building.




Same deck, camera rotated further left showing the former First Citizens building (RIP) razed to make way for a possible tower. Also note the BB&T logo on the 333 corporate building and the under construction Wake County Saftey Center (jail).




Several months later, looking North up Salisbury Street from the deck across from the Sheraton, showing the nearing completion First Union building.




A little closer look.




Turning your attention to the south where another tower was going up.




View from the municipal parking deck to the north of city hall showing York Hannover 2 (BB&T) building rising in the background.




This is the backside of the Montague building. Built in 1903 I believe, this building was built in response to suggestions that the State Capitol be relocated to Greensboro because Raleigh was to bucolic. Thats the Federal building in the background.




Looking East on Hargett Street. That's the Montague building on the left.




Hargett Street looking West. Notice the city is transitioning from traffic lights on wires to traffic lights on poles.




The old Briggs hardware building. There was still a hardware store in the bottom then.




I like this photo. It gives Raleigh a dense look.




Raleigh's Capitol Club Building.




Overlooking the warehouse distric, that's the John Yancey in the background.




Same view, zoomed out.




Looking northwest from the municipal parking deck. The Morgan on Dawson condos occupy the parking lot to the left now.




Looking North on S Wilmington Street towards the back of the city market area. Progress Energy owns the land to the left, hopefully we'll see something go up there soon.




Looking North on Salisbury Street past the almost completed Wake County Safety Center. There used to be a theatre in the bottom of the 8 story building named either the State or the Ambassador (someone help me out here) My Dad used to work in this building as a CP&L employee in the 70’s. I used to climb up to the elevator room and out a window onto the roof as a kid  




Backside of the city market, pre Greenshields (RIP)




I don't know, I just always liked this photo.




Here's a backside view of the former First Citizens Building (RIP)




And a close up of what we once had.


Shame isn't it.

And last a view from the Boylan Street Bridge.





I hope youve enjoyed this historical tour of downtown.  

Edited by Raleighmark, 26 June 2005 - 07:16 PM.

[capitalapts]

Great stroll down memory lane, Raleighmark.  

It makes the past 14 years seem impressive, with the downtown additions that have taken place in the interim.

[Flash]

Fantastic thread Raleighmark.  I absolutely love threads like this.  I've never seen pictures of Raleigh from this era (and I didn't live here then).  I particularly like seeing BB&T and First Union under construction.

Thanks so much for scanning and posting these!

I noticed in this picture: http://www.pbase.com...80480/large.jpg

that there was also a builing razed for a parking lot, and billboards downtown.

[Subway Scoundrel]

The theater in the building you asked about was "The State".   It was a single big theater with a balcony.  Of course, I was a child and maybe it was not that big.   The Ambassador was on Fayetteville St. near the capital (115 Fayetteville St.) and across Fay. St from (the backside) the Olivia Raney Library.

[Jones133]

I noticed two other buildings demolished too....there is a 1950's style motel accross from the Holiday Inn that is now a parking lot and lost in the collossal loss of the First Citizens Bank (Historically the Commercial National Bank circa 1912), a building fronting Fayetteville Mall with 1870's style architecture was also demolished...it was 4 or 5 stories and looked similar to the Briggs building, only several bays wider. Great show!!!

[NCMike1981]

Hey I just read a thread where someone had some pics of the old downtown Charlotte Belks when it was opened, so I figured, for the heck of it, that I'd see if any1 happened to have any pics of the Belks that was in downtown Raleigh before it closed in the mid '90's. I'm sure at some point I saw it but I can't for the life of me remember what it looks like, and now all I can seem to find is pictures of "The Hudson", it's replacement. Also, can any1 scrounge up any pics of old downtown Raleigh, or Durham for that matter, department stores before they fled to the suburbs? I'd also like to post the question: How did Belks survive downtown over two decades since it opened suburban locations in Raleigh? Did it stay semi profitable until the mid '90's or did they simply hold onto the location? Was it really outdated by the mid '90's? and how many floors was it....

Ok since I asked my 20 questions I'm gonna stop now hehe

[NCMike1981]

I found an article from the Triangle Business Journal from 1996 which mentions the closing of McCrory's Dept Store in downtown Raleigh, as well as the closing of Briggs Hardware. It would appear that the closing of Belks created a mini domino effect on the remaining businesses downtown...

http://triangle.bizj.../14/story2.html


I've gathered more info, thanks to the great archives at TBJ....

-downtown Belks was 185,000 sq ft
-closed January 1995
-downtown office vacancy rate was 13% in 1997, the highest in all of the Triangle (I know, pretty irrelevant but interesting side fact)
-as of August of 1997 Belk still owned the building and employed 75 administrative type ppl there

Edited by NCMike1981, 14 July 2005 - 10:09 PM.

[StevenRocks]

Hudson Belk was the anchor of the downtown shopping district.  When it closed, it did send a ripple effect through the downtown area.  As a company, McCrory's was in pretty deep finanical trouble when that store closed, so Hudson Belk's departure was only part of the reason that store died.

Part of the reason Hudson Belk held on for so long is that it was still doing somewhat decent business for a downtown store and the Hudsons, who owned half of Hudson Belk at the time, were trying to be good corporate citizens by keeping a store open in their home downtown.

Edited by StevenRocks, 14 July 2005 - 09:50 PM.

[NCMike1981]

I searched for literally several hours online last night and found no pics of pre Hudson condos Belks in downtown....I know they gotta be somewhere....come on guys help me out here! :-p

[Raleighmark]

The best I can do is picture of the backside facing Wilmington Street. You can see the sign on the white building. I think the striped building was part of Belk’s also. There was a tunnel under the street to connect to the building across the street where the toys were. Cool stuff for a 10 year old kid in the 70’s.

[NCMike1981]

very cool...I think u've posted that pic b4 but I never even noticed Belks in it. Wierd to see Belks in downtown...2 bad they couldn't have stuck around for the impending rennaissance....

[csedwards72]

I remember seeing it in 1995, right after it closed, with the fixtures still in the store and the signs still up.  It looked kind of run-down.

[StevenRocks]

That store was remodeled to its pre-conversion form in 1964.  According to the Belk history book.  Hudson Belk spent a lot on the renovation because they wanted to remain downtown and almost didn't sign on to anchor Crabtree Valley Mall becaue they had invested so much in their flagship downtown store, which was the largest store east of Charlotte.  

If the Charlotte organization hadn't stepped in to stop the Hudsons from making what would have been a grave business mistake, Hudson Belk would have likely been in a substantially smaller store at the Townridge Shopping Center farther west on Glenwood Avenue co-anchoring with the Kmart that got blown down in a tornado in the '80s (replaced by Wal-Mart)

Anyway, after the Crabtree Valley store opened in 1972, the downtown store's sales began to slide and they stopped putting money into it, though it survived for another 22 years after the mall opened.

Edited by StevenRocks, 20 July 2005 - 05:19 PM.

[NCMike1981]

Hudson Belk was seriously contemplating putting a store in the Townridge shopping center? When? Was it around the time they opened Crabtree instead? Obviously Belks would have ended up at Crabtree eventually anyway, and the Townridge store would have closed at that point but it's wierd to think about it....

So let me get this str8, the downtown Belks wasn't remodled from 1964-1995? OMG I bet it really did look ancient by the time it closed....

[StevenRocks]

NCMike1981, on Jul 20 2005, 09:14 PM, said:

Hudson Belk was seriously contemplating putting a store in the Townridge shopping center? When? Was it around the time they opened Crabtree instead? Obviously Belks would have ended up at Crabtree eventually anyway, and the Townridge store would have closed at that point but it's wierd to think about it....

So let me get this str8, the downtown Belks wasn't remodled from 1964-1995? OMG I bet it really did look ancient by the time it closed....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, Hudson Belk was almost at Townridge.  Both Townridge and Crabtree were being planned in the late '60s.  It would have been a major mistake, because Hudson Belk probably couldn't have gotten into Crabtree until the '90s.  Miller & Rhoads would have probably been in what became the Hudson Belk spot.  M&R didn't go out of business until 1990.

Other than minor renovations over the years, the Hudson Belk downtown was pretty much vintage '60s.  It was ancient as hell.  But when you think about it though, other than the renovation they're doing now and did in the '90s, the Hudson Belk at Crabtree Valley is very much like it was in the early '80s when they added the third floor.

[avery]

I was driving up Lead Mine Road today and say another road called Mine Shaft Rd.  Does anyone know if this road has any historical meaning?  I know a lot of roads get their names because they lead to places.  I was just wondering if their were any mines located in this area?  I did find this site where a resident located an old mine shaft in Raleigh but it doesn't say where.  Also, take a look at the photo of Charlotte and look how close the mine shaft runs to Bank of America Stadium.  Any insight would be appreciated.

http://www.geology.e...es.htm#Graphite