The History of the Triangle

[Oakie]

Mr Brown.

This house on South Street in Boylans Heights looks to be older than the the neighborhood itself (the 1900 date listed I know is just a sort of autofill I see all over the site, but is still older than 1907 the neighborhood date). This is of course in addition to the antebellum house (carriage house?) behind Montford Hall. The South Street house appears 1890's to me. Do you know any details? Thanks.

I'm not Mr. Brown, but from the Boylan Heights website, 805 W. South was "built in 1900 on Hillsborough Street and then moved to it’s present site in 1903/04, making it the second house in Historic Boylan Heights"... It's a great house -

http://www.boylanheights.org/trivia1.html

[Jones_]

Great thanks. I will now have to figure out where on Hillsborough it was moved from. Also, I am about 100% sure its the *third* oldest. Montford Hall is of course the oldest but there is a house...possibly a converted carriage house...behind Montford that is most likely antebellum. Had a conversation with some better architecture historians than myself who toured it while it was for sale and they said the building techniques were indeed antebellum. To me the window sashes, and floor boards all look just like other known antebellum homes downtown (only a dozen or so). Post civil war stuff gets victorian looking pretty quickly (though a couple still look antebellum, but Mr. Brown pegged those particular dates in the 1870's ...two in Oakwood noted much earlier in the thread)

[Jones_]

I'm not Mr. Brown, but from the Boylan Heights website, 805 W. South was "built in 1900 on Hillsborough Street and then moved to it’s present site in 1903/04, making it the second house in Historic Boylan Heights"... It's a great house -

http://www.boylanhei...rg/trivia1.html

I thought something was fishy...its very rare for a house to be moved 3 years after it was built, plus the Boylan Ave bridge was probably still wooden in 1903 and would not have supported it....so I checked the 1914 Sanborn map and there is nothing on this lot in 1914. It was certainly moved in (its older than the rest of the neighborhood) but it came in later....maybe a typo? The apartments all along Hillsborough Street (Cameron Ct, Grosvenor etc) were built in the 1930's and caused a lot of homes to be torn down. At least one was moved into Cameron Park when the Credit Union was built in the 70's or 80's). Perhaps this home in Boylan was moved the 1930's...? Need to dig more...

[Gard]

Triangle Business Journal has some really nice pictures up today of the beltline in it's early years, along with Capital blvd:

http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2012/03/13/slideshow-historic-photos-of-major.html?s=image_gallery&img_no=1

[Jones_]

I recently got a hold of a treasure trove of similar pictures (slides really) from the early 70's. The government complex being graded, areas around the beltline interchanges etc. I hope to digitize them one day and make a flickr album.

[orulz]

It sits in the middle of Charlie Gaddy's larger parcel and the day I trepassed it looked occupied though needed a paint job. It does appear to be recognized as historic on the land classification. Here is the tax sheet but no pic other than the driveway. The date of construction differs a little from source to source and varies from 1790 to 1820. WIth the leaves off teh trees you can see it easily if you drove up Wake Towne Drive and pulled off and looked left.

edit: man, I missed this article...I did not realize Charlie Gaddy died. Article has a picture.

Clearly, the property has been sold, as it is planned for the house to be razed (maybe moved I guess but I'm not optimistic) and a 243 unit apartment complex called the Jones Grant apartments.

[Jones_]

Pretty sure the tree conservation area has the house in it. It is pretty visible on a small separate lot on the first page of the site plan...

[Gard]

N&O has an article this morning on this. The developer will be paying to have the house moved and be providing captital to have it restored. They are working with local preservationists, according to the article, to find a suitable home for the house. http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/09/19/2354544/raleigh-historic-home-to-be-moved.html

[Jones_]

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/09/28/2375823/classic-downtown-raleigh-building.html

I always knew there were two buildings under the stucco, just wasn't sure what they looked like. The 3 story one looks exactly like Raleigh Times, which makes sense, since they are both from 1906. The adjacent 2 story building may be a tad older but I haven't had a look at it yet...

[Raleighmark]

Does anyone know where Sanders Motor Company was located prior to the building Artspace is in now?

This would have been right after relocating from Smithfield.

[Jones_]

Sanborn 1950 Sheet 25 (Martin-Blount).pdfPretty sure it was directly across from Artspace on Blount as well. I'll check some pics I have and post anything that would verify that. I added another view of the building that shows two adjacent buildings and a Sanborn map from the late 40's I think. It's still a little tough to match in the case (not always this ambiguous) but the ramp inside the center of the building on the map is clearly seen on your photo. I am pretty sure this building was standing until a few years ago but and a modern garage door facade added. Stored in it were parts of the Commercial Bank Building that once stood at Wilmington and Martin where Oro is gothic details I was told. Anyway, when the Sanders altered building was torn down it clearly had 100+ year old wide plank flooring in the rubble....total shame...all the character was there...a replica facade could have been put back on and wala..awesome art studios, or lofts or whatever...

Edited February 2, 2013 by Jones133

[Gard]

It's official, the Crabtree Jones house will be moved!  The house is being donated to Preservation North Carolina and PNC is buying the  house a lot, ensuring that it will be around for a long time to come.

 

http://www.northraleighnews.com/2013/01/29/23779/historic-crabtree-jones-house.html

Edited February 10, 2013 by Gard

[Jones_]

Thanks for the link. Too bad some archeologists can't come in and dig a few trenches too....the Civil war era Camp Crabtree was centered around this house and I imagine relics abound. 

Edited February 10, 2013 by Jones133

[DanRNC]

Glad they saved the house, not glad about this development as it sounds like they are going to thrash and burn more land to slap up some typical Raleigh shlock. 

[Jones_]

I've never seen the full plan. Interesting to see what actually got built and what didn't. 

http://www.historicoakwood.org/pdf/NCStateCapitalPlan1965.pdf

[ctl]

Remarkable!

[ambermae]

Hi all,

I just caught up on this fascinating thread and I hope someone is still reading! I'll be holding the rdubaton Instagram account in a few weeks and I am hoping to do a photo tour of pre-1800s sites in the Triangle. So far my list includes Yates Mill, the Joel Lane House, Mordecai House, Wake Crossroads (marker), the Colonial Drive house in Garner thanks to this thread, and my own stab at where Isaac Hunters Tavern was located. I've also considered driving out to Hillsborough to talk about the Constitutional Convention in 1788.

Are there any other pre- or early- Raleigh sites I shouldn't miss? Does anyone know much about any Native American presence in the area in the 18th century? I'm hoping to get through the account of John Lawson's voyages before then, but that still leaves an almost 100 year gap and might not be so relevant.

By the way, the Nathaniel Crabtree Jones house has been moved to Hilmer Dr. Here is an article: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/04/3591116/historic-raleigh-house-gets-a.html

[Green_man]

Oak View Park off of Poole Road just outside the beltline.

[Jones_]

I love rdubaton...thanks for doing a historic tour. I'll try to help some and may add to this later....the oldest known grave in in Wake County is that of John Martin (1740's). The stone is still in the Wakefield subdivision right next to a main road (forget its name) sort of behind the high school somewhere. It was moved there from its original site. Also in Raleigh itself on the New Bern Ave stub, The White house (1799) and Haywood House (1800) sit across from each other. Forestville NC has roots going back to the 1700's and I think a little set of buildings that more or less equals a house dates from that period. It has little stone walls on the property. Also the white house near it (has a modern auction house attached) could be 1700's. There is one on Forestville Road at I think the intersection of Ligon Mill (could be 401 too...been a while) with a sign out front giving the age of 1770 though the house sits way back from the road. Forestville Road has a couple more I think are that old as well but I don't have proof. The recently moved Crabtree Jones house at the bell line and Wake Forest Road has evidence it could be from as long ago as 1790. The Crenshaw house at NC 98 has a rear block from the 1700's too. Old Stage road has one more before the colonial drive house that looks to be about 1800 on the left when heading south. Joel Lane's brother's house was moved from Cary to Ebenezer Church Road and dates from the late 1700's too. I believe the Nancy Jones house in Cary on 54 heading to Morrisville is about 1800. Anyway I know this is rambling (on my way to the office) and short on location details. I'll try to get out my stack of notes. I also recommend at least flipping through the Elizabeth Reid Murray history of Wake County which is for sale at the City Museum and NC History Museum. 

More to come from me hopefully....

[Jones_]

Oak View Park off of Poole Road just outside the beltline.

That's 1850's I think

[Oakie]

There's also a tripartite house on the corner of MLK and Person St. (222 MLK) that dates to 1801 - though heavily modified. It and the lovely Italianate right next door are slated for eventual demo unless someone moves them offsite.

 

A couple of blocks up on S. Street - just across from Shaw - there's also the Rogers-Bagley-Daniels-Pegues House, which dates to 1855.

 

http://capitalareapreservation.com/th_gallery/rogers-bagley-daniels-pegues-house/

[Jones_]

Oh right....that little farmhouse really is under the radar. The Italianette is attributed to the Briggs I think. I also forgot about Ransom Sutherland, a Revolutionary colonel. His house off Capital Blvd was only built around 1830 or so, but it has intact slave housing and his grave is in the former golf course next to it near its entrance. No a 1700's house, but there is that revolutionary connection. 

[ctl]

Triangle Business Journal reports (http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2014/04/15/prominent-glenwood-avenue-building-to-be-razed-for.html) that the former site of Raleigh Orthopedics on ITB Glenwood between I-440 and Glen Eden will be torn down. It's one of the Modernist buildings, designed by Milton Small and Jim Brandt, that characterized Raleigh's architecture in the 1950s and 1960s. It opened in 1962 for the Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company.

 

The property owners are within their rights, and it may be that the building cannot readily be repurposed or has structural problems. But I hate to see another piece of Raleigh's Modernist history bite the dust.

[ambermae]

Thanks for all of the replies! I am very interested in finding the grave of John Martin but I'm not familiar with the Wakefield subdivision. Is it the same as Wakefield Plantation? Pardon my ignorance.

I drive on Ebenezer Church Road every day. Which is the Lane brother's house?

Also, I used to go to grad school with a person who was working on the freed slave community at Oberlin (where Cameron Village is now). I seem to remember her saying that Joel Lane's slave's quarters were originally located back there. Does anyone know about that?

[Jones_]

Here is a link with the location of the consolidated cemeteries in Wakefield. The website does not mention John Martin, but I am fairly certain John Martin has a headstone in there (it's also possible I mean William Martin...I was a teenager when I last was up there . I have read material referring to his cemetery plot straddling the old falls road which was east of the current old falls road. Anyway. its cool to see eve nit was moved. The Lane-Bennett house is at 7408 Ebenezer Church road. 

Most of the land that is now Oberlin was owned by the Camerons when the civil war ended. The Cameron house was where Cameron Court (plantation down Hillsborough St from the Lanes) is now and but it was built in the 1830's so it's possible all of their land once belonged to the Lanes. Joel Lane himself was buried behind Moonlight Pizza (moved to City Cemetery now next to the fire station) . As a large slaveholder he surely would have had a large slave graveyard. It is possible the Oberlin freedmen just continued using an existing cemetery that was Lanes slave cemetery. That is the oral tradition anyway.