On October 15th 2019, the Greensboro City Council designated the Groome-Shevel Building at 532-534 South Elm Street a Guilford County Landmark property. Landmark designation means the community recognizes the property is worthy of preservation because of its special significance in local history. Any substantial changes in design, materials, and appearance to the property is subject…
DetailsGreensboro has a century-old love affair with the architecture of old England. Considering our revolutionary spat here in 1781, the affection might appear ironic, but Greensboro has long held an interest in antiquities and craftsmanship, and it is likely from these roots, not nationalism, from which our interest grew. Greensboro’s Tudor-style houses are part of…
DetailsOn September 15, 1875, the Greensboro Patriot newspaper announced “Mr. Eugene Morehead has tendered the city the right of way for several beautiful streets over his lands on the South-Western limits of the city. This is right and soon we may expect to see houses going up in that quarter. The city has had the…
DetailsThe western quadrant of Greensboro grew quickly in the late nineteenth century. Residential and commercial growth followed jobs spurred by prime industrial sites adjacent to the North Carolina Railroad and thoroughfares with access to Jamestown and High Point. In 1893, the state established the State Normal and Industrial School (today UNCG) in the area, representing…
DetailsMost in Greensboro celebrate the fact that North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T) is the largest historically black university in the nation, and most recognize it is a well-regarded public land grant university for research in areas of engineering, biomedical engineering, and technology. Fewer people realize that A&T’s campus is composed of a…
DetailsAnn Eliza Lindsay Morehead is better known by her married name, Mrs. John Motley Morehead. Morehead was the first North Carolina governor to serve two terms, and remains a high-profile figure in state history. However, his somewhat elusive wife led a fascinating life that in ways exceeded her husband’s in associations with Guilford County history,…
DetailsThe third of a three-part series reviewing the history of apartment housing in Greensboro. By 1940, Greensboro was evolving from a small city to a regional industrial and insurance center by experiencing dramatic increase in population – surging from 10,035 in 1900 to 59,319 in 1940. In growing into the 3rd largest municipality in North…
DetailsThe second of a three-part series reviewing the history of apartment housing in Greensboro. The completion of the Vick Apartments on East Fisher Avenue in 1919 – the first exclusively residential apartment building in the city – proved the market for non-single family housing was strong. A flurry of other apartment houses followed, including the…
DetailsThe first of a three-part series reviewing the history of apartment housing in Greensboro. As a county seat and college town during the nineteenth century, Greensboro saw little need historically for multi-family apartments. That began to change as the city attained great wealth through insurance, chemicals, and textiles, growing to become the fourth largest city…
DetailsGreensboro’s earliest buildings rarely soared to dizzying heights due to low market demand and frugal financial capital. Traditional building materials such as wood and brick generally limited construction height to three stories, except for an occasional courthouse cupola or church spire. Early images of Greensboro’s skyline show structures peeking around treetops, with rare architectural features…
DetailsOne hundred years ago, it was a center of Greensboro’s social scene, but today the rustic Edgewood Estate sits empty after a period of neglect. It stands ready for a new owner to restore the formerly rural retreat to its next chapter in history. Located in the middle of a suburban block at 111 Arden…
DetailsMany of the region’s great gardens began as private rural estates that were away from the distractions and distresses of city life. Reynolda House for the Reynolds family of Winston Salem NC (1917), Cason and Virginia Callaway’s garden in Pine Mountain GA (1952), and Lewis Ginter’s Botanical Garden in Richmond VA (1984) are all examples…
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