Upcoming Events

This walking tour has been postponed to an undetermined date. Traces of nineteenth-century history linger on the edges of the Summit Avenue neighborhood (recently renamed Dunleath), but the greatest architectural legacy dates from the early twentieth-century. In 1898, industrialist siblings Ceasar and Moses Cone constructed a “magnificent boulevard” to ease transportation between their cotton and denim mills and the city center. Named “Summit Avenue” for its destination to the crossroads community of Brown Summit, the avenue was quickly lined with…

This walking tour has been postponed to an undetermined date. South of the railroad tracks are a variety of shops, galleries, and restaurants that were constructed beginning in the 1870s by Joseph Shields. Named Shieldstown, the structures overlooking South Elm Street featured brick storefronts sporting ornate iron- and stone-trimmed facades, and elaborate cornices. Today, the neighborhood and adjacent areas are a vibrant mixed-use neighborhood that contain landmark Victorian-Era homes and Neo-Traditional urban designs. This is one of many tours across…

Announced in 1914, West Market Terrace was developed by Greensboro realtor E. Colwell Jr. Encouraged by sales in the Fisher Park neighborhood, this new subdivision included 200 building lots with amenities such as broad concrete sidewalks, and “utility lanes” behind properties to preserve streetside aesthetics. Sixty lots were sold in 14 days, but development was suspended by World War I. Large-scale construction began in spring 1919, with residential styles ranging from exotic Craftsman, Spanish, and Asian bungalows to traditional Colonial…

As Greensboro grew to become the second largest city in North Carolina by 1970, the city gained affluence through income from textiles, cigarettes, electronics, banking, and insurance. Wealth and prosperity led to corporate confidence which translated into progressive designs that drew from global conversations on architecture. For the decades between 1930 and 1980, Greensboro was recognized as a symbol of the New South, and the New South was illustrated by modern architecture. Preservation Greensboro's Benjamin Briggs will lead the tour of…

Beginning with the magnificent neoclassical Double Oaks Bed & Breakfast at 204 North Mendenhall Street, this tour will weave the history of Westerwood from the late nineteenth century to the present. Built on a hill just a west of Greensboro’s village center, the area was first developed in the 1890s as the home of B. H. Merrimon. His home, known as The Cedars, was among Greensboro’s most exuberant Queen Anne homes. It stood until the 1960s. Property surrounding The Cedars…

Since its establishment as a primary and secondary school in 1873, Bennett College has grown to one of the most important Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in North Carolina. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was one of the few schools in the city that provided education beyond the primary grades for black children. Following a major reorganization in 1926, it phased out its coeducational secondary school program and became a four-year women’s college. It remains…

In 1922, developer A. K. Moore acquired a 212-acre tract of land with a unique location in Greensboro. The land was located at the western terminus of Market Street – the city’s primary east-west thoroughfare that provided an axis and direct access to the center of the city. In contrast to the man-made east-west axis of West Market Street, a neighborhood park provided a natural north-south axis to afford recreational and play space. To facilitate development, Moore hired architect Lorenzo…