askmisterbrown

You're right, Jones, the Ellen Mordecai house clearly faced N. Boundary St. It must have been a brand new street, as it does not appear on the 1872 Drie bird's-eye view. By the way, N. Boundary St., often called just Boundary St., was originally "North Boundary" St., with the emphasis on the first word. The old directories spell it out as North Boundary, whereas they abbreviate N. Blount, N. Person, N. Bloodworth, etc. There was a South Boundary St., but of course they were not connected, and both ran east-west.

You have a good eye, Jones. The two houses you mention do look antebellum, but they were actually built shortly after the war. As Raleigh was always at least ten years behind architecturally, it makes sense. 318 N. Boundary St., the Ellen Mordecai house, was built around 1874. It is in the North Carolina vernacular style, with Greek Revival details. The Greek Revival was already out of fashion by 1874. Ellen Mordecai was the daughter of Moses Mordecai, the prominent landowner and lawyer. The house originally faced Person St., on the northeast corner of N. Boundary St. It was moved to its current location in 1934 by Carlyle Sykes, who nearly lost control of it going down that steep hill. 530 E. Jones St., the Andrew Syme House, was built around 1875. It is also in the North Carolina vernacular style, but with

The Theophilus Snow house at 6 N. Bloodworth St. dates to about 1840. It originally faced New Bern Ave., and had a large front yard. Elizabeth Love turned it to its present orientation around 1915 when she built her new house on the NE corner of New Bern & Bloodworth. Here is a photo from wakegov: http://services.wakegov.com/realestate/Pho...;pin=1703898286

This was the magnificent Kline & Lazarus Department Store, at which was sold "Clothing, Dry Goods, Shoes, Hats, Gents' Furnishings and Ladies' Ready to Wear." At its peak, Kline & Lazarus occupied all the bays, plus the building on the corner of Hargett. I happen to know this because Jacob Kline lived in my house on E. Lane St. His business partner and brother-in-law Goodman Lazarus lived across the street. In the early 20th Century, the 500 and 600 blocks of E. Lane St. were called "Little Jerusalem" and were populated by Jewish merchants and their families, mostly immigrants from Eastern Europe. Bravo to Empire Properties for another wonderful project!

I agree that it would be great to have a botanical garden on Dix Hill. It is a much better site than the current site of the Raulston Arboretum, for a number of reasons: Dix has a beautiful landscape, with hills, flat areas, and a creek. The current Arboretum is mostly a large flat area, with no interesting landforms. Dix Hill is near downtown, near other attractions, and has great views. The current arboretum is in a light industrial area, next to the noisy Beltline, away from any other attractions, except of course for Neomonde. But the Arboretum, wonderful as it is, is only partly a show garden. It is also a place for the Horticulture school to experiment with plants and teach horticulture. Beauty, therefore, is a secondary object, unlike the more gorgeous Duke Gardens. At the Arboretum, wonderful plants are sometimes pulled up just to make room for new plants the school wants to try out. And while individual parts of the Arboretum are nicely designed, there never was much of an overall design for the place. Therefore, I believe that a Botanical Garden on Dix Hill would not replace the Arboretum, but supplement it, as a showplace for landscape design as well as horticulture.

Remember the Oak City Diner that used to be on Old Wake Forest Rd? And there is still the Oak City Baptist Church on Method Rd. Well, I was snooping around some Raleigh city directories from around 100 years ago, and found: the Oak City Mills (cornmeal), the Oak City Manufacturing Co. (clothing), the Oak City Steam Laundry, the Oak City Club, and even the Oak City Brass Band. I can only conclude that our nickname used to be "Oak City," which is much better than "City of Oaks," our current nickname. I wonder why it was changed? Perhaps someone thought "City of Oaks" more elegant (wrong criterion) or perhaps because there is actually an Oak City in Martin County, population 313 (too small). Let's go back to "Oak City!" A sampling of city nicknames: Durham

Hobby Properties have begun renovating the old shopping center at the corner of Franklin St. and Person St. Plans for demolition and redevelopment have been abandoned. But at least there will be some businesses here. They are going to renovate the four buildings around the corner facing Blount St. into nice duplexes, which is what they were built as. Meanwhile, five blocks north at the corner of Wake Forest Rd. and Chestnut St., the owners of the empty Blue Dolphin Motel are planning to renovate it into ten office suites of various sizes, from 196 square feet to 1164 square feet. Construction should begin this fall, and finish next summer.

So true, one little ol

While I am in favor of density, it is not an altar to be worshipped at. This site is just one block away from beautiful historic single-family homes that should be preserved. 13 stories and 290 units is too much. University Park and especially Cameron Park are among Raleigh's greatest treasures, and it is not in Raleigh's interest to threaten them. Clark Ave. to the west and Oberlin Rd. further north are two-lane roads with beautiful historic homes on both sides. These roads should not and cannot be widened. There are hundreds of sites inside the beltline on which a 13-story, 290- unit building would be appropriate; this is not one of them. As rjgeary states, the issue is precedent. The City can't say that a 13-story building is OK here, and the rest of the area is limited to 2 stories. The small-area plan was well thought out; it was adopted; it needs to be followed.

Great photos, DPK! It would be great if State would restore the tower on Tompkins Hall. State has so few outstanding historical buildings, they should not miss this opportunity to recreate one that was partially lost. Regarding Greg Hatem: He deserves every recognition he can get and more. He is Raleigh's MVC (most valuable citizen) as far as I'm concerned, for all his renovations and for the life and interest he has added to downtown.

I don't believe the house up on the hill behind the Ham & Egger was very old. It was probably built in the 1940s or early 1950s. It was nice, though, with a winding driveway, old oaks, and boxwoods.

Only, you describe the situation exactly. Furthermore, Hobby Properties got the nearby neighborhoods to go to bat for them on the grounds that Hobby was "revitalizing a blighted eyesore." Well, the only reason it was a blighted eyesore is that Hobby kicked out all the tenants, cut down all the trees, and let the buildings rot. The duplexes are actually interesting and unusual International Style buildings. The shopping center was not high-end, but was not "blighted" before Hobby bought it. Now I suppose they'll hold onto it until the Blount St. project is done and the value increases. What a shame.

Thanks for the picture, Chief. As the new building will be next to the post office, I suppose that fabulous stone and half-timber Tudor Revival house will also be torn down. It is not one of the three houses owned by the developer in the story. So really four beautiful historic houses will be torn down. Yet those ugly, non-historic gas stations and audio place will remain. What a shame. Where is the vision? The Baptist Church won't take the houses. They have been tearing down beautiful houses for years, the most recent on Sunset just a year or two ago. People wonder how we could have torn down so much of historic Raleigh. "We just didn't appreciate historic architecture back in the 50s and 60s . . . and 70s and 80s and 90s and early 21st Century."

I think it would be a crime to bulldoze those beautiful historic houses on Fairview Rd. I think the entire street would be threatened if these dominoes fell. It is one of the most beautiful and architecturally distinctive streets in Raleigh. I am for smart growth, but smart must not mean that we worship at the altar of increased density and allow Raleigh's character to be destroyed.