Monastery at Large

Category: Postcards from the South

  • Postcards from the South: Auditorium and Municipal Building – Raleigh, North Carolina

    P. Thornton Marye with Frank K. Thomson. Auditorium (1911-1930). Raleigh, North Carolina. Illustration from a postcard published by James E. Thiem of Raleigh and postmarked on March 13, 1922.
    P. Thornton Marye with Frank K. Thomson. Auditorium (1911-1930). Raleigh, North Carolina. Illustration from a postcard published by James E. Thiem of Raleigh and postmarked on March 13, 1922.

    The postcards here depict the Auditorium and Municipal Building in Raleigh, North Carolina, completed in October 19111 2 3 and April 1912,4 respectively, and designed by P. Thornton Marye of Atlanta.5 6

    Frank K. Thomson7 8 of Raleigh’s Barrett & Thomson served as associate architect9 10 11 and supervised construction.12

    The two connecting structures were “erected as one”13 and constituted the first of six major projects Marye designed for Raleigh, all built between 1909 and 1915. Only one of those projects—the State Administration Building14—survives.

    Location of the Municipal Building and Auditorium

    The postcard at the top shows the Auditorium‘s facade and east elevation, flanked by the Municipal Building’s south elevation. Despite its title (“The Auditorium”), the postcard below depicts the Municipal Building, with only part of the Auditorium visible.

    The two-story buildings were faced with cream-colored brick15 16 and Indiana limestone,17 18 and topped with a tile roof.19 A 1911 article claimed the project was designed “in part on a Colonial scheme,”20 though that was plainly inaccurate. Maybe the writer meant Spanish Colonial, given the tile roof. It’s a stretch, though.

    An earlier report correctly described the style as “of the French Renaissance school”21—a.k.a. Beaux-Arts. I fully agree with that assessment, based on the buildings’ formal symmetry, dentilled cornices, and terracotta ornamentation,22 23 including shields, festoons, and decorative keystones.

    The Municipal Building housed the mayor’s office, city court and council chambers, police station, and other departments,24 25 while the Auditorium, designed in “amphi-theater form,”26 could host events for 4,50027 to 5,000 people.28 29

    The Auditorium’s interior incorporated inclined ramps instead of steps,30 31 which was apparently a novel feature, and Marye reportedly custom-designed all the building’s furniture.32

    Although he may have been closely involved in its design, I wouldn’t consider this one of Marye’s better works—based on these photographs, anyway.

    D.H. Burnham & Company. Washington Union Station (1907). Washington, D.C.

    I suspect the Auditorium’s facade was at least partly inspired by D.H. Burnham‘s design for Washington Union Station in Washington, D.C.

    Marye was a Virginia native33 who practiced for 10 years in Virginia and D.C.,34 and he designed three major train stations in the Southeast, so he was surely familiar with Washington’s.

    In the Union Station design, Burnham’s team topped the facade’s three giant arches with an absurdly high parapet to achieve visual balance. Up close, the design looks clumsy, but from a distance, it appears grand and imposing—quite fitting for a city of monuments.

    The Auditorium may have looked better from a distance, too, but these postcards suggest its parapet neither balanced the composition nor complemented the large arched bays.

    Marye clearly intended a bold, audacious design, but the low, flat roofline suppressed the arches, and in these images, both structures appear flat, boxy, and oddly languid.

    He also wrapped both buildings in an oversized cornice, a device Haralson Bleckley of Atlanta often used. It visually connected the two structures, but failed as a focal point: the eye still wanders to the blank mass above the cornice.

    It would have been much more dynamic if Marye had kept the cornice and eliminated the parapet entirely, letting the arches form the roofline, as he did to fantastic effect with the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad Passenger Station in Mobile, Alabama, and Highlands Methodist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

    P. Thornton Marye. Municipal Building (1912-1961). Raleigh, North Carolina. Photograph from an undated postcard by The Albertype Co. of Brooklyn, New York.
    P. Thornton Marye. Municipal Building (1912-1961). Raleigh, North Carolina. Photograph from an undated postcard by The Albertype Co. of Brooklyn, New York.

    As it was, the roof design was clearly problematic: less than three years after its opening, the Auditorium was already experiencing leaks that “caused a steady downpour of rain in certain sections of the immense assembly hall.”35 The building’s wooden entrance doors were also reportedly rotting.36

    Local roofers opined that “an entirely new roof should be placed on the building,”37 but of course they would say that.

    Marye was summoned by city officials to address the building’s problems,38 39 and he assured the mayor that he would “take up the matter of the repairs that are needed on the structure and that everything necessary would be attended to.”40

    What that meant for the roof is unclear, but Marye’s solution for the front doors was to cover them in metal.41 42 You have to wonder why they weren’t metal in the first place.

    It had been just over a decade since the infamous Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago, which killed over 600 people, and fire safety was still a hot topic when it came to the construction of public buildings—especially theaters.

    As Marye was attending to the Auditorium’s repairs in 1914, one article noted rather presciently:

    “…it is to be remembered that no fire escapes have ever been placed on this building, though, of course, this had nothing to do with Mr. Marye’s part of the work, and he is not expected to see to the placing of these further additions for the safety of persons who might be occupying the building at the time of an emergency.”43

    The “time of emergency” came 16 years later, when a fire destroyed the Auditorium on October 25, 1930.

    The 18-year-old facility was hosting the Negro State Fair Marshall’s Ball that evening when a blaze broke out between 11:45 and midnight. Investigators suspected the fire began in “one of the men’s dressing rooms where smoking was going on.” 44 Seems logical.

    Nearly 1,000 people were present at the event, but everyone escaped without injury, and the adjoining Municipal Building was spared as firemen used “every available piece of fire equipment in the city.”45 By the time the fire was extinguished at 1 a.m.,46 only the front wall remained standing.47

    The day after the fire, the News and Observer remarked:

    “Raleigh didn’t know how much of a fire trap it had in its midst until the city auditorium burned down. The roof crashed in within 20 minutes after the fire was discovered. Think what might have happened, if the auditorium had been crowded with people.”48

    The city quickly built a replacement venue a few blocks south—that facility, the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, still stands.

    The former Auditorium site was eventually replaced with a gas station,49 which was later converted to an annex for the municipal building, by that time known as City Hall.50 51

    With the opening of a new city hall, demolition of the Municipal Building began in November 196052 and ended in January 1961, making way for—bet you’ll never guess—a parking lot.53 54

    References

    1. “Municipal Building And The Auditorium”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 15, 1911, p. 25. ↩︎
    2. “Dedication Exercises At Raleigh Auditorium”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 17, 1911, p. 7. ↩︎
    3. “Acclaim Of Thousands Greets The Auditorium”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 18, 1911, p. 7. ↩︎
    4. ‘City “At Home” In New Building’. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), April 18, 1912, p. 5. ↩︎
    5. “Will Cost $90,000”. The Evening News (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 17, 1909, p. 1. ↩︎
    6. “A Place Of Pride For All Raleigh”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 18, 1909, p. 1. ↩︎
    7. “Raleigh’s $125,000 New City Building”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), January 27, 1910, p. 1. ↩︎
    8. “Municipal Building And The Auditorium”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 15, 1911, p. 25. ↩︎
    9. “Will Cost $90,000”. The Evening News (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 17, 1909, p. 1. ↩︎
    10. “A Place Of Pride For All Raleigh”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 18, 1909, p. 1. ↩︎
    11. “Municipal Building And The Auditorium”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 15, 1911, p. 25. ↩︎
    12. “Will Cost $90,000”. The Evening News (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 17, 1909, p. 1. ↩︎
    13. “Municipal Building And The Auditorium”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 15, 1911, p. 25. ↩︎
    14. “The New State Administration Building”. The Raleigh Daily Times (Raleigh, North Carolina), June 10, 1911, p. 1. ↩︎
    15. “Raleigh’s $125,000 New City Building”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), January 27, 1910, p. 1. ↩︎
    16. “Raleigh’s Progress In Million Dollar Figures”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), September 14, 1910, p. 2. ↩︎
    17. “Municipal Building Work.” The Evening Times (Raleigh, North Carolina), August 23, 1910, p. 8. ↩︎
    18. “Raleigh’s Progress In Million Dollar Figures”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), September 14, 1910, p. 2. ↩︎
    19. “Municipal Building And The Auditorium”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 15, 1911, p. 25. ↩︎
    20. ibid. ↩︎
    21. “A Place Of Pride For All Raleigh”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 18, 1909, p. 1. ↩︎
    22. “Raleigh’s $125,000 New City Building”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), January 27, 1910, p. 1. ↩︎
    23. “Municipal Building And The Auditorium”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 15, 1911, p. 25. ↩︎
    24. “Raleigh’s $125,000 New City Building”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), January 27, 1910, p. 1. ↩︎
    25. ‘City “At Home” In New Building’. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), April 18, 1912, p. 5. ↩︎
    26. “A Place Of Pride For All Raleigh”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 18, 1909, p. 1. ↩︎
    27. “Raleigh’s Progress In Million Dollar Figures”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), September 14, 1910, p. 2. ↩︎
    28. “Raleigh’s $125,000 New City Building”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), January 27, 1910, p. 1. ↩︎
    29. “Dedication Exercises At Raleigh Auditorium”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 17, 1911, Section 2, p. 1. ↩︎
    30. “A Place Of Pride For All Raleigh”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 18, 1909, p. 1. ↩︎
    31. “Municipal Building And The Auditorium”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 15, 1911, p. 25. ↩︎
    32. “Raleigh’s Rapid Growth Shown”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), September 3, 1911, p. 1. ↩︎
    33. “A Place Of Pride For All Raleigh”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), July 18, 1909, p. 1. ↩︎
    34. “P. Thornton Marye, Architect.” The Atlanta Journal, October 17, 1909, p. 68. ↩︎
    35. “City Officials After Architect”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), February 19, 1914, p. 5. ↩︎
    36. ibid. ↩︎
    37. “Architect Is To Be Here Shortly”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), February 27, 1914, p. 6. ↩︎
    38. “City Officials After Architect”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), February 19, 1914, p. 5. ↩︎
    39. “Architect Is To Be Here Shortly”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), February 27, 1914, p. 6. ↩︎
    40. “Auditorium Architect Will Repair Building”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), March 7, 1914, p. 2. ↩︎
    41. “To Repair Doors.” The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), March 14, 1914, p. 10. ↩︎
    42. “Covered Doors With Metal.” The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), March 14, 1914, p. 24. ↩︎
    43. “City Officials After Architect”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), February 19, 1914, p. 5. ↩︎
    44. “Raleigh’s Auditorium Burns”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 25, 1930, p. 1. ↩︎
    45. ibid. ↩︎
    46. ibid. ↩︎
    47. “Ruins Of Raleigh City Auditorium”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 26, 1930, p. 1. ↩︎
    48. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 26, 1930, p. 4M. ↩︎
    49. “City Hall Service Station” (advertisement). The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), May 7, 1935, p. 7. ↩︎
    50. “City To Hold Auction For Sale Of Building”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), November 27, 1946, p. 8. ↩︎
    51. “Around the City”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), February 26, 1947, p. 14. ↩︎
    52. “Demolition Job On Old City Hall To Begin Nov. 1”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), October 15, 1960, p. 20. ↩︎
    53. “Coming Down”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), December 5, 1960, p. 22. ↩︎
    54. “Almost Gone”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), January 7, 1961, p. 16. ↩︎

  • Postcards from the South: First Baptist Church, Gainesville, Georgia

    Postcard view of First Baptist Church, Gainesville, Georgia

    The postcards here depict the First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Georgia, completed in 1909 and designed by Bruce & Everett of Atlanta.1 2

    The Asheville Postcard Co. of Asheville, North Carolina, published both cards, and the one pictured above was postmarked in Gaffney, South Carolina, on March 25, 1926.

    A note on the back, addressed to Mrs. Alice E. Kendall of Tarpon Springs, Fla., reads:

    “Dear Aunt Alice

    Here we are to night. Did nearly 200 miles today. Saw Stone Mt. Memorial this afternoon. This is beautiful country.

    Love,

    Clyde + Frances“

    So there’s that.

    Location of First Baptist Church

    First Baptist of Gainesville was the first of three churches by Bruce & Everett with largely identical designs—the other two are the First Methodist Church (1909) in Opelika, Alabama, and Allen Memorial Methodist Church (1910, pictured below) in Oxford, Georgia.

    Bruce & Everett consisted of A.C. Bruce (1835-1927), formerly of Bruce & Morgan, with A.F.N. Everett (1880-1937),3 4 and lasted from 19055 to 1908.6

    Bruce had retired from Bruce & Morgan in 1904,7 shortly after he was elected to the Atlanta city council in December 1903 (he ran unopposed).8

    At his retirement, it was reported that Bruce would remain as “associate and consulting architect” with Morgan & Dillon,9 but that appears to have been honorific, and I’m unaware of any work the successor firm completed that included his input.

    Bruce’s council term lasted two years,10 and whether he was bored in retirement or needed the money—maybe both—he continued to dabble in architecture.

    In May 1904, he announced the incorporation of the Bruce Architectural Company, with “county, municipal and state buildings a specialty.”11 Everything about the business is fishy, and it apparently dissolved amid controversy.

    In late 1905, as his city council term was about to expire, the 70-year-old Bruce partnered with 25-year-old Everett, an Atlanta native who had recently apprenticed for G.L. Norrman.12

    The new firm specialized in schools and churches—well within Bruce’s wheelhouse—and I suspect he handled design duties while Everett supervised construction.

    Most of Bruce & Everett’s completed projects bear Bruce’s characteristic massing and proportions, and, in many cases, reuse specific elements from his Bruce & Morgan days.

    First Baptist of Gainesville and the two duplicate churches also appear to have evolved from Bruce’s design for the First Presbyterian Church in Cuthbert, Georgia,13 completed in 1900.14

    Bruce & Everett. Young J. Allen Memorial Methodist Church (1910). Oxford, Georgia.
    Bruce & Everett. Young J. Allen Memorial Methodist Church (1910). Oxford, Georgia.

    Bruce retired for the second time in August 1908,15 but when construction was announced on Allen Memorial Methodist (pictured above) in November 1908, the design was credited to Bruce & Everett.16

    At the church’s dedication in 1910, Everett was named as the architect,17 but the design was clearly Bruce’s. Contrast it with Everett’s Pierce Memorial Methodist Church18 in Sparta, Georgia, also built circa 191019 20 —the Everett design was awful.

    I generally respect Bruce as an architect: he had talent despite his lack of formal training, and although he often made missteps, he consistently approached his designs with honesty and integrity.

    Everett, on the other hand, was a talentless hack, and I find most of his surviving designs to be artless, clumsy, and cynical. His later work for the Ku Klux Klan also leaves a dark stain on his legacy.

    Bruce designed First Baptist of Gainesville in the Neoclassical style, with a Stone Mountain granite exterior,21 Corinthian columns, and a red tile roof.22 23 I’m not sure why the postcard above shows a green roof.

    Construction on the church began in May 1907 and was completed in June 1909.24 25 The project took longer than anticipated after the first contractor went bankrupt, halting construction and prompting a dispute between the church and the contractor’s bond company.26

    The building followed the then-popular Akron plan,27 in which a large Sunday School room divided by wedge-shaped partitions was attached to the sanctuary. The full Sunday School room could also be opened to the sanctuary for additional seating.

    The church had a seating capacity of 1,500, “not including the primary department,”28 with The Atlanta Journal noting that the “exceptional [sic] large seating capacity…was rendered necessary by the fact that Gainesville is quite a college town.”29

    The sanctuary survived the 1936 tornado that leveled much of Gainesville’s commercial district, though the roof was blown off.30 31

    The building was ultimately destroyed in a fire on February 12, 1960,32 33 34which local officials suggested was arson.35 36 37State Crime Lab tests disputed that notion,38 39however, and no one was questioned or charged.40

    While the church’s charred shell was being dismantled, Brevard Springs Williams, “an Atlanta interior decorator and designer,”41 purchased the four large Corinthian columns and placed them on his mountaintop property in Rabun County, Georgia.42 43 44

    Apparently they’re still there.

    References

    1. “Baptist Church In Gainesville Will Be Magnificent Structure”. The Atlanta Constitution, March 25, 1907, p. 6. ↩︎
    2. “Magnificent Church Being Erected At Gainesville, Ga.” The Atlanta Journal, March 25, 1907, p. 5. ↩︎
    3. Alexander Francis Neville Everett (1880-1937) – Find a Grave ↩︎
    4. “Prominent Architect, A.F.N. Everett, Passes”. The Atlanta Constitution, February 10, 1937, p. 5. ↩︎
    5. “Albany’s New School Building.” The Atlanta Constitution, November 2, 1905, p. 2. ↩︎
    6. “Notice of Dissolution”. The Atlanta Constitution, August 26, 1908, p. 14. ↩︎
    7. “Announcement”. The Atlanta Constitution, January 2, 1904, p. 7. ↩︎
    8. “City Officers To Be Elected.” The Atlanta Constitution, December 2, 1903, p. 6. ↩︎
    9. “Announcement”. The Atlanta Constitution, January 2, 1904, p. 7. ↩︎
    10. “Council of 1906 Will Be Organized Monday Night”. The Atlanta Journal, January 1, 1906, p. 3. ↩︎
    11. The Builder, Volume 11, No. 5 (May 1904), p. 23. ↩︎
    12. “Prominent Architect, A.F.N. Everett, Passes”. The Atlanta Constitution, February 10, 1937, p. 5. ↩︎
    13. “Sealed Proposals”. The Atlanta Constitution, June 1, 1900, p. 8. ↩︎
    14. “Cuthbert News Notes.” The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Georgia), October 22, 1900, p. 4. ↩︎
    15. “Notice of Dissolution”. The Atlanta Constitution, August 26, 1908, p. 14. ↩︎
    16. “Young J. Allen Memorial To Be Handsome Edifice.” The Atlanta Constitution, November 15, 1908, p. 5. ↩︎
    17. “Handsome Church On Campus Of Emery [sic] College To Be Dedicated To Memory Of Dr. Y. J. Allen”. The Atlanta Journal, May 28, 1910, p. 8. ↩︎
    18. “Notice to Contractors”. The Atlanta Journal, February 14, 1910, p. 11. ↩︎
    19. “Rev. L.M. Twiggs Weds Miss Estelle Middlebrooks”. The Augusta Daily Herald (Augusta, Georgia), September 8, 1910, p. 3. ↩︎
    20. “PR Archers Characters Are Passed By The Conference”, The Athens Banner (Athens, Georgia), November 18, 1910, p. 5. ↩︎
    21. “One of Finest Churches In The State Completed By Baptists Of Gainesville”. The Atlanta Constitution, June 20, 1909, p. 3. ↩︎
    22. “Baptist Church In Gainesville Will Be Magnificent Structure”. The Atlanta Constitution, March 25, 1907, p. 6. ↩︎
    23. “Magnificent Church Being Erected At Gainesville, Ga.” The Atlanta Journal, March 25, 1907, p. 5. ↩︎
    24. The Gainesville News (Gainesville, Georgia), June 16, 1909, p. 1. ↩︎
    25. “One of Finest Churches In The State Completed By Baptists Of Gainesville”. The Atlanta Constitution, June 20, 1909, p. 3. ↩︎
    26. “Gainesville News Notes.” The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Georgia), January 2, 1908, p. 6. ↩︎
    27. “Baptist Church In Gainesville Will Be Magnificent Structure”. The Atlanta Constitution, March 25, 1907, p. 6. ↩︎
    28. “One of Finest Churches In The State Completed By Baptists Of Gainesville”. The Atlanta Constitution, June 20, 1909, p. 3. ↩︎
    29. “Magnificent Church Being Erected At Gainesville, Ga.” The Atlanta Journal, March 25, 1907, p. 5. ↩︎
    30. “42 Are Known Dead In Gainesville Storm”. The Atlanta Journal, April 6, 1936, p. 11. ↩︎
    31. “Firemen See Arson in $600,000 Blaze”. The Atlanta Journal, February 13, 1960, p. 1. ↩︎
    32. ibid. ↩︎
    33. “Fire Levels Gainesville First Baptist”. The Atlanta Constitution, February 13, 1960, p. 1. ↩︎
    34. “House of Worship Destroyed in Mass of Flames”. The Daily Times (Gainesville, Georgia), February 13, 1960, p. 1. ↩︎
    35. “Firemen See Arson in $600,000 Blaze”. The Atlanta Journal, February 13, 1960, p. 1. ↩︎
    36. Simpkins, Earl. “Investigators Here To Probe Theory of Deliberate Setting”. The Daily Times (Gainesville, Georgia), February 14, 1960, p. 1. ↩︎
    37. “$600,000 Church Fire Called ‘No Accident’”. The Atlanta Constitution, February 18, 1960, p. 22. ↩︎
    38. “First Baptist Church Blaze Investigation To Continue”. The Daily Times (Gainesville, Georgia), March 30, 1960, p. 1. ↩︎
    39. “Lab Tests Show No Arson Signs In Church Fire”. Columbus Ledger (Columbus, Georgia), March 31, 1960, p. 19. ↩︎
    40. “No Suspects Queried In Baptist Fire Case”. The Daily Times (Gainesville, Georgia), February 19, 1960, p. 1. ↩︎
    41. Meyer, Sylvan. “Stately Touch of Ancient Greece Moves To Unique Hilltop ‘Shrine’”. The Daily Times (Gainesville, Georgia), December 21, 1960, p. 8. ↩︎
    42. ibid. ↩︎
    43. Kirkpatrick Lyon, Helen. “Grecian Pillars”. The Atlanta Journal and Constitution Magazine, September 30, 1962, p. 8, ↩︎
    44. Oglesby, Ted. “Landmarks moved to a mountaintop”. The Times (Gainesville, Georgia), February 23, 1982, p. 4-A. ↩︎

  • Postcards from the South: Hall County Courthouse – Gainesville, Georgia

    Bruce & Morgan. Hall County Courthouse (1884-1936). Gainesville, Georgia. Photograph from an undated postcard.
    Bruce & Morgan. Hall County Courthouse (1884-1936). Gainesville, Georgia. Photograph from an undated postcard.

    This postcard depicts the Hall County Courthouse in Gainesville, Georgia, completed in August 18841 and designed by Bruce & Morgan2 3 of Atlanta.

    Location of Hall County Courthouse

    If the building looks familiar, that’s because it was a duplicate of the firm’s design for the Walton County Courthouse in Monroe, Georgia,4 which began construction in early 1883,5 and was completed in May 1884.6

    In the architects’ defense, the Gainesville project was a rushed replacement for Hall County’s previous courthouse, destroyed by fire on January 1, 1883,7 so it made sense to use plans that were already on the boards.

    Bruce & Morgan. Union County Courthouse (1888). Monroe, North Carolina. Photograph from an undated postcard published by the W.J. Rudge Co. of Monroe.
    Bruce & Morgan. Union County Courthouse (1888). Monroe, North Carolina. Photograph from an undated postcard published by the W.J. Rudge Co. of Monroe.

    However, Bruce & Morgan also reused the same design for a third project: the Union County Courthouse in Monroe, North Carolina, completed circa February 1888.8

    That was such an obvious cash grab that the firm apparently refused public credit to avoid embarrassment—I haven’t found any sources from the time that name them as the building’s designers, but it was the exact same plan.

    Gainesville’s courthouse was destroyed in an April 1936 tornado that leveled much of the city’s business district,9 though the structure’s days were already numbered.

    After the storm, one eyewitness reported to The Atlanta Journal, rather indifferently:

    “the Courthouse—we were going to tear it down anyhow—was wrecked.”10

    The current Hall County Courthouse was completed in 1938, and the siblings of the previous courthouse still stand in Monroe, Georgia, and Monroe, North Carolina.

    References

    1. “Hall Superior Court.” The Atlanta Constitution, August 20, 1884, p. 2. ↩︎
    2. “Gainesville, Georgia.” The Atlanta Constitution, September 21, 1883, p. 2. ↩︎
    3. “Bruce & Morgan, Architects.” The Atlanta Constitution, October 1, 1884, p. 4. ↩︎
    4. “Architecture.” The Atlanta Constitution, September 23, 1882, p. 9. ↩︎
    5. “Walton’s Court House.” The Atlanta Constitution, February 16, 1883, p. 2. ↩︎
    6. “Around In Georgia.” Columbus Daily Times (Columbus, Georgia), May 24, 1884, p. 1. ↩︎
    7. “Gainesville, Georgia.” The Atlanta Constitution, September 21, 1883, p. 2. ↩︎
    8. The Charlotte Democrat (Charlotte, North Carolina), January 20, 1888, p. 3. ↩︎
    9. “43 Known Dead, Others Feared Lost In Debris, Hundreds Are Injured In Gainesville Tornado”. The Atlanta Journal, April 6, 1936, p. 1. ↩︎
    10. ibid, p. 11. ↩︎

  • Postcards from the South: Regency Square Mall, Jacksonville, Florida (again)

    Postcard view of Regency Square Mall, Jacksonville, Florida

    We’re back at Regency Square Mall in Jacksonville, Florida, designed by Joseph Amisano of Atlanta and opened in 1967. The shopping center is currently being demolished.

    This postcard depicts the mall’s original center court, and if the photographer wanted it to look as dead and dreary as possible, they certainly succeeded.

    No one in the picture appears younger than 60, and the frail woman plopped on the bench with her walker doesn’t exactly suggest a hip, happening place. More like a displaced hip.

    Even the plants look despondent.

    The postcard was published by Marsh Post Card Service of Jacksonville, and contained the following description on the back:

    REGENCY SQUARE

    The largest Air Conditioned shopping Mall in the southeast, featuring over 50 stores, located in Jacksonville, Florida. On State Rd. 10 at Alt. U.S. 1. Color by C.L. Marsh.

    The card was postmarked in Jacksonville in February 1969 and addressed to Scott in Binghamton, New York, with this note:

    “We go here a LoT

    Hi: How are You? How are all the statues? Did Stacey get them? I want to see them when I get home. Mommy sent
    your report card marks. How much do I owe you? I want-you to figure iT up for me + put note in Money Mommy’s letter.

    80-55-5¢ 90-95-15¢.
    85-90-10¢ 95-100 20¢

    figure for 20 weeks + test marks

    Love Grandma + Grandpa

    Literally everything about the note is capitalistic and gross: Shopping was apparently Grandma + Grandpa’s pastime, their idea of love tied cash to Scott’s academic performance, and they accidentally called Mommy “Money.” Ick.

    I bet Scott grew up to be a corporate wage slave, and I’m sure Stacey’s statues were awful.

  • Postcards from the South: Regency Square Mall, Jacksonville, Florida

    Postcard view of Regency Square Mall, Jacksonville, Florida

    The postcard pictured here depicts the interior of the Regency Square Mall in Jacksonville, Florida, designed by Joseph Amisano of Toombs, Amisano & Wells of Atlanta.1 2

    Regency Square opened in March 1967 as “the Southeast’s largest enclosed mall-type shopping center,”3 surpassing Atlanta’s Greenbriar Mall,4 which opened in 1965.5

    Location of Regency Square Mall

    I generally admire Amisano’s work, but judging from this photograph, the mall’s interior was hideous, even for the 1960s: dull brick, drab tile flooring, and a color scheme evocative of urine.

    If you look closely, you can see the mall’s centerpiece: an “inverted fountain” that was touted as “novel” when the center opened.6 I’ll take their word for it.

    I’m more interested in the well-tailored bitch glaring icily at the photographer. If looks could kill, darlin’.

    This undated postcard was published by the Duval News Company of Jacksonville, and included the following description on the back:

    THE AIR-CONDITIONED MALL
    REGENCY SQUARE SHOPPING CENTER
    JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

    Amisano was undoubtedly hired to design Regency Square because of his work on Lenox Square in Atlanta, which was touted as the largest shopping center in the Southeast at its opening,7 a title it still claimed in 1966,8 although it wasn’t enclosed until 1973.9

    Lenox still survives—and thrives—as an Atlanta retail institution, but Regency Square hasn’t fared so well in Jacksonville. After years of steady decline, demolition of the mall began in September 2026.10 11

    Another mall bites the dust.

    References

    1. Erxleben, Al. “Huge $12 Million Shopping Mall Slated on Arlington Expressway”. The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Florida), August 17, 1965, p. 1. ↩︎
    2. “Shopping Mall Ceremony Set”. Jacksonville Journal (Jacksonville, Florida), January 4, 1966, p. 15. ↩︎
    3. “Regency Square At a Glance”. The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Florida), March 1, 1967, p. R-29. ↩︎
    4. “Carillon Bells to Toll Holiday Season”. The Atlanta Constitution, November 23, 1966, p. 19. ↩︎
    5. The Atlanta Constitution, September 23, 1965, Greenbriar Section G. ↩︎
    6. “All Roads Lead To Regency Square…” The Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, Florida), March 1, 1967, p. R-2. ↩︎
    7. Moore, Charles. “Lenox Square–City Within City”. The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution, August 2, 1959, p. 1-C. ↩︎
    8. Wells, Frank. “Atlanta Speaks—U.S. Listens”. The Atlanta Constitution, November 14, 1966, p. 8. ↩︎
    9. The Atlanta Journal, January 17, 1973, Lenox Square Section ↩︎
    10. Regency Square Mall demolition erases 60 years of shopping – jacksonville.com | The Florida Times-Union ↩︎
    11. Demolition begins on Regency Square Mall | Jacksonville Today ↩︎

  • Postcards from the South: Omni International Miami

    Postcard view of Omni International Miami

    This postcard depicts the Omni International Miami, designed by Joseph Amisano of Toombs, Amisano & Wells in Atlanta and completed in 1977.1

    The Omni complex was built as Miami’s “first and only megastructure”2 and included a multi-level shopping mall with an attached conference center and hotel.

    It was easily the most Portman-esque thing Amisano ever put his hand to, influenced by similar urban developments like Peachtree Center in Atlanta.

    Location of Omni International Miami

    The Omni mall closed circa 2000, although the hotel remains and is now named the Hilton Miami Downtown. The Miami Herald has many fine photos of the mall’s interior.

    Published by the Gulf Stream Card Co. of Miami, the postcard shown above includes the following description on the back:

    OMNI INTERNATIONAL WITH BISCAYNE BAY IN THE BACKGROUND, TROPICAL MIAMI, THE MAGIC CITY, 79-6.

    Not very interesting, but neither is the building.

    References

    1. “$76 Million Omni International Miami: It’s Open, It’s Exciting — And It’s Ours”. The Miami Herald, July 2, 1977, p. 3C. ↩︎
    2. “Omni International Hotel Dominates Our Skyline”. The Miami Herald, July 2, 1977, p. 10C. ↩︎

  • Postcards from the South: Dade County Courthouse and Miami City Hall – Miami

    Postcard view of the Dade County Courthouse and Miami City Hall, Miami

    You can see who designed this giant phallus—their names are right on the postcard. Well, that’s not completely accurate.

    I’ve mentioned before that A. Ten Eyck Brown often took credit for work that he had little to no hand in, though he usually let the real designers of his projects share at least some of the glory.

    By the time construction was complete on the 28-story Dade County Courthouse and Miami City Hall in 1928, it was fairly evident that the primary designer was Brown’s associate, J.W. Humphreys, who superintended construction.1 2

    Humphreys even cut the ribbon at the building’s dedication ceremony,3 4with Brown conspicuously absent.

    Location of Dade County Courthouse and Miami City Hall

    Built for a whopping $4.1 million,5 the obelisk-like structure was purportedly “the first complete county courthouse and city hall ever to be built in the United States along strictly modern lines,” and the “largest and tallest building of either a public or private nature south of Washington, D.C. and east of the Mississippi river.”6

    Brown’s firm simultaneously designed plans for a 20-story city hall in Atlanta that would have been nearly identical in appearance to the Miami municipal building,7 but the project was ultimately awarded to G. Lloyd Preacher.8

    Speaking of someone who took credit for other people’s work…

    References

    1. “County To Rush Courthouse Job”. The Miami Herald, November 20, 1927, p. 1. ↩︎
    2. “Courthouse Job Will Be Released Today”. Miami Daily News and Metropolis, November 28, 1927, p. 9. ↩︎
    3. “Courthouse Dedication At 4 P.M. Today”. The Miami Herald, September 6, 1928, p. 1. ↩︎
    4. “7,000 At Dedication Ceremonies Of New County Courthouse”. The Miami Herald, September 7, 1928, p. 1. ↩︎
    5. Matlack, S. S. “New Milestone Of Dade Marked By Courthouse”. Miami Daily News and Metropolis, September 6, 1928, p. 6. ↩︎
    6. “Miami To Build Municipal Hall”. The Atlanta Constitution, September 24, 1925, p. 15. ↩︎
    7. “Million-Dollar City Hall Important Item In Bond Program”. The Atlanta Constitution, March 7, 1926, p. 2A. ↩︎
    8. “Preacher Named For City Hall, Is Well Known Architect”. The Atlanta Constitution, November 8, 1927, p. 9. ↩︎

  • Postcards from the South: Central Baptist Church, Miami

    Postcard view of Central Baptist Church, Miami
    Postcard view of Central Baptist Church, Miami

    There are certain places I have no interest in visiting. Like zero, zilch, none.

    Miami tops that list.

    Only a few buildings in Miami even mildly pique my curiosity, and this is one: the former Central Baptist Church, designed by Dougherty & Gardner of Nashville.1 2

    Location of Central Baptist Church, Miami

    Edward E. Dougherty was an Atlanta native who became the first architect in the city to complete training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.3

    Dougherty began working with Thomas W. Gardner in Nashville in 1915,4 5 6 and within a few years, they were touted as “the foremost church architects in the South,”7 completing over 50 church buildings by 1926.8

    It appears that Gardner, not Dougherty, was the primary designer of Miami’s Central Baptist,9 and I don’t consider it one of his better efforts. The exterior looks more like a government building, and the interior, as shown in the postcard below, is quite gaudy.

    Postcard view of the sanctuary of Central Baptist Church, Miami
    Postcard view of the sanctuary of Central Baptist Church, Miami

    The Beaux-Arts-style structure was originally designed as the First Baptist Church and was completed in 1928.10 11

    Eight years later, Central Baptist Church was formed by merging First Baptist and Temple Baptist, and the combined congregation used the building12 13 until 2007, when it then merged with Christ Fellowship Church, which now owns the property.14

    References

    1. “Contract Is Awarded”. The Miami Herald, April 28, 1926, p. 2. ↩︎
    2. “Architects For Church Chosen”. The Miami News, April 28, 1926, p. 23. ↩︎
    3. “To Enter Business Here.” The Atlanta Constitution, April 18, 1905, p. 3. ↩︎
    4. “Busy Week Had At Builders’ Exchange”. The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee), July 17, 1915, p. 10. ↩︎
    5. “Builders’ Exchange Weekly Bulletin”. Nashville Banner (Nashville, Tennessee), August 9, 1915, p. 6. ↩︎
    6. “Work Will Begin Soon On 5-Story Office Building”. Nashville Tennessean and The Nashville American, September 11, 1915, p. 3. ↩︎
    7. “Extensive Improvements Are Planned by Central Baptist Church.” The Newnan Herald (Newnan, Georgia), July 20, 1923, p. 7. ↩︎
    8. “Contract Is Awarded”. The Miami Herald, April 28, 1926, p. 2. ↩︎
    9. “Confer on Church”. The Miami Herald, May 2, 1926, p. 3. ↩︎
    10. “6,500 Attend First Baptist Rites”. The Miami Herald, February 13, 1928, p. 1. ↩︎
    11. “First Baptist $800,000 Home To Open Today”. The Miami News, February 12, 1928, p. 14. ↩︎
    12. “Arrangements Made to Organize Church”. The Miami Herald, April 30, 1936, p. 5. ↩︎
    13. “1100 Baptists Join New Miami Church”. The Miami Herald, May 4, 1936, p. 3. ↩︎
    14. CF Updates | Christ Fellowship Celebrates Grand Opening Of Their Historic Downtown Campus ↩︎

  • Postcards from the South: Sarasota Terrace Hotel – Sarasota, Florida

    Postcard view of the Sarasota Terrace Hotel, Sarasota, Florida

    I grew up in Florida, so I can say with complete authority that it’s a miserable state: ugly, plagued with deadly heat and reptiles, and teeming with the most hostile, willfully ignorant people in the United States—though they’ve got a lot of competition these days.

    In recent years, I’ve occasionally dipped back into Florida to photograph buildings, but only in the winter, when snakes and alligators are in hibernation. Unfortunately, the people never disappear.

    I visited Sarasota twice, primarily to see its surviving Modernist structures from the Sarasota School of Architecture, but I never got around to photographing the old Sarasota Terrace Hotel, completed in 19261 and designed by Pringle & Smith2 of Atlanta.

    Location of Sarasota Terrace Hotel

    In truth, the building just doesn’t interest me that much. It’s a standard Beaux-Arts affair: handsome and solidly executed, but not unlike a thousand others of the same style.

    The 10-story hotel cost $750,0003 to build and was developed by Charles Ringling4 of the Ringling Brothers. Yep, the circus people.

    When the Sarasota Terrace closed in 1972, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune noted that “it never achieved the prominance [sic] of some of the other area hotels.”5

    Sarasota County purchased the property the same year, and the building was renovated to serve as the county’s administration center.6

    Pringle & Smith designed another building in Sarasota at the same time as the hotel: the nearby American National Bank,7 8 also 10 stories, and also underwhelming.

    Atlanta architects have rarely done their best work in Florida.

    References

    1. “Robinson First Guest At Sarasota Terrace”. Sarasota Herald (Sarasota, Florida), May 15, 1926, p. 1. ↩︎
    2. Craig, Robert M. The Architecture of Francis Palmer Smith, Atlanta’s Scholar-Architect. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press (2012), p. 120-22. ↩︎
    3. “Building Activities Here”. Sarasota Herald (Sarasota, Florida), June 29, 1926, p. 2. ↩︎
    4. “Ringlings To Arrive Saturday”. Sarasota Herald (Sarasota, Florida), January 29, 1926, Section Four, p. 1. ↩︎
    5. Cullinane, Jim. “Hotel Rooms, Corridors Now Quiet”. Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Sarasota, Florida), December 11, 1972, p. 2B. ↩︎
    6. The Sarasota Terrace Hotel | Sarasota History Alive! ↩︎
    7. “Permit Issued For Bank Home”. Sarasota Herald (Sarasota, Florida), October 21, 1925, p. 16. ↩︎
    8. “American National Is Towering Structure Of Prominence In City”. Sarasota Herald (Sarasota, Florida), December 15, 1926, p. 12. ↩︎

  • Postcards from the South: New Orleans Courthouse

    Postcard view of the Federal Courthouse, New Orleans

    I find it interesting that the same people who insist New Orleans is some kind of exceptional cultural destination (it’s not) also admit to being shitfaced the entire time they visit there.

    “There’s no other place like it,” they gush, after recounting the evening they spent barfing their guts out in a French Quarter gutter. Truly unique and magical.

    If your personality is alcohol—and to be fair, that’s a large chunk of the American population—I can see why New Orleans would be appealing: I’ve never seen another city with so many bars and liquor stores. But I digress.

    The postcards here depict one of the few buildings in the French Quarter of any architectural caliber: the New Orleans Courthouse, completed in 19091 and designed by Frederick W. Brown, associated with A. Ten Eyck Brown (his son2) and P. Thornton Marye,3 both of Atlanta.

    Location of the New Orleans Courthouse

    Built for a princely $1,000,000,4 the structure was designed in the obligatory Beaux-Arts style, faced with Georgia marble and matching white terracotta trim.5

    Frederick W. Brown was probably little more than a figurehead for the project: he’d reportedly worked as the assistant state architect of New York,6 so using his name must have lent a certain gravitas.

    A. Ten Eyck Brown had previously worked as an assistant in the supervising architect’s office at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.7 8 He was more of a salesman than a designer, and was also quite willing to claim other people’s work as his own, so who knows how much he contributed—probably not a lot.

    Brown and Marye entered into partnership when Brown moved to Atlanta from Washington, D.C., circa 1906, and it appears they joined forces expressly to work on the courthouse. Brown was a competent designer, but Marye was better. The firm dissolved in 1907,9 two years before the project’s completion.

    Marye appears to have been the primary designer for the New Orleans Courthouse: he supervised construction and provided progress reports to the press,10 11 12 and attended the building’s official inspection with the state governor.13

    As interior work neared completion in late 1909, Marye’s firm handled the bids for the lighting and furniture,14 15 and he even traveled to New Orleans to discuss furniture selection.16

    Meanwhile, Brown’s last recorded visit was at the building’s cornerstone ceremony in January 1908.17 Later reports stated he was a “consulting architect” on the project.18

    Anecdotally, I see a whole lot of Marye in the design, specifically in the cornice, bays, and windows, which recall his work on the State Administration Building (1914)19 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

    Postcard view of the Federal Courthouse, New Orleans

    For whatever reason, A. Ten Eyck Brown rarely mentioned his father in biographical sketches, and when he did, he never identified their relationship. One sketch from 1909 noted :

    “…in association with Fred W. Brown, he entered the competition for the best design for the magnificent court house at New Orleans, La.”20

    When Frederick W. Brown died in Atlanta in 1923, the Atlanta newspapers didn’t report it, but word got back to New Orleans,21 where he opened a practice in 1907,22 23 although it appears he never did much work there beyond the courthouse.

    In the 1890s, the senior Brown practiced in Buffalo, New York, where one reporter wrote the following in 1901:

    “I wonder what has become of Frederick W. Brown, who came to this State some years ago with good prestige from other places but no certificate of membership in the American Association of Architects, and who was a scholarly, brainy, rather handsome and entirely capable man, full of ideas and with a bright gifted boy following in his footsteps with enormous ability as an artist and architect. And I thought the older Brown was going to make a big hit in Buffalo and get big contracts on municipal work, as public schools and other buildings, but he didn’t get a smell…”24

    Speaking of which, the New Orleans Courthouse is surrounded by the bars of the French Quarter, so you know it gets a smell—probably from all the people barfing their guts out in the gutter.

    See how I tie this shit together?

    References

    1. “Millions Invested In Modern Buildings In Queen City of South”. The New Orleans Item, August 30, 1909, p. 23. ↩︎
    2. “The Romance Is Passing”. Alexandria Daily Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana), April 3, 1909, p. 4. ↩︎
    3. “Courthouse Commission Decides The Prize Plan”. The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), April 7, 1906, p. 12. ↩︎
    4. “New Courthouse Building Will Be Completed Four Months In Advance Of The Time Specified In Contract”. The New Orleans Item, October 31, 1907, p. 2. ↩︎
    5. Ibid. ↩︎
    6. “The Romance Is Passing”. Alexandria Daily Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana), April 3, 1909, p. 4. ↩︎
    7. Ibid. ↩︎
    8. “A. Ten Eyck Brown Architect”. The Atlanta Journal, October 17, 1909, p. 68. ↩︎
    9. Ibid. ↩︎
    10. “Mr. Marye Here.” The Times-Democrat (New Orleans), January 8, 1908, p. 5. ↩︎
    11. “Mr. Marye On Visit To New Courthouse”. The Daily States (New Orleans), May 3, 1909, p. 3. ↩︎
    12. “Looking After the Courthouse.” The Daily Picayune (New Orleans), May 4, 1909, p. 16. ↩︎
    13. “To Invite Proposals”. The Times-Democrat (New Orleans), August 4, 1909, p. 5. ↩︎
    14. “Courthouse Commission.” (advertisement) The Daily Picayune (New Orleans), May 16, 1909, p. 11. ↩︎
    15. “Proposals.” The Daily Picayune (New Orleans), August 24, 1909, p. 9. ↩︎
    16. “Courthouse Furniture.” The Daily Picayune (New Orleans), October 16, 1909, p. 7. ↩︎
    17. “Hundreds Present At Dedication Of Million Dollar Courthouse”. New Orleans Item, January 8, 1908, p. 1. ↩︎
    18. “Architect Suggests 20-Story Courthouse”. The Miami Herald, February 13, 1925, p. 3. ↩︎
    19. “State Building Will Open Monday”. The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), February 1, 1914, p. 13. ↩︎
    20. “A. Ten Eyck Brown Architect”. The Atlanta Journal, October 17, 1909, p. 68. ↩︎
    21. “Frederick W. Brown Dead, Says Atlanta News”. The New Orleans Item, September 26, 1893, p. 20. ↩︎
    22. “Frederick W. Brown.” The Daily States (New Orleans), September 27, 1907, p. 11. ↩︎
    23. “Courthouse Architects.” The Daily Picayune (New Orleans), September 27, 1907, p. 12. ↩︎
    24. “Mostly About People”. Buffalo Evening Times, August 3, 1901, p. 4. ↩︎