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Introduction Between 1880 and the early twentieth century, Hendersonville developed on a scale that contradicted the size of its permanent population. The tourism boom of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries greatly effected local architecture. The annual arrival by train of both wealthy and middle‐class visitors not only bolstered Main Street businesses but also gave rise to a distinctive landscape of fashionable hotels, innumerable boarding houses and the latest in fine home architecture. Brick commercial blocks replaced frame stores on Main Street and nationally popular architectural styles supplanted the traditional, mountain forms. Local builders took advantage of low‐cost, mass‐produced materials, delivered by rail or produced at local brick kilns and sawmills, and widely circulating architectural pattern books to construct buildings reflecting the most up‐to‐date styles. Versions of Queen Anne, Classical Revival, and Colonial Revival styles appeared throughout Henderson County signifying growth and prosperity following the railroad’s arrival in 1879. Two regionally known architects influenced these golden years of expansion and prosperity in Henderson County. The first was Richard Sharp Smith, an Asheville based designer with ties to the Biltmore House. Following Smith was Erle G. Stillwell, who made Hendersonville home after arriving at the age of 18. Richard Sharp Smith Biography Born in Yorkshire, England, Richard Sharp Smith received his architectural training in the office of a cousin, George Smith. After working for various architects in Manchester, Smith immigrated to the United States in 1882. By 1886 Smith had joined the New York office of Richard Morris Hunt, working on various projects for the firm until he was assigned supervising architect of George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore House and Biltmore Village in 1889. This proved to be a decisive turn in his career. Following his work with Vanderbilt, he established a private practice in Asheville in 1895 and became one of the town’s most prolific and influential architects during the first two decades of the 20th century. He designed many houses in suburban Asheville neighborhoods such as Montford, Chestnut Hill, and Grove Park. Beyond Asheville, the firm of Smith and Carrier, with the addition of architect Albert Heath Carrier, became the first major regional architectural firm serving western North Carolina. Outside of Buncombe County, they were responsible for public and commercial buildings, churches, and residences in Jackson, Swain, Madison, Transylvania and Henderson Counties. Smith passed away in 1924. Smith, seated far right, at the Smith and Carrier office in Asheville. Hotel Gates ca. 1905 With a prime location across 2nd Avenue West from the Henderson County courthouse, this impressive hotel was commissioned by A.A. Haynes, Esq. Through changes in ownership, the hotel was also known as the Imperial, Globe, New Globe and finally the St. John. It burned in a spectacular fire in October of 1915. This from the May 1906 French Broad Hustler: “Here are a few interesting figures and facts connected with the Hotel Gates: There are 126 sleeping rooms. Every room has a telephone. The telephone exchange and its operator will be in main lobby. The guests may telephone from their room to any city reached by the Bell people. The main lobby is 50 by 50 feet, the guests writing room is 28 by 30 feet, the parlor 25 by 40 feet. There are over 700 electric lights. The basement is fitted up with four modern sample rooms for traveling men, with entrance from both inside and outside the hotel. There are many finely equipped lavatories and bathrooms in basement. The dining room will seat over 300 people at one time. There is an enormous lobby on each floor. The carpets used are the finest Wilton Velvet, Administer and Body Brussels. M. Rich Bros Co., of Atlanta, furnished the carpets, over six competitors. The fast electric passenger and baggage elevator is fully equipped with modern safety devices, so that an accident is impossible.” Henderson County Courthouse 1905 The site of the courthouse square has remained constant since the town was laid out in 1841. The gold‐
domed Neo‐Classical Revival courthouse replaced an earlier courthouse on the same block but closer to the road. In 1903, the county commissioners deemed the old courthouse inadequate and accepted the plans of Richard Sharp Smith. While Smith also used the Neo‐Classical style on the courthouses for Swain and Madison Counties, each is unique to the setting and town. The Gates Hotel can be seen in the background. People’s National Bank 1910 Richard Sharp Smith designed this two‐story Neo‐Classical structure as the People’s National Bank. A landmark on Main Street ever since, the building features a recessed central entrance, columns with Ionic capitals and detailing of egg & dart motif and dentil blocks. Reinforced concrete made its splashy debut in Hendersonville with this building. Shortly after opening, the People’s National Bank merged with Citizen’s National Bank. When Citizen’s National Bank moved to a new building, designed by Erle Stillwell on the northeast corner of 4th and Main, the Henderson County Bank moved here from 7th Avenue East. Beaumont 1839, 1909 Following other lowcounty families seeking a quiet, cool retreat for the summer months, Andrew Johnstone, a rice planter from Georgetown, South Carolina purchased 800 acres near Flat Rock. Here he built a one and a half story summer home, Beaumont, for his family. Made of locally quarried granite, the home was in the Downing Cottage mode. Following Mr. Johnstone’s death at the hands of bushwhackers in 1864, the estate passed to Mrs. Dorothy Morris of Ohio and then Frank Hayne, a cotton broker from New Orleans. Mr. Hayne hired Richard Sharp Smith to update the home and add stables and servants’ quarters. Smith expanded the house into a two‐story Tudor Revival residence with a one‐story columned porch. Chanteloup ca. 1841, 1900 Purchasing a 300 acre tract of land, the Count de Choiseul, the French Consul to Charleston, built “The Castle” as it was known in the style of a French chateau. The property eventually passed to Martha A. and Lucie W. Norton, sisters from Louisville, Kentucky. Richard Sharp Smith was hired by them for a remodel altering the front façade and enclosing the large granite wings, more than doubling the size of the original house. Around the time of the remodel, terraced gardens were designed by the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted. Teneriffe ca. 1855, 1903 Dr. J.G. Schoolbread of Charleston built Teneriffe, a picturesque frame cottage, naming it after one of the Canary Islands. Later it passed to Charles Albert Hill who added the English gardens and then to Hugh D. Vincent. Vincent, a cotton broker from New Orleans, hired Richard Sharp Smith to renovate the structure in 1903. Smith used the half‐timbering and pebbledashed walls similar to his designs in Biltmore Village. Kanuga Lake Club 1909 In 1908 Charlotte businessman George Stephens planned a cooperative summer resort for some 200 families looking to escape the hot summers of the piedmont and lowcountry. Hiring John Nolen, nationally known city planner, for the development plan and Richard Sharp Smith as the architect, Stephens bought 950 acres and dammed Mud Creek forming a 100‐acre lake. The Kanuga Lake Club opened in 1909 with a large inn and dining room, a lakeside pavilion and 39 cottages. For several years, families came to their own cottages on Kanuga Lake enjoying the benefits and offerings of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The flood of 1916 broke the dam and the company eventually ran into financial troubles. Some of the land and a much smaller lake are now part of Kanuga Lake Conference. Stillwell Biography Erle Gulick Stillwell was born in Hannibal, Missouri on August 29, 1885 and arrived in Hendersonville in 1903 at age 18. He then studied architecture at Cornell University and made several trips to Europe as part of his education. After apprenticing in Atlanta, he set up practice in Hendersonville with Hans C. Meyer forming the firm Meyer & Stillwell. Meyer and Stillwell parted ways after a few years and by the 1920s Stillwell was Hendersonville's most active and accomplished architect, designing fashionable houses as well as commercial and civic buildings throughout the town. During the war years of the 1940s, Stillwell joined with five engineers and architects to form the Asheville‐based firm, Six Associates. Stillwell retired in 1971 and passed away in 1978. Stillwell at the office of Six and Associates in Asheville. Citizen’s National Bank 1918 Wytt Ewbank, the president of the Citizen’s National Bank, commissioned Erle Stillwell to design this bank The two‐story Neo‐Classical Revival building cost $125,000. The clock was installed in 1927. Citizens National Bank had been created by the 1915 merger of Citizens Bank and People’s National Bank. Closing on November 20, 1930 with the other town banks, it remained vacant until 1936 when it reopened as part of the State Trust Company across the street. Later mergers and purchases changed the ownership from State Trust to Northwestern Bank to Home Bank & Trust to finally the Bank of North Carolina. First United Methodist Church 1925 This is the third Methodist church on this site. Erle Stillwell designed the two‐story church sanctuary building in the Neo‐Classical Revival‐style using tan brick with limestone accents. The Church Street entrance featured a monumental limestone Ionic‐style portico with four unfluted shafts topped by volute‐trimmed capitals. A more functionally education wing, three‐stories, capped the rear of the sanctuary. Blue Ridge School for Boys Classroom Building 1914 The Blue Ridge School for Boys was a private school founded in 1914 by Joseph Sandifer, a South Carolina educator. In 1914, Meyer & Stillwell were hired to design the first classroom building, a Colonial Revival structure of red brick with a central pediment. The school was very successful for over 50 years with boarders from other states and countries and local boys also attended as day students. Closing in 1968, Four Seasons Boulevard took much of the land with the Blue Ridge Mall purchasing the remainder. Queen Theater 1921 In 1921, Stillwell was asked to remodel the existing Queen Theater and gave the building a new New‐
Classical façade. The brickwork was simple and straightforward with extensive terra cotta embellishments. The entablature, the pilaster capitals and bases, and the wide sign panel over the lobby all had the appearance of expensive carved marble. There was no overhanging marquee, so to provide shelter for patrons waiting to buy tickets, he recessed the entrance lobby. This left no room for an inside lobby so patrons would have gone directly into the seating area. The theater was renamed the State Theater in the 1930s and the Fox Theater around 1950 before closing in the early 1960s. Thought altered, the building still stands at 434 N. Main Street. Rex/Carolina Theater 1924, 1940 Erle Stillwell designed the brick façade to blend with other buildings on Main Street, a typical theater style early on. The projecting tile hood at the roofline was used on other downtown buildings by Stillwell. There was a small ticket booth and a storefront on each side. A fire on May 10, 1940 completely destroyed the building and Stillwell was hired to rebuild. He went with a Deco façade prevalent at the time. It closed and was demolished in 1986. City Hall 1927 City Hall continues to be located at the corner of King Street and Fifth Avenue East. Except for a remodeling period in 2003‐04, the building has served as Hendersonville’s seat of government and services. It is a fine example of Stillwell’s Neo‐Classical style. Stillwell School Connection Most if not all of the educational buildings in Henderson County were designed by Stillwell from the 1920s through the 1960s. Below is a sampling of such buildings. Mills River School 1921 Fletcher School 1928 Edneyville Grade School 1925 East Flat Rock School 1923 Dana High School 1928 Etowah School 1927 Drafts House 1927 Erle Stillwell designed this attractive Tudor style home for one of the County’s prominent physicians. Dr. Andrew B. Drafts was born in 1871 in South Carolina and practicing here by 1905. Primarily a surgeon, during his career he served as the county physician, Chief of Staff at Patton Memorial Hospital, and school physician for the Fleet School in Flat Rock. His office was in a small wing of his home with a separate entrance. Dr. Drafts’ house was located on the corner of 6th Avenue West and Church Street where a bank parking deck is today. Rufus P. Freeze House ca. 1916 As Smith had been hired to update several of the Flat Rock homes, Stillwell has hired to enhance the Freeze home on Washington Street where the Public Library stands today. Stillwell added the front porch, a side porte‐cochere and dormer windows on the third floor. The interior was enhanced with a new graceful staircase. In 1912 Rufus Freeze moved to Hendersonville to set up the Freeze‐
Bacon Hosiery Mill, a major town employer, and in 1933 started the Freeze Drug Store on Main Street. Erle Stillwell House, 1300 Pinecrest Drive 1925 1300 Pinecrest was the house Erle Stillwell built in 1925 as his first home. The Tudor Revival/Normanesque brick house is in an L‐plan design with the front door at the juncture of the two wings. With the land bust of the late 1920s, Stillwell lost this home in 1931. ca. 1940 Today Erle Stillwell House, 541 Blythe Street 1935 Following the loss of 1300 Pinecrest in the real estate collapse, Erle and his wife, Eva, lived here the rest of their lives. It is a highly intact example of Stillwell’s Craftsman and Tudor Revival styles. Other examples of Stillwell homes William Sherard House ca. 1924 1110 Fourth Avenue West Sam Hodges House ca. 1922 542 Blythe Street Charles Hobbs. House ca. 1922 1230 Fifth Avenue West Alfred A. McCall House 1920 941 Kanuga Road