The University of North Carolina Press

North Carolina Architecture

By Catherine W. Bishir

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Winner of the 1991 Citation for Excellence, American Institute of Architects

Winner of the 1991 Author Award, Southeast Society of Architectural Historians

Winner of the 1991 Mayflower Cup for Nonfiction, Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of North Carolina

Winner of the 1992 Fred Kniffen Prize, Pioneer America Society

This stunning book portrays the wide range of North Carolina's architectural heritage from colonial times to the beginning of World War II. North Carolina Architecture addresses the grand public and private buildings that have become familiar landmarks, but it also focuses on the quieter beauty of more common structures: farmhouses, barns, urban dwellings, log houses, mills, factories, and churches. These buildings, like the people who created them and who have used them, are central to the character of our state.

For most of its history, North Carolina has been a rural state without concentrated wealth or great cities, and its architecture has subtle and at first unprepossessing beauty. Sometimes untidy, often utilitarian, and only rarely magnificent, it is most remarkable for its variety, masterfully reflected here in 436 black and white and 18 color photographs by Tim Buchman. The result is an extraordinary portrait of North Carolina and its history unlike any we have seen before.

Published to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Historic Preservation Foundation of North Carolina, Inc., North Carolina Architecture depicts representative buildings that, in turn, evoke images of hundreds more in communities across the state. Catherine Bishir discusses construction and design and locates structures in their cultural, political, and historical contexts. Characteristic arrangements of farmsteads and a few principal building types are illustrated with site and floor plans, many drawn especially for this book by Carl R. Lounsbury. Historic photographs document lost landmarks and outstanding examples of buildings that cannot be satisfactorily photographed today.

The urbanization and new construction of the present day have dramatically altered our built landscape. However, this comprehensive look at North Carolina's architectural heritage will help ensure that the modest buildings of the past will not be lost for the next generation, and it will serve as a model for architectural histories in other states.