The Development of Modernism in Raleigh 1945-1965 - Triangle ...

The Development of Modern Architecture in Raleigh 1945-1965 71960 93,931 33.646 178 mi.22,500 homes144 industries220 wholesaledistributors1965 103,000 (est.) 34.1 346.09 217 industriesThe statistics indicate that Raleigh’s limits did not change between 1945 and 1955, but amap showing annexation history tells a different story. Between 1941 and 1949 the citylimits remained the same. In 1949 and 1951-1955 the limits expanded primarily to theeast from Shaw University to include almost all of the area between Capital Boulevardand New Bern Avenue inside the I-440 Beltline. Small areas on the north, the area ofRidgewood on the west, and a small area along S. Wilmington Street to the south wereadded by 1955. Between 1956 and 1965 the suburbs around the entire city out to andbeyond the I-440 ring road known as the Beltline were annexed. The city limits expandedto Millbrook Road on the north, to the south of I-440 on the south, and to I-440 on thewest. The east boundary expanded to include the area between New Bern Avenue and I-440. The Beltline had been planned since 1954, when the “Land Development Plan ofRaleigh” published by the Raleigh Department of Planning included a new “belt route”encircling the city in order to make the city accessible by automobile. It was constructedfrom 1960 to 1965 on the north side of Raleigh. The southern Beltline appeared as adotted line on the 1968 Champion map of the city, but was not built until the 1980s. 9The 1955-1965 decade saw North Raleigh surge far ahead of East Raleigh due totopography, which made it easier to run water and sewer lines to the north. Constructionof the northern Beltline reflects this growth.The survey documented 75 postwar subdivisions, 27 of them in North Raleigh, wheredevelopers found land with pleasant hilly topography, access to city water and sewer, andgood transportation along the major thoroughfares of Glenwood Avenue, Six Forks Road,Wake Forest Road, and Capital Boulevard (US 1). Many of these were built by the “Big 3Developers,” Willy York, Ed Richards, and Seby Jones (known primarily for landacquisition and commercial development). 10 Raleigh native Willy York’s Hi Mountsubdivision was discussed earlier; his major development of the era, Cameron Village,contained both housing, retail and office buildings that will be discussed later. E. N. (Ed)Richards, a builder raised in Brooklyn, New York, built defense-related housing duringWorld War II. In 1947 he moved to Winston-Salem to build a housing development.There he became associated with Willy York, building thousands of houses andapartments for military personnel in the Camp Lejeune area in the early 1950s. At thesame time, Richards began to work in Raleigh “on a series of developments that havechanneled the growth and design of modern Raleigh—a series that now includeRidgewood, Woodcrest, Pinecrest, Biltmore Hills, Eastgate, Southgate, Stratford Park,Longview Lake, North Ridge, and Country Club Homes.” 119 Edmisten, J. W. Willie York : His First Seventy-Five Years in Raleigh, 98, 107.10 Ben Taylor interview,11 Vickers, Raleigh: City of Oaks, 168.