Assignment Two Architecture

Although accomplished in the 1960's, the James K. Polk Birthplace Memorial near Pineville reflects a dominant preservation philosophy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  We should preserve to instill patriotism in the citizenry.  Anne Pamela Cunningham, the savior of Mount Vernon, preached the patriotic doctrine of preservation.
The Michael Braun House, built in Rowan County in 1766, reflects the second major preservation philosophy of the pre-World War II era.  We should save beautiful examples of architecture, especially those from the Colonial and the Federal periods.  Michael Braun, a German, owned over 2000 acres of land and many slaves.  It is one of our finest examples of German architecture outside of the Moravian village of Salem.
The Hezekiah Alexander House was built in 1774 for the owner, a Scots-Irish Presbyterian who had moved to Mecklenburg County from Cecil County Maryland in 1767.  The house is typical of the finer stone houses in Maryland.  Hezekiah Alexander was trained as a blacksmith but became a prominent citizens of Mecklenburg County.  He was allegedly a signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence in May 1775.
The Single Brothers House in the Moravian Village of Salem was built in 1768-69 and expanded in 1786.  It has bracing timbers of a typical German pattern.  Young boys came here to live and learn a trade. The Moravians took thier name from the region of Czech lands where they had originated.  They migrated to North Carolina in the 1750s to do work among the Cherokees.
Holly Bend, built in c. 1800 for Robert Davidson, the largest slaveowner in Mecklenburg County, was the centerpiece of a large cotton plantation.  Like most Piedmont Plantations, it is a gable-roofed box with end chimneys and a shed roof.  Notice that it lacks elaborate ornamentation.  That would have been too ostentatious for a Calvinist.
Hope Plantation near Windsor in Bertie County is an historic site.   It was built in c. 1800 for tobacco plantation owner David Stone.  It is a lavish example of Palladian architecture.  The square, hip-roofed block with two-tiered, pedimented portico is taken directly from one of Palladio copybooks.  Preservationists like William Sumner Appleton would have applauded the saving of such a fine example of Federal architecture.

Ingleside Plantation in Lincoln County was built for Daniel and Harriet Brevard Forney in 1817.  Daniel, the son of prosperous planters and ironmakers, served in the U. S. Congress from 1815 until 1818.  The massive two-story, pedimented portico with Ionic columns, bears testimony to the refined tastes of the owners.  The brickwork is Flemish bond. All black and white pictures on this page are from Catherine W. Bishir and Tim Buchman, North Carolina Architecture.

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