Winston-Salem and the North Carolina Piedmont

Steeped in a rich and varied culture, the North Carolina Piedmont is the home of impressive achievements in the history of architecture and decorative arts. MESDA’s 50th anniversary provided the impetus for our visit, not to mention the 250th anniversary of Salem and the 100th anniversary of Reynolda House. From masterworks of Southern decorative art and Moravian material culture to the glamour of Winston-Salem’s early-20th-century golden era, this symposium will provide a fabulous survey of the heart of the Tar Heel State.

Thursday, April 21

8:00am – 5:00pm

We will head east from Winston-Salem to visit five sites in the Research Triangle. Our base of operations will be Ayr Mount (1815) in Hillsborough, owned by Richard Hampton Jenrette’s Classical American Homes Preservation Trust. Ayr Mount is one of the finest Federal-era residences in the Piedmont. The austere exterior belies a grand interior with high ceilings and elaborate neoclassical style woodwork and plasterwork. In addition to special tours by CAHPT Co-Presidents and Trust Governors Margize Howell and Peter Kenny, participants will also enjoy a BBQ lunch on the beautiful grounds.

Directly adjacent to Ayr Mount is the privately owned Montrose (1898), housing an eclectic collection of 18th and early-19th-century decorative and fine arts to items associated with the Bloomsbury Group to 18th-century woodwork taken from a dwelling in Hillsborough. The property contains many outbuildings dating from the 1840s, including the law office of North Carolina Governor William Alexander Graham.

The largest private collection of North Carolina maps lures us to Chapel Hill. Our hosts began collecting 15 years ago, focusing on printed maps from the 16th through the mid- 19th centuries. Their holdings include a broad variety of map types, a few of which are unique examples, and form a nearly complete cartographic history of North Carolina. Trust Governor and Colonial Williamsburg’s Curator of Maps Margaret Pritchard will assist.

Continuing to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, we will be treated to a private exhibition of highlights from the North Carolina and Rare Book Collections along with a walking tour to see Old East and Smith Hall, two university buildings designed by noted 19th-century architect Alexander Jackson Davis.

Our time at UNC will be complemented by a visit to the Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University in Durham, which has recently reopened following a multi-year renovation. The library’s staff will share a remarkable selection of maps, texts, and other historical documents that explore the early history of our nation.

Registration is limited to 70 participants.

Sunday, April 24

11:30am – 7:00pm

Roaring Gap is a private summer retreat in the Blue Ridge Mountains established in 1890 for prominent Piedmont families seeking a getaway from the heat. The seasonal residents came from nearby Elkin and Winston-Salem, and, later, Greensboro and Charlotte. Families commissioned house plans from the leading architects of the day. Dwellings at Roaring Gap range from the Queen Anne to Colonial Revival to Modernist styles. These houses contain an equally eclectic and impressive range of decorative and fine arts as well. Wrapping around Lake Louise, the community is anchored by an imposing clubhouse and intimate chapel attributed to the Philadelphia architect Charles Barton Keen of Reynolda House fame. Many houses also feature work by contemporary designers and architects such as Madison Spencer of Charlottesville and Norman Askins of Atlanta.

Over the course of the afternoon we will visit several private homes accompanied by multi- generational residents Stewart Butler and Constance and Lyons Gray. The visit to Roaring Gap will conclude with refreshments at a house with spectacular views overlooking the Blue Ridge.

Registration is limited to 30 participants.

Sunday, April 24

11:30am – 7:00pm

Due east of Winston-Salem sits Körner’s Folly (1880), a truly unique house in the town of Kernersville. Jule Gilmer Körner, an interior and furniture designer and painter, used his home to showcase his aesthetics to his clients. Its unconventional design defies simple description and underwent constant renovation to accommodate new plans. Decorative murals, artwork, and Körner’s sumptuous furniture add a distinct sense of opulence.

We are invited to tour an extraordinary private collection at Crow Hill in Greensboro. A contemporary house built to designs taken from the John Vogler House (1819) in Old Salem, the dwelling includes painted woodwork from the Frances Lucas Simpson House (1815). Although the strength of the collection resides in objects from Piedmont North Carolina, the owners’ collecting interests also include complementary material from Pennsylvania and the Chesapeake.

At the Greensboro Historical Museum, curator Jon Zachman will offer a behind-the- scenes tour of the noteworthy collection of Piedmont decorative and fine arts housed there. Participants will visit storage to view important pieces of furniture as well as the charming and colorful work of the Guilford Limner, an artist recently studied by MESDA’s Sally Gant.

North Carolina Governor John Motley Morehead’s Blandwood (1846) is an Italianate style villa in Greensboro designed by nationally renowned architect Alexander Jackson Davis. The house provides visitors with a remarkably complete ensemble of 19th-century art, architecture, furnishings, and landscape. We will enjoy a closing cocktail reception in Blandwood’s octagonal coach house, also designed by Davis.

Registration is limited to 50 participants.

Saturday, April 23

6:00pm

A visit to the recently restored Philip Hoehns House (1798) is a rare treat. Located in Clemmons, just west of Winston-Salem, the dwelling was the birthplace for the Hanes family, the distinguished American textile magnates. Restored with additions by former Trust Governor Tom Gray, a noted collector and preservationist, and Paul Zickell, their house demonstrates a synthesis of late Georgian and Moravian details that includes Flemish bond brickwork by Johannes Krause. The Hoehns House is surrounded by nine acres of landscaped grounds with native Piedmont trees, fences, and out buildings. The interior features Gray and Zickell’s collection of Southern and New England decorative arts, noteworthy ceramics, and American toleware. Rarely open to the public, this reception should not be missed by Trust members.

Please join us for a wonderful evening of connoisseurship and conviviality as we toast Tom and Paul’s hospitality and lend support to the Trust’s efforts to encourage the next generation of curators and academics through a growing series of grants, scholarships, and internships. In 2016, more than two dozen graduate students and young professionals will benefit from the Trust’s Emerging Scholars Program.

Registration is limited to 50 participants.