Architectural Tidbits

by Dale Wayne Slusser “The work of prominent and prolific architect George F. Barber (1854–1915) can be found across North America. Virtually every major town has a residence designed by the Knoxville-based architect, who created and sold house plans through his...

by Dale Wayne Slusser Asheville has, since the coming of the railroad in the 1880’s, attracted both the most wealthy and talented citizens from all parts of the U. S.  However, I was recently reminded that among those attracted to Asheville also were numerous...

by Dale Wayne Slusser When I’m asked to research the history of a house, the foremost question I’m asked is: “Who built my house?”  Of course, implicit in that question are really three questions, “Who commissioned my house to be built?”, “Who designed my house?”, and...

by Dale Wayne Slusser The majority of Asheville’s four local designated Historic Districts and its fourteen National Register Historic Districts consists of houses/structures from the late-nineteenth-century and early twentieth century.  Many of these structures were...

by Dale Wayne Slusser Before HGTV and DIY television, architectural design trends were influenced, popularized, and in fact, most often initiated by what we librarians used to call “print-media”: books, newspapers, and magazines. Author Daniel D. Reiff, in his...

by Dale Wayne Slusser If I hear one more person on HGTV moan because the house they’re looking to buy doesn’t have granite countertops or an open concept, I think I’ll just scream!! -Or if I hear of another person who longs to live in a “tiny house” on 12 acres (where...

by Dale Wayne Slusser Possum Trot Cottage in Asheville’s Albemarle Park was built as a speculation home by the park’s developer, Thomas Wadley Raoul. Following the death of Thomas’ father, William G. Raoul (who had bank-rolled the Albemarle Park project since 1896),...

by Dale Wayne Slusser Today’s “Pocket Neighborhood” developers in Asheville would do well to study Albemarle Park, one of Asheville’s earliest planned residential developments. William Greene Raoul, a railroad executive from Georgia originally purchased the 34-acre...

The construction of the house at 30 Norwood Avenue is as unique as was its creator and builder, Joseph Percy Threadgill, a real estate developer from Miami, who was simply known as “Percy”. This unusual one-and-one-half-story-plus-basement, Tudor Revival house appears...

cby Dale Wayne Slusser St. Lawrence Basilica, named for the patron-saint  of Spain, was built in 1905 in a Spanish Baroque style.  This is not surprising considering that the church, though drawn by architect Richard Sharp Smith, was mostly designed and built by...