Before HGTV: Books, Treatises, & Plan Books (Part 1)

Before HGTV: Books, Treatises, & Plan Books (Part 1)

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...
Possum Trot Cottage: A Regular Hummer

Possum Trot Cottage: A Regular Hummer

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),...
Albemarle Park: A Unique Early Residential Development

Albemarle Park: A Unique Early Residential Development

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...
Percy’s Fire-proof House

Percy’s Fire-proof House

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...
St. Lawrence Basilica: Spanish Baroque in Asheville

St. Lawrence Basilica: Spanish Baroque in Asheville

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...