Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission

Author: Elizabeth Stuart

2020 Mad About Modern Home Tour

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

The Mad About Modern Home Tour is going virtual! We’re excited to present Charlotte’s award-winning midcentury + modern home tour this year through a series of online experiences.

Part 1: Charlotte Modernism, Saturday Sept 26, 6:00 p.m.
Don’t miss this live, one-night-only lecture with modernism expert and “the Lorax of Modernist Houses” George Smart. Smart will share examples of the best midcentury modern design in Charlotte and explain how it relates to the global modernist movement, starting with Bauhaus art and design in the 1920s and 1930s. Smart is founder and executive director of USModernist and NCModernist, nonprofit organizations that document, preserve and promote modernist design.

Part 2: Mad About Modern Home Tour, September 26 – October 4
Get an in-depth look inside three of Charlotte’s stunning midcentury homes, including the renovated Cohen-Fumero House. Tours will be available via 360° virtual tours for one week only, from Sept. 26 through Oct. 4. Your ticket purchase also includes a beautifully designed keepsake Digital Guidebook highlighting interesting features and design elements in each home.


THREE GREAT TICKET OPTIONS

Virtual Tour Ticket: $20
Includes access to 360Tours of each of the three featured homes as well as the Digital Guidebook to walk you through each home’s unique architecture and history. The 360Tours will be accessible starting Saturday, September 26, 2020 through Sunday, October 4, 2020. The Digital Guidebook is yours to keep!

Virtual Tour + Charlotte Modernism Kickoff: $30
Includes all the benefits of the Virtual Tour Ticket plus access to the live, one-night-only kickoff event featuring NCModernist Founder George Smart. All registrants will be sent a unique link to join the program. On the day of the program, simply click the link to join in. The kickoff will feature a themed cocktail ‘minute’ to get you in the mood for modernism.

Modernism Friend Ticket: $130
As we prepare for our 10th Annual Home Tour next year, we need your help to continue bringing you access to some of Charlotte’s most incredible, inspiring, and unique midcentury + modern homes. This special ticket includes all the benefits of the Virtual Tour + Live Kickoff Event Ticket plus a $100, tax-deductible donation. Modernism Friends will be listed in the Digital Guidebook to show our thanks (deadline 9/24).


WIN MIDMOD RAFFLE ITEMS


CELEBRATE IN STYLE

Dot Dot Dot Mixologist Brittany Clark will kickoff Saturday’s event by showing attendees how to mix two classic 1950s cocktails with a twist – the Mad About Modern Mule and the Mad About Modern Manhattan. Ticket holders can follow Dot Dot Dot’s recipe card or purchase a Cocktail Kit from Dot Dot Dot’s website the week of the event. Save coupon code MAM2020 to purchase.



LEARN ABOUT PRESERVATION IN OCTOBER

The Charlotte Museum of History is excited to announce that registration for the new virtual Preservation Seminar Series is live! Presented in partnership with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, the seminars will teach attendees about practical tools to preserve our region’s historic built environment. Topics covered over the three days will include local historic landmark designation, national register listing and tax incentives and preservation easements.

Seminars will be broadcast live on the Museum’s YouTube channel and recordings will be accessible after each program.

There’s no cost to register, but contributions will go toward the Museum’s preservation efforts, including the Mad About Modern Home Tour and the Save Siloam School project. We hope you’ll join us next month! And please pass this great program along to your colleagues and friends who want to learn more about how to preserve Charlotte’s incredible built history.


Seminar Schedule

Tuesday, October 20
Local Government & Historic Preservation
Featuring Kristi Harpst, Program Manager, Charlotte Historic District Commission, and Jack Thomson and Stewart Gray from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission.

Wednesday, October 21
Nonprofits & Historic Preservation
Featuring Ted Alexander, Regional Director, Western North Carolina, Preservation North Carolina, and Dr. Dan Morrill, Administrative Consultant, Preserve Mecklenburg Inc.

Thursday, October 22
Listing on the National Register & Tax Incentives
Featuring Sarah David, Survey & National Register Branch Supervisor, State Historic Preservation Office, and Brett Sturm, Restoration Specialist, State Historic Preservation Office.

All programs will begin at 12:00 PM and end at 1:15 PM, including time for Q&A.


September 21, 2020

The Community Builders, “a national developer that specializes in mixed-income housing,” which also owns the historic Johnston Mill, located at 3315 North Davidson Street, is proposing a major rehabilitation of the property. The proposed project includes renovating the historic mill building as an apartment building and constructing a new building on the property. 

The Charlotte Agenda details the history of the historic mill and the plans for its renovation: “45 years after it closed, the historic Johnston Mill building in NoDa will soon get new life

The Design Review Committee of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission will review this project at its virtual meeting on September 30. Details can be found here for those interested in attending. 


The Design Review Committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday, September 30, 2020, will be a virtual meeting. Please note there will be no accommodation for any in-person attendance. If you need special accommodations, please contact the HLC office at 980-314-7660.


September 30, 2020 – 8:00 a.m.

1.  Chair’s Report: Garrett Nelson

2.  Staff Report: Jack Thomson and Stewart Gray

3.  Davidson School, 251 South Street, Davidson, N.C.

The Committee will review a revision to an approved plan with a substitution of new ceiling materials for the principal building. 

Reflected Ceiling Plan

Product Information

Previously Approved Plans

Davidson School

4.  Johnston Mill, 3315 North Davidson Street, Charlotte, N.C.

The applicant is proposing a renovation of the historic mill building and infill development.   

Images of Property

Construction Documents (Condensed File)

Interior Renderings

Proposed Infill

Description of Rehabilitation Work Submitted to HPO (Large File)

Construction Documents (Large File)

Johnston Mill

5.  James C. Dowd House, 2216 Monument Street, Charlotte, N.C.

The applicant is seeking conceptual approval for a renovation of the house and site development.

Proposed Plans

James C. Dowd House

6.  Old Business

7.  New Business


The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission has completed a survey project that concentrated on identifying historic African American resources along a portion of Beatties Ford Road in Charlotte. The area studied is located between the Brookshire Freeway and Interstate 85, and includes the Washington Heights Neighborhood, the University Park Neighborhood, and the many houses and commercial and institutional buildings that front directly onto Beatties Ford Road. While nearby areas associated with the African American community had been investigated and/or inventoried, no inventory of the subject area’s important historic resources had been made. In addition, the HLC recognized a need to develop general history of the large and prominent University Park Neighborhood.

Under contract with the HLC, historical consultant and Johnson C. Smith University Archivist Brandon Lunsford began the survey work and historical research in late 2019. The results are impressive and important for understanding the development of African American communities on Charlotte’s West Side and the overall history of Charlotte. 

Overview of the Beatties Ford Road Corridor Survey Project

2021 Update:  The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission has supplemented this survey project with additional research and resources focused on the African American communities bordering the Beatties Ford Road corridor. Those materials – focusing on the McCrorey Heights, Oaklawn Park, Lincoln Heights, and Dalebrook neighborhoods – may be found here.

  • 2600 Beatties Ford Road

Washington Heights


While there has been solid academic research into the history of Washington Heights, the HLC previously did not have an inventory of the properties in the historic neighborhood. 112 structures in Washington Heights were identified during the survey.

Washington Heights Inventory Spreadsheet


Beatties Ford Road


This survey concentrated on the houses, commercial buildings, and institutional buildings that front directly onto Beatties Ford Road. All pre-1945 structures were inventoried, and any property built before 1970 with potential architectural or historical significance was inventoried.

Beatties Ford Road Historic Properties Inventory Spreadsheet


University Park


No general history of the University Park neighborhood could be identified by HLC Staff, and thus the production of a concise history of the neighborhood became a priority of the project.

University Park Historical Essay

University Park is a large neighborhood, containing hundreds of homes. A complete inventory of the neighborhood was not deemed feasible for this project. Instead the project concentrated on homes with strong architectural or historical significance.

Significant University Park Properties Spreadsheet

The University Park neighborhood grew in stages, and initial research into the area failed to identify a definitive boundary of the neighborhood. Using recorded subdivision maps, HLC Staff and the historical consultant were able to develop a boundary of the historic neighborhood. An interesting finding of the Survey is that the residential blocks along Maribe Avenue, Estelle Street, Taylor Avenue, McDonald Street, and portions of Remington Street were parts of an early 20th Century un-named neighborhood developed by the Biddleville Development Company.

University Park Boundary Map