SH Archive A Tour of Asheville North Carolina

[Archive]

BATTERY PARK HOTEL

Battery Park Hotel (1910)

Aerial View (1909)

Digging and Ground Removal (1923)

Fired Damaged Hotel and more Earth Work (1923)

Extensive Earth Removal (1924)

Modern Building Replacement (1924)

Postcard of New Battery Park Hotel

PACK SQUARE

Old Court House, Vance Monument (Obelisk) and Surrounding Square

Clearer View of Extensive Aerial Wiring and Masts

Alternate View of the Same

Another View from 1824 with Masts

Updated. Old Courthouse demolished. Mast on the right building becomes flagpole. Trolley cars and lines removed.

Note: This OP was recovered from the KeeperOfTheKnowledge archive.

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[KD Archive]

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Username: KorbenDallas
Date: 2018-08-19 18:41:42
Reaction Score: 1

Hmm, funny how they liked to move mountains of dirt back then. Here is another topic pertaining to the same activities, but this time in Seattle.

So we have dirt removal in North Carolina. I wonder what bogus reason the authorities in NC had to come up with to justify all the digging. For it had to require some creativity to explain that beautiful stone railing (bottom left of the below photo) they just dug out.

I would love to see a separate investigative topic on this Asheville Regrading, one day. Interesting what else they dug out.

And the architecture... simply monumental. We all know who did not build it.

 

[Archive]

Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: Effie
Date: 2018-08-19 21:33:03
Reaction Score: 1

In this case it looks more like the leveling of an old "battery" earth formation than digging something out. As in other cases, the architecturally beautiful hotel is replaced by something "modern" and utilitarian.

 

[KD Archive]

Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: KorbenDallas
Date: 2018-08-19 21:47:30
Reaction Score: 0

As far as I understand they have many names for the same process of digging stuff out.

And architectural signature, yup, was, is and will keep on getting erased.

 

[KD Archive]

Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: KorbenDallas
Date: 2018-08-20 14:04:55
Reaction Score: 0

Pretty sure you have plenty of mystery down there. Ever tried to figure out who built this Old Courthose of yours? Meaning who the architect was? What this architect’s background and education was? What companies were contracted to build it?

Somehow I doubt you will get much info on that.

Does it even exist any longer?

 

[Archive]

Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: Effie
Date: 2018-08-20 15:17:34
Reaction Score: 1

The architect/builder is credited as a Mr. Ephraim Clayton , a resident of the area from a wealthy family. His architectural ability was highly regarded.

"Mr. Clayton is equal to anything in the line of practical architecture. Cool and unmoved against a vast array of detail, he calmly and shrewdly adapts the means to the end, and never overlooks the conditions of success, nor fails in the attainment of the desired results. Guided by Mr. Clayton, no one need fear of contracting to build for a given sum, and having to pay a third more than he bargained for." - Asheville News, January 18, 1855

He is said to have "built probably more structures in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia than any other two men."

"By the 1830s he was receiving commissions in Georgia and South Carolina as well as much of western North Carolina. Between that time and the Civil War, he is known to have built four courthouses, four churches, one hotel, two college buildings, a large bridge, and a large number of houses—and he doubtless constructed other projects as well."

Despite his famed prolificacy in the region, only two examples of his work outside North Carolina have been identified.

According to the history, he used slave labor to construct his "greek revival style" courthouse in 1876. Despite his renown as being a master builder, the Asheville courthouse was said to be in poor condition by the turn of the century. A historian of the day described it as a "pretentious brick house." The building was demolished in 1903, just 27 years after its construction.

 

[anotherlayer]

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Username: anotherlayer
Date: 2018-08-20 15:38:07
Reaction Score: 0

hmm, this Asheville situation sure sounds familiar to the Omaha Hills:

 

[KD Archive]

Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: KorbenDallas
Date: 2018-08-20 15:38:54
Reaction Score: 0

Photography was “invented” in 1830s. The guy died in 1892. Bet you won’t find sny pictures of the guy. Well, may be one

I bet if he was an archtect, he was either a giant or something else altogether. Most likely just an appointed character.

 

[anotherlayer]

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Username: anotherlayer
Date: 2018-08-20 15:39:39
Reaction Score: 1

He is said to have "built probably more structures in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia than any other two men."

if we stopped and added them all up, we'd only have 12 architects in the entire history of the United States....

 

[KD Archive]

Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: KorbenDallas
Date: 2018-08-20 15:50:20
Reaction Score: 0

hmm, this Asheville situation sure sounds familiar to the Omaha Hills

We have hill regrading in Asheville, Omaha and Seattle.

I wonder where else.

 

[Dirigible]

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Username: Dirigible
Date: 2018-08-20 15:51:42
Reaction Score: 0

Hi @Effie , don't know the area as well as you do, but I had started looking into Biltmore House as well.

 

[Archive]

Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: Effie
Date: 2018-08-20 16:23:12
Reaction Score: 0

Hi @Effie , don't know the area as well as you do, but I had started looking into Biltmore House as well.

I haven't had the opportunity to look at the history of the Biltmore House. Not related to this topic, but area ghost hunters and spook investigators say there is an interesting pool room there.

 

[KD Archive]

Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.
Username: KorbenDallas
Date: 2018-08-20 17:04:16
Reaction Score: 1

You gotta love this.

Because Clayton's trade was as a carpenter, when he contracted for brick buildings he used other men to accomplish the brickwork.

His works included many of the most stylish and substantial buildings of their day in a region still dominated by simple, traditional building.

One would have to be blind, to believe that this guy was the architect of those buildings.

 

[Archive]

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Username: humanoidlord
Date: 2018-08-23 01:03:48
Reaction Score: 0

that dirt mound is unbelievable, also can those spires get more blatant?

 

[Whitewave]

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Username: whitewave
Date: 2018-08-23 02:01:48
Reaction Score: 0

Some of the pictures of digging may be explained here. Did the library also burn?