Triangle Modernist Houses

Compiled by George Smart, Jr.                                                          

JAMES W. FITZGIBBON (1915-1985)

Fitzgibbon was born in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1933, he entered Syracuse University’s School of Architecture as a Gifford Scholarship student. He won the Gifford Design Prize and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1938. Fitzgibbon earned a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1939, where he won the Warren Prize design competition and was a finalist in the Rome Prize competition. In November 1940, Fitzgibbon married fellow Syracuse student Margaret Inez Crosby of Falconer, New York. 

In 1944, he was appointed associate architect for campus planning at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. The following year he resumed teaching as an assistant professor of architecture in the University of Oklahoma’s School of Architecture program.  Fitzgibbon was an assistant professor of architecture in the University of Oklahoma’s School of Architecture program. In 1948, Fitzgibbon, Waugh, Matsumoto and others left Oklahoma with Henry Kamphoefner to establish the NCSU School of Design.  Fitzgibbon served as the associate architect for campus planning and an assistant professor of architecture before becoming a full professor in 1953. Fitzgibbon began a long partnership with R. Buckminster Fuller and designed both commercial and residential projects.

In 1968, Fitzgibbon took a leave of absence from Synergetics to teach as a visiting professor of architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. He continued his academic pursuits for the rest of his life, not only as a professor at Washington University but also with visiting professorships at several institutions, including the University of California-Berkeley and Harvard. Numerous consulting projects provided opportunities for Fitzgibbon and Fuller to work together on ventures in the early 1970s, such as the Old Man River Project, an $800 million urban renewal conceptual city designed to house 30,000-50,000 people under a massive dome in East St. Louis, Illinois, that was never built. 

1950 - The Nancy Fields Fadum house, 3056 Granville Drive, Raleigh.  The house was featured in the October 1951 edition of Architectural Record magazine. Built by Frank Walser.  Fadum had it placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.  Damaged during Hurricane Fran.  Donated to the NCSU School of Design upon her death in 2002.  Sold for approximately $1.1 million to Nick and Julie Fountain.  A substantial addition was designed by Brian Shawcroft and built by Tom Brown.  Photo by Sally Greene and David Hunt.

1950 - Dr. George and Beth Paschal House, 3334 Alamance Drive, Raleigh.  3340 sf, built by Davidson and Jones.   Mrs. Paschal moved out in early 2007.  The property is for sale by Preservation North Carolina for $5.7M, mostly for the land value of the 2.9 acres.  The forced floor heating system is completely shot and while the house is recoverable, it won't be for long without proper HVAC. 

1950 - Although it may not qualify as a house, here is Fitzgibbon next to an early geodesic dome prototype in Raleigh.  Photo by Joseph W. Molitor.

1950 - The Robert Daniel House, 2701 Woodson Drive in Knoxville, Tennessee.  Fitzgibbon’s most famous house.  The structure was built into a hillside from salvaged Quonset hut structural supports.   The Daniels sold it to Neal Cantrell in 1961.  Cantrell died in 1970 and his family let the site deteriorate.  In 1982 architect Peter Calandruccio bought it for $37,000 and began renovation.  In 1986, Fine Homebuilding magazine published Calandruccio’s extensive account of the renovations (including most of these pictures).  Fitzgibbon was a guest of Calandruccio’s shortly before he died.  Donald Renfroe bought it for $175,000 in 1993.  Current owner Johnny Miller bought it in 2001.  Top photo by Billy Glenn.

Fitzgibbon designed a house for himself at 617 Kirby Street, Raleigh.  Later, he designed a cinderblock addition on the rear.  The house passed through several owners, was condemned, and was about to be destroyed when David Davenport bought it in 1991.  Current owner Aly Gamil Khalifa purchased it in 1995 for $64,000.

1968 - The Francis House, 1515 Battery Drive in Raleigh.  In 1962, unable to fly home from Puerto Rico directly, Fitzgibbon found himself overnighting in a hotel in Antigua.  There he met assistant manager Florence Irving Francis, originally from Raleigh.  They struck up a friendship.  Later that year, Francis and her husband returned to Raleigh.  In 1968, they asked Fitzgibbon to design them a home on a narrow lot in Southeast Raleigh.  She has lived there ever since. 

1968 - Gilbert and Nora Gottlieb Residence, 4908 Forestville Road, Raleigh.  Fitzgibbon designed an extensive renovation which did not suitably accommodate the Gottllieb’s growing family.  Mrs. Gottlieb, much to Fitzgibbon’s dismay, created her own design improvements.  She still lives there.