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JAMES WALTER FITZGIBBON 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 Bachelors in Architecture in 1938. Fitzgibbon earned a Masters 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 and taught as an assistant professor in the School of Architecture. 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. At the same time, he began a long partnership with R. Buckminster Fuller and designed both commercial and residential projects with Fuller's firm Synergetics. 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 never left, teaching there for the rest of his life, except for visiting professorships at the University of California-Berkeley and Harvard University. Fitzgibbon and Fuller worked together on 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. Fitzgibbon had some of his work exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art. A show called Visionary Architecture featured his drawing of a city built in several stories over the Hudson River between NYC and New Jersey. In the exhibit, his drawing was placed between that of Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn, the latter being his professor at the University of Pennsylvania. |
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1948 - Fitzgibbon and his wife Margaret bought a house at 617 Kirby Street, Raleigh. He did a tremendous amount of renovation, for example, the front door was sealed up and the entry was through the back porch and then into the kitchen, which he had opened into the living room to make one large room. When he put up the addition years later, it was hooked onto the same back porch which was filled in and made into an entry hall for both parts of the house. Sold to Margaret Dent in 1971. Sold to Yale Patt in 1972. Sold to Rene and Joan Langford in 1981. Sold to The Kirby Group in 1985. It was about to be destroyed when David and Shanda Davenport bought it in 1991. Sold in 1995 to Aly G. Khalifa and Jennifer R. Snyder. Snyder's portion was bought out by Aly Khalifa shortly thereafter. Current owners are Aly and Beth Khalifa. |
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1950 - The Nancy Fields Fadum House, 3056 Granville Drive, Raleigh, 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 to Nick and Julie Fountain in 2004. A substantial addition was designed by Brian Shawcroft and built by Tom Brown of the Splinter Group. The Fountains expanded and renovated the notoriously small kitchen in 2009. Won a Capital Area Preservation award in 2009, plus from the City of Raleigh, a Sir Walter Raleigh Award. Top photo by Leilani Carter, next photo by Sally Greene during construction of the addition, others by David Hunt. Part of the TMH April 2009 Tour. |
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1950 - The George and Beth Paschal House, 3334 Alamance Drive, Raleigh. 3340 square feet, built by Davidson and Jones. Mrs. Paschal moved out in early 2007. The forced floor heating system is completely shot and while the house is recoverable (with a lot of work), it won't be for long without proper HVAC. Photos by George Smart and Dave Potter. |
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1950 - Here is Fitzgibbon next to an early geodesic dome prototype
in Raleigh. |
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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. Johnny and Sonja Miller bought it in 2001. Sold in 2008 to current owners Justin and Alexis Whitaker. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. |
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1968 - The Florence Francis House, 1515 Battery Drive, 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. |
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1968 - The Gilbert and Nora Gottlieb Residence, 4908 Forestville Road, Raleigh. Built for current owner. 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. This was his last house in Raleigh. Photos by Leilani Carter. Other Houses:
The Kendall House, Knoxville TN.
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Sources include: The Missouri Historical Society, Peter Calundruccio, Nora Gottlieb, Florence Francis, Heather Tucker, Heather Fearnbach, Beth Khalifa, Brian Shawcroft, Preservation North Carolina, School of Design: The Kamphoefner Years 1948-1973 by Roger Clark, Sybil Shumaker, his sister Marifrancis Fitzgibbon Hardison. |
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