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"This is not a field in which one can make a comfortable living: yet it is the field that affords the deepest satisfaction." -- Edgar and Margaret Hunter, November 1953 Architectural Record |
EDGAR HAYES "TED" HUNTER, JR.,
AIA Edgar Hunter was a competitive Alpine skier in 1930s. He received AB and M.Ed. degrees from Dartmouth College in 1938 and 1950. He also received BA and Masters of Architecture degrees from Harvard in 1941 and 1970. At Harvard, he met Peg Hunter and they would later marry. Hunter was a professor for 20 years at Dartmouth College and Chapter President of both the New Hampshire and the Raleigh AIA.
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MARGARET
KING "PEG" HUNTER, AIA Margaret Hunter received a BA in Botany at Wheaton College and was a member of the first class of female architects at the Harvard School of Design in 1942. See the full photo below of Hunter the kitchen GE built from her design. She is the author of Your Own Kitchen and Garden Survival Book with Virginia W. Williams and The Indoor Garden with her husband. The Hunters practiced in Hanover, New Hampshire from 1945-1966, both teaching at Dartmouth and designing several buildings on the campus. They were featured in the 1950, 1953, and 1956 Architectural Record. In 1957, they hired Roy Banwell as an associate. In 1966 they relocated to Raleigh as EH and MK Hunter AIA. leaving Banwell to establish his own firm in Lebanon NH, Banwell Architects. In Raleigh, the couple designed Ridgewood Shopping Center and the Meredith Woods Subdivision, among many other proejcts. Their Raleigh house, no longer standing, was one of their best works. |
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1948 - The Ralph W. and Elizabeth (Betty) M. Hunter House, 17 Hemlock Road, Hanover NH. Ralph Hunter was Ted Hunter's brother. Sold in 2003 to current owners Norman N. Yanofsky and Kathy Crawford.
1949 - The Maude French Residence, 7 Lewin Road, Hanover NH. Two bedrooms with the living floor raised over the entrance, garage, garden storage and "breezeway", to take maximum advantage of the view of the valley of the Connecticut River. Pictured above, French (1900-1985) variously called it "Spinster's Rest," "El Rancho Bankrupto," and other names with great affection. According to Jean Ranc, French had a vintage Thunderbird convertible she kept garaged and on blocks during the winter. "If you saw Maude driving her Thunderbird," says Ranc, "you knew it was spring." Sold in 1985 to George R. and Caroline Porter. Sold in 1986 to current owners Jonathan and Ann Rose. |
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The Hunter House (photos above)
Peg Hunter, her son Christopher, and his friends in the GE Kitchen (not the Hunter House) 1949 - The Hunter's own home on 15 Hemlock Road, Hanover NH. This remarkable glass, stone, and wood piece of sculpture was suspended like a tree house on the side of Balch Hill. The stunningly beautiful house stair-steps down the hill on three levels with ledge stone foundations. Inside, a see-through fireplace opened to the living room and the dining room on the other side. The house was featured on the cover of the November 1953 Architectural Record. It was the crown jewel of a community of Hunter-designed houses along Hemlock Road, each with 2-5 acres of woods. Margaret Hunter was featured in the 1958 Time/Life Picture Cookbook for being "one of the few successful women architects." General Electric was so impressed with her kitchen design they built it, although not at the Hunter house. Stationed in the middle of the GE house, the kitchen is without walls to the dining room and motor-driven shades regulated light from the windows. There was also a skylight over the kitchen area. Bottom color photos of the GE kitchen by Leslie Gill. This jewel sat unsold for some four years after the Hunters had departed in 1966 for Raleigh. Bought in 1970 for $58,500 by Jean Ranc and Nathan Geurkink. Ranc loved the house but reality struck upon the first $500 oil bill for the radiant heating in the slate and concrete floor. Later after refinancing the house to install thermopane throughout, they were only able to reduce the heating cost 25%, even keeping the thermostat at 65 degrees and dressing in layers. Ranc and Geurkink sold in 1979 for $92,000 and two subsequent owners have made extensive renovations such as enlarging the tiny kitchen, adding decks and a separate guest house. Interior designer Cheryl Boghosian is the current owner. Here is a map of the neighborhood, originally known as "Pill Hill" because so many doctors lived there.
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1950 - Built for current owners Oscar Sherwin Staples and Mable Staples, 14 Hemlock Road, Hanover NH. Added on a library right behind the garage, a bathroom, a guest room, and a carport, also by the Hunters. Bottom photo by John Sherman.
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1951 - The Walter C. and Caroline R. Lobitz House, 25 Hemlock Road, Hanover NH. The walls in the living room were burlap. Includes four bedrooms and a study. Sold to R. Clinton and Caroline S. Fuller in 1961. Sold in 1966 to Raymond Sid and Alice O. Jackson. Was sold in 2007 to their son and daughter.
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1955 - The Roy P. and Dorothy Forster House, 18 Hemlock Road, Hanover NH. Transferred to joint ownership between Roy and their daughter, Peggy Forster Hyde, on the death of Dorothy in 1991. Upon Roy's death, it was sold to the Thomas R. Eck Trust in 1999. Sold to John J. McIntyre IV in 2000. Sold in 2001 to current owners Robert and Lori Ann Harris. They cleared some of the land below the house for an outstanding view of the mountains.
1961 - The Roberts
Residence,
154 Lyme Road, Hanover NH.
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1969 - Residence for Louis and Barbara O'Conner, 5009 North Hills Drive, Raleigh. Sold in 1994 to Kristin Eldridge. Sold in 2004 to current owners Michael and Kathleen Southern. |
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1973 - Their own house at 3808 Tall Tree Place, Raleigh, destroyed. This exceptional house was years ahead of its time. According to Margaret Hunter's executor Charlie Fulton, the structure contained a small apartment where one of their parents lived for a few years. The six acres with its own pond was sold to James Stewart Carr in 1997 after the death of Margaret Hunter. Carr subdivided the property into many lots and the house was destroyed. He did save these pictures, however, and generously donated them to TMH.
1974 - Residence for Mr. & Mrs. John V. Hunter III,
East Lake Drive, Raleigh.
1979 - The Marjorie Smith and Harriet Ammann Residence, 3601 Marcom Street, Raleigh. Ammann sold her interest to Smith in 1981. Smith sold the house to current owner Lewis Deitz in 1984.
1984 - The Peter and Barbara Baxter
Residence, Cotuit MA. No address or photo.
Do you have one?
1990 - Residence for Sytse and Karen Polier Douna, Louisburg
NC.
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Sources include: Hunter Archives at NCSU; Your Own Kitchen and Garden Survival Book by Margaret King Hunter and Virginia W. Williams; The Indoor Garden by Margaret King Hunter and Edgar Hayes Hunter; November 1953 Architectural Record; Time/Life Picture Cookbook (1958); Architectural Forum April 1950 pages 174-5; Better Homes and Gardens June 1951 pages 68-9; Hanover's Hunter Houses, written by Jack Degrange, photography by John Sherman, from Here In Hanover Magazine 2005, volume 8 No.3 page 10. Interviews: former clients John V. Hunter III and Karen Polier Douna, former Raleigh neighbor and book collaborator Paul Nelson, Margaret Hunter's sister Deborah King Jarvis, Margaret Hunter's co-executor Charlie Fulton, Maude French's nephew Allen Spalt, former Hanover neighbor Jean Ranc, developer James Stuart Carr, former Hanover neighbor Ana Mayor, former Hanover neighbor Carol Kenfield, Robert Harris, Raymond Jackson, Roy Banwell AIA. |
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