Edward Loewenstein - Triangle Modernist Houses - America's Largest Archive of Residential Modernist Design

Loewenstein said that "dedicated architects die unhappy. They never get to unleash creative juices because of pressure to please clients."

EDWARD LOEWENSTEIN (1913-1970)

Born in Chicago, Edward Loewenstein graduated from Deerfield Shields High School then graduated from MIT with a BA in Architecture degree in 1935. He worked as a draftsman for Ralph E. Stoetzel and Newhouse and Berham in Chicago before opening an office in Highland Park IL in 1938. Five houses that he designed on one street there still survive. He served in the Army for five years starting in 1941.

In 1946, he moved to Greensboro with wife Francis Stern Loewenstein. His wife's stepfather, the very wealthy Julius Cone, provided access to a large social network of contacts upon which he built an architectural practice. In 1953, he joined with Robert A. Atkinson, Jr. to form Loewenstein-Atkinson and was president of the NC Architectural Foundation from 1953-1955.

Loewenstein was the first white architect to hire black architects in North Carolina, including William Streat in 1950, W. Edward Jenkins, Major Sanders, and Clinton Gravely. According to his daughter, Jane Levy, "my father just respected everyone. When confronted by white architects who had a problem with black co-workers, he told them they were welcome to leave." Loewenstein was an active member of Terry Sanford's North Carolina Commission on Civil Rights.

Here's the firm around 1965: Sanders is in the middle front and Gravely is three to the right in the back.

Walter T. (Tom) Wilson was 27 when he was made partner in 1967 and the firm became Loewenstein, Atkinson and Wilson -- which at its peak employed more than 30 with branches in Martinsville VA, Danville VA, Raleigh, and Burlington. The firm designed several hundred buildings. Their offices were in a non-modernist Georgian-style house at 1030 East Wendover Avenue, the former mansion of Julius Cone, where Wilson stores all of the firm's blueprints. The firm is now called Wilson Lysiak.

Loewenstein is widely known for his design of the Greensboro Public Library, now the Elon University Law School, below.

1930's - Five houses in Highland Park IL. No photos.

1951 - The Martha and Wilbur Lee (Bo) Carter, Jr. Residence, 1012 Country Club Drive, Greensboro NC. This is the first Modernist house in the area. Loewenstein incorporated passive solar heating in the "solar cell" room on the south side. The room originally had a glass roof, sheltered in summer by two mature trees. In winter, without leaves on the trees, the sun could warm the room. A few years after construction, the trees died and were removed. The room got much too hot without the trees so the glass roof was replaced with a conventional roof. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Won an AIANC design award in 1950-51. Featured in Architectural Record 1952-53. Current owners are Daniel and Kathy Craft. Bottom photo by Leilani Carter.

1951 - The A. M. and Ruth Fleishman Residence, 2614 Morganton Road, Fayetteville NC. Currently owned by their daughter. Jim Brandt was the draftsman. Built by Ed Rynick. Photos by Jim Brandt.

1951 - The Adele and M. Lewis Rosenberg House, 3300 Starmount Drive, Greensboro. Not a Modernist house.

1952 - The Barbara and Harvey Colchamiro House, 106 Knollwood Drive, Greensboro.
Not a Modernist house.

1952 - The J. G. White House, Glenwyck Avenue, High Point.

1952 - The Charles D. Orth III House, corner of Dover Road at Hammel Road, Greensboro. Commissioned 1950. Not a Modernist house. Has been extensively renovated.

1953 - The Eleanor and Marion Bertling Residence, 2312 Princess Ann Street, Greensboro NC. Atypical of the times, almost three dozen neighbors signed a petition of support for the construction of a Modernist dwelling, flying in the face of the unwritten restrictions from the planning and zoning department to prohibit such designs in the Kirkwood neighborhood. Sold to current owners Elaine and John Hammer. Photos by Nicole Alvarez.

1953 - The JoAnne Spangler Residence, 444 Downing Drive , Danville VA. The 1700-square foot, one-story home perches on the hillside and a large exterior deck floats above the creek, suspending deck-sitters in the midst of trees. Current owners Porter Aichele and Fritz Janschka purchased the house from the Spangler estate in 2006.

1954 - The Edward and Frances Loewenstein House, 2104 Granville Road, Greensboro. Featured in the New York Times Magazine, June 1955. Has a separate carport / apartment, bottom photo. Located on three acres. Current owner is Jane Levy, Loewenstein's daughter, and her husband Dick. The amazing living room fireplace is built into a window.

1954 - The Maurice and Dorothy Fleishman House, 1501 Raeford Road, Fayetteville NC. Attributed to Loewenstein. Sold to Raymond E. Nicholson. Destroyed in 2009.

1954 - The Addie and John R. Miller House, 1904 Lafayette Avenue, Greensboro.
Not a Modernist house.

1954 - The Doris and W. C. Boren III House, 1912 Lafayette Avenue, Greensboro.

1954 - The Libbie and Clarence Cone House, 910 Sunset Drive, Greensboro. Destroyed. Two new large houses, shown above, were built on the site around 2005.

1954 - The Mildred and E. Ray Bond House, 1214 Westridge Road, Greensboro.

1954 - The Oscar and Juliet Burnett House, 1908-1910 Lafayette Avenue, Greensboro.
Destroyed approximately 2005 - now an open lot.

1954 - The William A. (Bill) Stern House, 114 Wedgedale Avenue, Greensboro. Not a Modernist house.

1955 - The Alsia and Archie B. Joyner House, 1805 Nottingham Road, Greensboro.
Not a Modernist house.

1955 - The Eden and Lawrence Cohen House, 1002 Dover Road, Greensboro. Sold to the Jacobson family.

1955 - The Elreta and Girardeau Alexander House, Randleman Road, Greensboro.

1955 - The Faye and French P. Wise House, 3700 Holts Chapel Road, Greensboro. Sold in 2006.

1955 - The Martha and Ceasar Cone House, 506 West Cornwallis Drive, Greensboro. Destroyed. Loewenstein's daughter Jane Loewenstein Levy recalls that Cone was the only client her father argued with. Cone exploded over the cost of air conditioning the Modernist mansion Loewenstein designed for him. Cone fired and then rehired Loewenstein. The mansion was demolished around 1994 for a cul-de-sac neighborhood, shown above.

1955 - The Ann and Lloyd P. Tate House, 434 Youngs Road, Southern Pines (Vass) NC. May be the Stars and Bars Farm.

1956 - The Sidney J. and Katherine (Kay) Stern Residence, 1804 Nottingham Road, Greensboro.
Interiors by Sarah Kelly.

1956 - The Isabel and Sydney Cone, Jr. House, 306 Rockford Road, Greensboro.

1956 - The Herman L. and Edyth Davidson Residence, 3932 Starmount Drive, Greensboro.

1956 - The Nancy and Stephen Upson House, 2013 Lafayette Avenue, Greensboro. Destroyed, replaced with the house above.

1957 - The Emma and Victor Bates House, 3910 Starmount Drive, Greensboro.

1958 - The Francis and Irvin Squires Residence, 2207 North Elm Street, Greensboro NC. Loewenstein taught an innovative architectural design course at NC Woman's College (now UNC-Greensboro). Twenty-three female students designed a house, oversaw its construction, and decorated the resulting structure, dubbed the "Commencement House" by the University's public relations office.

The Greensboro Daily News proclaimed the house "as modern as tomorrow," hailing the women who designed it as pioneers, reporting that "they are the first pupils outside the schools of architecture to attempt the complete designing and building of a house." At its May 1958 dedication, covered by the newspaper and broadcast on WUNC-TV, North Carolina First Lady Mrs. Luther Hodges, herself an alumna of Woman's College, cut the ribbon on the house. Written up in the November 1958 edition of McCall's Magazine (above). Contractor: Eugene Gulledge (Superior Contracting Company of Greensboro). B/W photos from UNCG Walter Jackson Library, Department of Special Collections. Recent photos by Charles Brummitt.

Developer John Stratton purchased the house as part of a larger redevelopment. Although the house had deteriorated to the point where it could not economically be recovered, neighbors organized to save it. In January 2010, after several public hearings, the house is slated for demolition.

1959 - The Marion and Kenneth P. Hinsdale House, 602 Rockford Road, Greensboro NC. Also known as the 1959 Commencement House. Built for $24,000, the UNCG students divided the small, family-oriented, one story house into public and private zones, orienting the public but cozy dining room and theatrical living room out a large expanse of glass wall toward the wooded lot and a lake view. There are three bedrooms and two and one-half baths, including a large master suite. The house was featured in the magazine Living for Young Homemakers. Walter J. Moran was the interior designer. Contractor: Eugene Gulledge, Superior Contracting Company of Greensboro. Photos by Nicole Alvarez.

1959 - The Evelyn and John Hyman House, 608 Kimberly Drive, Greensboro. Addition, left, in the 1980's.

1960 - The Virginia F. and Dallas Bright House, 6812 West Friendly Avenue, Greensboro. Destroyed for Interstate 840.

1961 - The Bob Pennfield White Residence, Martinsville VA.

1962 - The Joanne and Wayne Davis House, 5925 Westdale Acres Drive,
Pleasant Garden NC. Commissioned 1959.

1960 - The Susan and Ogburn F. Stafford, Sr., House, 4227 Wayne Road, Sedgefield NC.
Commissioned 1954.

1962 - The Alf Hollar House, aka the Horizon House, 1807 Brookcliff Drive, Greensboro NC, part of a competition sponsored locally by Carolina Quality Block Construction. Addition by Clinton Gravely in the 1970's. Photos by Mark Meagher.

1964 - The M. Celeste Ulrich House, 5808 Queen Alice Road, Greensboro.

1964 - The Ellen and Edgar Marks House, 210 Kemp Road East, Greensboro.

1964 - The Richard and Joan Steele Residence, 601 Woodland Drive, Greensboro NC.
Top photo by Leilani Carter.

1965 - The Herbert L. Smith and Nancy Downs Smith House, 3307 Gaston Road, Greensboro NC. Also known as the 1965 Commencement House. Nancy Downs, hostess for the WUNC-TV show "Potpourri," had covered the 1958 Commencement House and had her eyes on being the next Commencement House client. Student Polly Colville designed a dramatic 17-foot high window wall in the entrance hall, a second-floor deck above a terrace overlooking the golf course at the rear of the lot. Sold in 1986,. The property went into foreclosure in 2009 and sold to current owners Alan Bacot and Christine Cotton. 1.5 acres, 3878 square feet.

1965 - The L-shaped James and Anne Willis House, 707 Blair Street, Greensboro NC. Threatened with teardown when current owners Sara and Tom Sears stepped in to buy the house.

1965 - The David M. Parmelee House, 429 East Hendrix Street, Greensboro. We have been unable to locate this house; it may be destroyed. Do you know?

1965 - The Joan and Herbert S. Falk, Jr., House, 2204 Marston Road, Greensboro. Commissioned 1964.

About 1966 - The Leah and A. Jack Tannenbaum House, 2904 Wynnewood Drive, Greensboro. Features a large curved fireplace, exposed timber ceiling, and a courtyard. Now owned by their daughter, Jean. Clinton Gravely and Frank Harmon were project architects.

1967 - The Mark and Willie Snow Ethridge Residence, 444 Center Grove Church Road, Moncure NC. Currently owned by Joyce and Fred Sparling.

1967 - The Florence and Albert Jacobson House, 3607 Henderson Road, Greensboro. This was from a plan book; Loewenstein did modifications for the clients.

1968 - The Barbara and Maurice Fishman House, 204 Kemp Road East, Greensboro.
Sold to current owner Lavietes.

Year Unknown - The Chandgie House, 401 Kimberly, Greensboro.