loewenstein

Triangle Modernist Houses

Compiled by George Smart, Jr.

EDWARD LOEWENSTEIN (1913-1970)

Born in Chicago, Edward Loewenstein graduated from MIT with an architecture degree in 1935. Loewenstein worked as a draftsman for several firms before opening an office in Highland Park IL in 1937. Five houses he designed on one street there still survive.

He moved to Greensboro in 1946 with wife Francis Stern Cone Loewenstein after serving in the Navy. His wife's family, the very wealthy Cones, provided access to a large social network of contacts through which Loewenstein built an architectural practice. In 1953, he joined with Robert A. Atkinson, Jr. to form Loewenstein-Atkinson. The firm was the first in town to hire black architects, including William Street, Edward Jenkins, Major Sanders, and Clinton Gravely.

Walter T. (Tom) Wilson was 27 when he was made a partner in 1967. The firm of Loewenstein, Atkinson and Wilson at its peak employed more than 30 architects, engineers and interior designers with a branch in Burlington. The firm designed more than 200 houses and buildings, including the master planning for Bennett College. Their offices were in a non-modernist Georgian-style house at 1030 East Wendover Avenue, the former mansion of Julius Cone, where Wilson has stored all of the firm's blueprints since 1948. The firm is now called Wilson Lysiak.

Approximately 1951 - His daughter Jane Loewenstein Levy (left) recalls only one client her father differed with -- the stormy Ceasar Cone II, a relative of the architect's wife. Cone exploded over the cost of air conditioning the Modernist mansion Loewenstein designed for him on West Cornwallis. Cone fired and then rehired Loewenstein. The mansion was never air-conditioned and was demolished in the early 1990's for a cul-de-sac neighborhood.

1951 - The Martha and Wilbur Lee (Bo) Carter, Jr. Residence. 1012 Country Club Drive, Greensboro NC. Loewenstein incorporated passive solar heating qualities into a "solar cell" room on the south side. In winter, the masonry floor absorbs heat during the day and radiates it out over the evening hours; in summer, eaves shield the interior from the sun. Current owners are Daniel and Kathy Craft.

1952 - The A. M. Fleishman Residence, Fayetteville NC. Jim Brandt was the draftsman.

1953 - The Eleanor and Marion Bertling Residence, 2312 Princess Ann Street, Greensboro NC. Almost three dozen nearby residents signed a petition of support in the construction of a Modernist dwelling, flying in the face of the unwritten restrictions from the planning and zoning department to prohibit Modern structures in the Kirkwood neighborhood. Contrast this to the Julian family's ordeal putting up a Matsumoto home in Chapel Hill! Current owners are Elaine and John Hammer.

1953 - Jo Anne Spangler Residence, 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 NC. His own house was featured in the New York Times magazine in June 1955. 3 acres. Current owner is Jane Levy, Loewenstein's daughter, and her husband Dick. The amazing living room fireplace is elevated and built into a window.

1956 - Sidney and Kay Stern Residence. Nottingham Road, Greensboro. Some neighbors were not so happy that a Modernist home had found its way to Nottingham Road, putting their own house up for sale as workers finished the Stern residence.

1958 - The Squires Residence, North Elm Street, Greensboro NC. Loewenstein began teaching an innovative course in architectural design at 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, an event covered by the paper 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. Contractor: Eugene Gulledge (Superior Contracting Company of Greensboro).

1959 - The Kenneth Hinsdale House, Rockford Road and Kimberly Drive, Greensboro NC. Also known as the 1959 Commencement House. Built for $24,000, the 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, as well as ample storage and a dressing room in the master suite. The 1959 house was featured in the magazine Living for Young Homemakers. Walter J. Moran served as interior designer. Contractor: Eugene Gulledge (Superior Contracting Company of Greensboro).

1964 - Richard and Joan Steele Residence, Greensboro NC.

1965 - The Herbert 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. 1.5 acres, 3878 sf. For sale, here.

1965 - The L-shaped James and Anne Willis House, 707 Blair Street, Greensboro. Celebrated as one of architect Ed Loewenstein’s simplest modern designs, it was threatened with replacement with a much larger house when Sara and Tom Sears saved it from bulldozers.

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