Triangle Modernist Houses

Compiled by George Smart, Jr.                                                          

OWEN SMITH (1917-)

Smith is the longest practicing architect in Raleigh. He first worked for William Deitrick.  With Jesse Page, he designed the Clarence Poe Elementary School in Raleigh, among many other buildings.

1955 - Built for current owner Dan Brady.  3212 Rutherford, Raleigh. 

1955 - Smith did the Banks Kerr house on Edwards Mill Rd, Raleigh, near where Leif Valand's Kidd Brewer house was.  The lot was 13 acres with a 2 acre pond.  The house was two stories in the rear, facing the pond.  Banks Kerr founded Kerr Drug Stores in 1950 and served as its chairman and chief executive until its sale in 1995. 

1960 - He designed and built his own house at 122 Perquimans Drive, Raleigh. 5000 sf, with a partial basement, the largest modernist house of its time.  Still lives there.

1963 - The Wisner Chamblee Residence, 2201 Lash Avenue, Raleigh.  Includes a six-car garage on 1 acre.  Now destroyed. 
Now owned by Duncan Ray's SSB LLC which built a new $3.4M house for sale, above. Top photos and sketch of plan by Joel Collins.  A second large home is also under construction on this lot.
 

Sources:  Owen Smith, M. Ruth Little's The Development of Modernism in Raleigh 1945-1965, AIANC.