Listen to the 2011 Charlie Kahn interview with Smith here.

1964 - Construction of the Kerr House.

OWEN FRANKLIN SMITH (1917-)

Owen Smith is the longest practicing architect in North Carolina, ever.

He was born in Benson.  After high school, he got a degree in Architectural Engineering from NC State in 1938. He worked for Thomas Cooper, William Deitrick, Ross Shumaker, and Eric Flanagan Sr. before opening up his own practice in 1946.  Jesse M. Page was a partner on and off witih Smith over the years. With Page, Smith designed the Clarence Poe Elementary School in Raleigh, among many other buildings.  The NC Farm Bureau Building on Glenwood Avenue above Crabtree Valley is one of his best known commercial works.

1949 - The Thomas J. (Thomas) and Sue Byrne House, 442 Pineview, Wake Forest NC. 
Traditional ranch.  Sold in 1997 to Dean Verhoeven.

1953 - The Samuel and Jean Wilkinson House, 2617 Wells Avenue, Raleigh. 
Traditional ranch.  As of 2009, still owned by the Wilkinsons.  Photo by Leilani Carter.

1955 - The Louis M. and Ivey E. Bryan House, 3212 Rutherford Drive, Raleigh.  Sold in 1959 to Alfred and Erdine Stamm.  Sold in 1985 to The Gadland Group.  Sold in 1986 to current owners Daniel and Jane Brady. 

1960 - The Owen and Dorothy Smith Residence, his own home at 122 Perquimans Drive, Raleigh. 5000 square feet with a partial basement, the largest modernist house of its era.  At one time, he used the basement for an architectural office with a staff of six.  Photos by George Smart.

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1964 video of construction, converted from 16mm format.

1964 - The Banks Dayton Kerr and Dorothy (Dot) Kerr House, 5510 Homewood Banks Road, Raleigh, across the street from  Leif Valand's Kidd Brewer house, 13 acres with a pool and a pond.  Built for the current owners.  Dot Kerr recalls people said it was a good 25 years ahead of its time, with beautiful stone and beam work and filled with built-in shelving and storage.  The wood is in immaculate condition, as if the house was built last week.  See detail above on some of the unusual tile work, funky blue lights in one of the bathrooms, the beam work, a laundry chute from the main floor to the laundry in the basement, a fallout shelter turned into sauna, a fullsize cutout of actress Jaclyn Smith holding a picture of Smith and Banks Kerr, an old time marble pharmacy now used as a bar, and a rare, built-in can opener for the kitchen, right next to an unpictured wax paper dispenser.  Photos by George Smart.

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Old footprint                                                           New footprint

1963 - The Wisner H. Chamblee Residence, 2201 Lash Avenue, Raleigh.  Includes a six-car garage on one acre.  Built by Inland Construction.  The screen porch was originally open.  Featured in Southern Architect September 1957.  Sold to Duncan Ray's SSB LLC which destroyed the house and built a new $3.4M house, bottom photo.  Sketch of plan by Joel Collins.  A second home was also built on on this lot. 

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