Aiji Tashiro - Triangle Modernist Houses - America's Largest Archive of Residential Modernist Design

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1950's home movie about the construction of the Stevens House in Lenoir NC.

AIJI (TASH) TASHIRO, AIA, ASLA, AIPE
(1908-1994)

Tashiro was born in Pawtucket RI and spent most of his childhood in New Haven CT then Seattle WA. He graduated from the University of Cincinnati, where he was on the basketball team. After being diagnosed with TB in one lung, doctors collapsed it and he spent a year recovering in a sanatorium, returning to school to graduate with a BS in Landscape Architecture in 1933. From 1934 to 1936 he was a Landscape Architect for the Ohio Historian and Archeological Society and the Cincinnati Parks and Recreation Commission. From 1936 to 1938 he was in private practice in Cincinnati.

In 1939, he was recruited to Appalachian State University in Boone NC as Landscape Architect and Associate Architect. He also taught Landscape Design and History of Western Civilizations until 1941. Among many buildings, Tashiro designed what is now the Psychology building at ASU plus a number of faculty houses. His brothers Kenji and Arthur and Saburo and sister Aiko, despite being born in America, were all interned during WWII. Aiji escaped internment living in the small NC town, although he was publicly investigated. He was in the Army for a year but because of his lung was in the infirmary most of that time.

From 1943 to 1945 he was Landscape Architect for the Howard-Hickory Company. From 1945 to 1952 he was a partner with D. Carroll Abee at Abee and Tashiro in Hickory NC. He got his architectural license through working with architect Abee and by 1959 went on his own as both an architect and landscape architect. He moved to North Wilkesboro NC around 1961. Lowes was just taking off and used Tashiro for a variety of projects. Tashiro was also a registered surveyor.

His son Eugene (Gener) Tashiro worked in his office from childhood, received an MA in Architecture, and eventually inherited the practice. The firm continued until 2008 when Eugene moved to work in Facilities and Architectural Services at ECU. Tashiro resisted being labeled a specialist in any aspect of design work, preferring a wide variety of projects, clients, and challenges.   He designed many types of buildings in his career, retiring around 1985 but continuing part time until about 1993. His papers are at NC Archives and History in Raleigh.

1951 - The Lee and Helen George Residence, 16 Ninth Avenue NE, Hickory NC. Helen George was the sister of Tashiro's wife, Florence. Construction was managed by D. Carroll Abee. The house is still in the George family. It received National Register status in 2012.

The building entry photo shows a visual screen on the roof. That was added when the owners revamped the HVAC with rooftop equipment. The original building had in-slab hydronic heating of copper-tubes--something Frank Lloyd Wright and others were promoting heavily. Few buildings in NC had it at the time. As for cooling, the windows had louvered openings below the glass panels using operable vent doors for cross-ventilation. Modern forced air was added much later. The George House is the earliest identified Modernist dwelling in Hickory. For sale in 2012.

1953 - The William T. and Mary MacLauchlin House, 237 Eighth Street NW, Conover NC. Sold in 2007 to Chris and Christina Ersig. Sold in 2012 to Roger Lee Turnbow and Frank Thomas Bruno.

1957 - The Bernard Rabold House, 214 Pinehurst Lane, Newton NC.
3788 sf. Sold to Douglas Rink.

1957 - The Madeline and Stanley Corne House, 1428 Southwest Blvd, Newton NC. Tashiro also did the landscaping plan. Located very near the Rabold house. Willed to son Gary Corne and his wife Marie. Kitchen remodeled in 2011.

1957 - 1115 3rd Avenue NW, Conover NC. Three acres. The one-level Modernist dwelling features a deeply recessed entrance, brick veneer and weatherboard siding, large windows, a carport located off one end, and a low-pitched gabled roof.

1950's - The Charles Cloninger House, 606 4th Avenue, Conover NC. Has been sold.

1954 - The Bob and Ethel Broyhill Stevens House, 829 Cherokee Street, Lenoir NC. 4 acres. 2900 sf. One of the first in the area to have radiant ceiling heat and low voltage lighting. Sold to the Broyhill Family Foundation who allowed Mrs. Stevens to continue to live there. Sold in 2002 to Bob and Sheila Brady who did a restoration.

Mid-1950's - The Scott Brawley House, 102 Hospital Avenue, Lenoir NC. Traditional design.
Last owner was Bill Sutton. Destroyed 2011.

1963 - The William and Allene B. Stevens House, 153 Hillhaven Place SE, Lenoir NC. Commissioned 1955. As of 2011, still owned by the Stevens. See top of page for a movie about construction. Tashiro appears briefly.

1960s - The David Neal House, Clemmons NC. Burned down nine months after occupancy. Featured in the Winston-Salem Journal. Eugene Tashiro said it was his dad's favorite house design.

Sources include: Mary Margaret Stamy, son Eugene (Gener) Tashiro,
Sheila Brady, Allene Stevens, architectural historian Beth Keane.