North Carolina

The J.S. Dorton Arena (originally called the State Fair Arena) is one of the most celebrated and iconic structures in North Carolina. Originally designed as a livestock exhibition and judging pavilion—sometimes referred to as the “Cow Palace”—for the North Carolina State Fair, the 7,610-seat arena has also been a venue for music concerts, sporting events, circuses, and university graduation ceremonies. Its saddle-like roof approximates a hyperbolic paraboloid that spans 300 feet by 300 feet without intermediate columns.

The Fadum House represents the influence of the newly formed School of Design at North Carolina State College (now University) and the work of modern architects brought in by its dean, Henry Kamphoefner.

The State Legislative Building was designed by New York architect Edward Durell Stone at the height of his career. In 1957, the North Carolina General Assembly established the State Legislative Building Commission to plan for and oversee construction of a building dedicated to the legislative branch and its auxiliary services. The Commission selected Stone and the local firm Holloway and Reeves to design the project.

Estey Hall is the oldest surviving building on the Shaw University campus, and is the first building in the United States constructed for the education of African American women.

Cameron Village is a world of firsts: it is Raleigh’s first post–World War II curvilinear suburb, the first mixed-use development on the East Coast, and quite possibly the first greenfield mixed-use development in the United States. Cameron Village was the vision of J.W. (Willie) York, whose father was a prominent builder in Raleigh responsible for such projects as Memorial Auditorium and the Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel. York followed in his father’s footsteps, first as a house builder in Raleigh and then at Cherry Point working for the T.A. Loving Company during World War II.

Christ Episcopal Church is one of the first Gothic Revival churches in the South, setting the standard for this style regionally. The United States Protestant Episcopal Church founded the Raleigh parish in 1821.

Saint Augustine’s Chapel is the oldest surviving building erected for Saint Augustine University, one of the oldest historically black colleges and universities in the country. It was founded in 1867 by the Protestant Episcopal Church as Saint Augustine Normal School and Collegiate Institute. The chapel was built by students in 1895 under the guidance of Reverend Henry Delany, who had graduated from the school in 1885, and stonemason George Washington Hayes.

The Small and Associates Office Building is one of the best examples of the work of architect G. Milton Small, one of North Carolina’s leading modernist architects. After leasing several office spaces throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Small built a permanent office space for his firm.

St. Giles Presbyterian Church is a complex of deceptively simple buildings, elegantly and intelligently sited, that was designed by Harwell Hamilton Harris, a leading practitioner of regionally responsive architecture.

Cherry Hill is a late antebellum plantation that displays the contributions of Jacob Holt, who arrived in Warrenton in the mid-1840s and contributed to a major shift of architectural taste in the newly urbanizing region. Warren County was among the most prosperous counties in the antebellum agricultural economy, and Warrenton residents desired the latest fashion. Holt, a Virginia-born carpenter, developed a distinctive style for North Carolina buildings, drawing from popular architectural publications to adapt the designs to local tastes and resources.