NC Historic Architecture Digitization Grant Extended

The North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries has been awarded $75,330 to extend for another year the project “The Built Heritage of North Carolina: Historic Architecture in the Old North State.” This project is creating an online resource for the study of North Carolina’s architectural history. The Libraries are partnering with Preservation North Carolina (PNC) to digitize 8,100 measured drawings and photographs. Begun in 2007, “Built Heritage” has so far scanned 2,731 measured drawings and 1,180 photographs, and the project is making them accessible in an online image database .

Built Heritage provides scholars with easy access to resources needed for the study of North Carolina’s architecture and history. This online resource will help teachers and students to use local landmarks in order to make history come alive. The general public can use the image database and website for the casual study of the built environment of the state.

Built Heritage provides access to documentation on hundreds of buildings and structures in North Carolina dating from the 1700s to the early 1900s. Buildings represented in this project include well-known examples of historic architecture, such as Bald Head Lighthouse, the Bellamy Mansion in Wilmington (left), and Blandwood in Greensboro. Also covered are such lesser known but historically significant structures as the Charlton-Jordan House in Bertie County (one of the earliest brick buildings in the state) and the Allison-Deaver House in Transylvania County (one of the oldest frame dwellings in the state west of the Blue Ridge). Several buildings in Beaufort, Hillsborough, and Winston-Salem (including Bethabara and Old Salem Village), as well as Mecklenburg and Wake Counties, are included.

During the second year of Built Heritage, project staff will scan 4,189 photographs. They will facilitate geographic study of the architecture by developing a Google Maps feature for the website. Also, Google SketchUp will be used for virtual 3-D modeling of sixteen historic buildings. Finally, K-12 lesson plans will be created to encourage study in the schools.

The NCSU Libraries have strong architecture and design collections to draw upon for Built Heritage. The drawings being scanned were created from the 1950s to the 1970s as part of a historic architecture documentation project by NC State’s well-respected College of Design. These drawings are currently preserved by the Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center, along with the papers of prominent Design faculty from that era, such as Henry Kamphoefner, George Matsumoto, Matthew Nowicki, and G. Milton Small.

PNC is a private, non-profit statewide organization whose mission is to protect and promote buildings, sites, and landscapes important to the diverse heritage of North Carolina. PNC holds thousands of photographs of historic structures. The Built Heritage project has scanned color slides created by Tim Buchman (right, Hezekiah Alexander House, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina), one of the premiere photographers of North Carolina architecture. These images have appeared in such PNC publications as Catherine Bishir’s North Carolina Architecture (1990, 2005). In the second year of the Built Heritage project additional photographers will be added.

The Built Heritage of North Carolina: Historic Architecture in the Old North State is made possible through a Library Services and Technology Act grant administered by the State Library of North Carolina's NC ECHO program. The project will be completed in 2009. For more information, please contact Todd Kosmerick, University Archivist, at todd_kosmerick@ncsu.edu or (919)513-3673.