Ruins that deserves far better

On June 3, I traveled to the northeast fringe of downtown Raleigh hoping to do a campus profile of St. Augustine’s University, an Historically Black College or University. 

When I arrived at the campus, I had to stop at a security checkpoint, and after explaining why I was there, I was told I was out of luck because the school was closed. I was asked to leave. 

So I moved on to plans B and C. Plan B was to do a walk-around in Oakwood Cemetery next door (see yesterday’s post), and Plan C was to make of photographs of the structure you see in the lead-off photo.

The structure is the former St. Agnes Hospital, which technically is on the grounds of the St. Augustine’s campus, but it stands separately on modest acreage between the closed university and the cemetery. 

I didn’t look up any of these landmarks before I drove out there; the trip was spur of the moment. So I didn’t know what I would be dealing with when I got there. (I don’t recommend this for photography enthusiasts; you should know what to expect if you invest time and travel to do a shoot of this sort).

The hospital ruins certainly surprised me; when I got home afterward and looked up its history, I was saddened, partly because of what has become of this historic facility, and partly — maybe even mostly — because of the city of Raleigh’s protracted indecision about what to do with it, if anything. 

St. Agnes was open for about 65 years, from 1896 to 1961, and it served as a hospital and a training center for physicians and nurse for African Americans. It initially operated out of a former college president’s residence on the school campus and didn’t move into this then-new building until 1909. Nurses took chemistry, sociology and psychology classes at St. Augustine’s College (the name it went by back then) as well as the regular nursing curriculum as part of their training.

In short order, the two other hospitals in the city that would treat African Americans — Rex Hospital and Shaw University’s Leonard Hospital — closed, leaving St. Agnes the only option for the community’s black residents.

St. Agnes struggled financially during almost its entire period of operation although various — and multiple — fund-raising campaigns helped sustain it through the years, including a particularly difficult period during the Great Depression. 

But the building eventually fell into disrepair, was condemned in 1955 and was closed six years later after Wake County opened its first public hospital, which treated patients of all races. 

In 1979, the city declared the building a historic landmark, which helps explain why it remains standing today. And it does so with the help of several steel support beams (the long orange-colored slabs of metal you see in the pictures).

Upon its closing, the land and buildings were transferred to St. Augustine’s, which used one of the buildings for housing of female students. In the interim, various plans and ideas for the site’s future have been discussed, to no avail. 

In the most recent development, a feasibility study was funded in 2022 to determine whether the ruins could be preserved or renovated. Nothing has come out of that that I know of. 

One thing I thought of was to make the building a museum for Raleigh area African American physicians, nurses, and their medical training and education. Perhaps students, alumni and/or faculty at St. Augustine’s as well as Shaw University and North Carolina Central University in Durham, two other HBCUs in the Raleigh-Durham Triangle, might be interested in participating or leading the way.  

Historic Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh

In historic Oakwood Cemetery’s 140 years of existence, it should not be surprising to learn that the grounds are the final resting place for 22,000 people, among them seven former governors, five U.S. senators, eight North Carolina Supreme Court justices and four Civil War generals. 

And, oh, it also is the resting place of North Carolina State University basketball coach Jim Valvano (see lead-off photo) and Lorenzo Charles, who scored the winning basket for Valvano’s NCAA championship team of 1983. Valvano died of cancer in 1993; Charles died in an accident while at the wheel of a 2011 tour bus in which he was the only occupant.

They are buried in the Cedar Hill section along Locust Avenue. (If you want to visit the cemetery and find certain graves, it’s best to determine whose graves you want to find, then search online for their burial section. Once in the cemetery, consult a section map the cemetery provides online.)   

In fact, Lorenzo Charles’ grave (see first photo below) is a very short distance — perhaps 15 yards — from that of his coach. In the second photo below, you can see Valvano’s monument in the foreground with Charles’ monument (look for the NCSU red colors) left of Valvano’s in the distance just below the ridge. 

Being a sports fan, my primary focus was finding the Valvano and Charles grave sits. I spent a good two hours roaming the cemetery and its perimeter; I have to note the latter because it was difficult to find an opening to the grounds. And then once inside, it took another long while on foot to find a way to reach the largest section of the cemetery. I could have taken far more pictures if I’d known the layout ahead of time, but alas, I foolishly did not scout such things beforehand.

Actually, I had a secondary (or primary?) purpose for heading to that part of the north Raleigh downtown fringe on Wednesday. I was hoping to do a photo profile of St. Augustine’s University, a former longtime degree-granting Historically Black College or University. 

That’s a story for a subsequent post, but for now, I’ll say that St. Augustine’s on-site operations have been shut down since going into bankruptcy, and private campus security would not grant me access to the interior campus. So the few campus shots I did make were taken from what I could access outside the school’s chain link fence surrounding the grounds along Oakwood Avenue.

Oakwood Cemetery covers 72 acres, 30 of which remain available for future graves, according to its website. Not surprisingly, it is part of the Oakwood Neighborhood, to which I was introduced recently when it turned out that one of my stately homes photographed while walking the Blount Street Historic District was just inside the Oakwood borders. 

I didn’t find the graves of any of the state Supreme Court justices or U.S. Senators, but I did come across the resting places of former Gov. Charles Brantley Aycock and former North Carolina Attorney General Bartholomew Figures Moore. And of the two, the monument for Moore (in the Battle Section) was far more extravagant (see first three photos below). 

Moore’s monument even contains a bust of the attorney general, often referred to as the “father of the North Carolina bar.” He is remembered for leading the legal team that compiled and revised the state’s statutes.

Aycock, whose monument is in the Beechwood Section and shown in the fourth photo below, today is a controversial figure in North Carolina history. He was championed for being “the education governor” because of his advocacy of improving public school education in North Carolina and for his post-gubernatorial travels promoting educational causes. 

But he had a reputation as a segregationist and has been singled out as the person most responsible for the horrific Wilmington Massacre, a November 1898 bloody municipal government coup in a city that had several African American political leaders. At the time, black residents also outnumbered white residents in North Carolina’s then-largest city. 

For the longest time, a statue of Aycock sat in the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol Building as one of two honoring North Carolina notable citizens. In the early 2020s, amid the national Black Lives Matter movement, North Carolina replaced the statue with one of evangelist Rev. Billy Graham. 

And while I didn’t find any graves of specific military generals, I did find and photograph a section of the cemetery dedicated to the graves of Confederate Civil War soldiers. 

The remainder of my pictures were composed for landscape purposes, often focusing on interesting juxtaposition or collections of like monuments against open space or under trees. To view a full gallery of images from the shoot, follow the link in this sentence. 

Above and below: Photos of the Confederate Civil War dead in an (appropriately) southern section close to Oakwood Avenue. 

2 churches in different communities in the Triangle

On the northern fringe of downtown Raleigh, at 100 E. Peace St. across from William Peace University, stands Holy Trinity Anglican Church.

In an oddity of sorts, when I first set eyes on the church, it was from its east side as I strolled north on Blount Street while approaching the university. It was Sunday, May 17, and people were parking their cars in the nearby university parking lot (presumably with the university’s invitation and/or permission) and walking across the street to enter the church. 

But I’m jumping ahead. Back to first laying eyes on the church’s east side exterior … I was struck by the huge ornamental circle surrounded — or framed, perhaps? — by nicely trimmed ivy.. Plus there was the steeple ... so I knew I had a church photo profile opportunity once I reached Peace Street and turned west.

Because I had a lot on my agenda that morning, I didn’t try to get too many church photos. Besides, the church looked kind of boxed in to the west. So I took a handful of shots and moved on to the university. 

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The second church featured in this post is in the town of Fuquay-Varina, where I returned two weeks ago to do a photo profile of Trinity Episcopal, the church that in 1987 welcomed members of the town’s St. Bernadette Catholic to worship there while members of the latter congregation tried to put together a plan to build their own sanctuary. 

I profiled St. Bernadette here in late April, a post you can revisit by following the link in the previous paragraph. 

Trinity Episcopal, 1128 S. Main St., was smaller than I had expected. It is located on a plot of land also smaller than I had anticipated. 

But it’s a striking church from the outside, with a combination of red brick, a large white cross affixed to a white A-frame upper front panel, and has marble-colored steps. Perhaps its most attractive feature is the set of red doors that grab one’s attention when gazing at the edifice. 

Beautiful homes, lots of history in Raleigh's Blount Street Historic District

The idea for this post didn’t even occur to me until I was walking through the Blount Street Historic District en route to William Peace University in Raleigh on Sunday, May 17. 

That also was the point at which I learned there was a Blount Street Historic District. I’ve spent a lot of time since then learning more about it, as the history I’ve presented in this post hopefully proves.

While making my way north on Blount Street from the governor’s Executive Mansion (featured in a post here two days ago), I beheld quite a few beautiful and stately homes. And I kept snapping picture after picture that I had not planned to make beforehand. 

Based on the rough map of the district, provided at the district’s website (you can follow the link in the opening paragraph), the district runs from the governor’s official residence at Jones and Blount streets to Peace University, and it is not much wider than the homes on both sides of Blount. 

One such home is the Fannie E.S. Heck house (also referred to as the Heck-Andrews House), shown in the image leading off the post. Heck (1861-1915) was a writer, author and social activist who was elected president — on three separate occasions — of the Baptist Women’s Missionary Union, a charitable and service-oriented organization. 

The historical sign outside the home also states that she is a benefactor of Meredith College, a private liberal arts college for women and a coeducational graduate school in Raleigh. A more detailed history of Heck’s work is delineated if you follow the link in the first sentence of the previous paragraph. Another view of the home is shown in the photo below. 

The house’s Wikipedia entry says the house has a dramatic central tower capped with a convex mansard roof with a balustrade. The central part of the two and a half story, Second Empire style frame dwelling is enclosed with a concave mansard roof with patterned slate. It is a stunning work of architecture, the details of which I have not seen in a long time. Especially the upper sections, which the picture below best depicts.

Attorney Alexander Boyd Andrews Jr. purchased the house in 1916, and his heir sold it to Julia Russell in 1948. The State of North Carolina purchased it 1987 and sold it in 2016 to the North Carolina Association of Realtors, which occupies it today.

Blount Street was named for Thomas Blount, a prominent 18-century landowner, Revolutionary War lieutenant and adjutant general, merchant and U.S. congressman representing the Halifax district in North Carolina. He was one of nine state commissioners honored with a street name when Raleigh was established as the state capital in 1792.  

One other thing I learned while researching the district is that Blount is pronounced “BLUNT.”

At the bottom of this post, I threw in — if I can borrow from the old Monty Python’s Flying Circus comedy show — something completely different. 

To view a full gallery of the downtown area photos I shot on this day, follow the link in the sentence. 

Above: There isn’t too much information on the internet about the brick Andrews-London house at 301 N. Blount St. other than it dates to 1918 and that today it serves as office space for various enterprises.  

Above: The Italianate style Andrews-Duncan House at 407 N. Blount was built in 1874 for Alexander Boyd Andrews, a railroad executive and a Confederate captain in the 1st North Carolina Cavalry Regiment. Andrews’ architect was George S. Appleget, the same man who designed historic Estey Hall on the campus of Shaw University and the Heck-Andrews house (located next door) pictured in the lead-off photo. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and served for a period into the first decade of the new millennium as offices for North Carolina state government workers. It fell into disrepair until new owners renovated it, and today it serves as a private residence. 

Above and below: Two views of the Lewis-Smith House at 515 N. Blount. It is a rare surviving example of Greek Revival style frame architecture in downtown Raleigh. Built around 1855, it features a two-tiered pedimented entrance portico with paired Doric columns on the first level and well-detailed Ionic columns on the second. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The mansion was originally constructed for Dr. Augustus M. Lewis on North Wilmington Street. To save it from demolition during state government complex developments in the early 1970s, the entire building was physically moved to its current location. Dr. Charles Lee Smith, a distinguished educator, historian and publisher, purchased the estate in 1912. After buying the home, Smith expanded the property by adding projecting side bays and conservatory sunrooms. He resided there until his death in 1951.

Above: This Queen Anne style house at 549 N. Blount St. was built in 1898 and contains about 4,430 square feet inside. It has been historically used as a private residence, but in later years it has been used as office space by entities such as the nearby Holy Trinity Anglican Church.  

Above: This building at 530 N. Blount, at its intersection with William Drummond Way, is home to the North Carolina Independent College and Universities. The statewide network represents and advocates for 36 private, non-profit liberal arts and research institutions in North Carolina. They include major research institutions like Duke and Wake Forest universities; liberal arts schools such as Elon University and Davidson College; Historically Black Colleges and Universities such as Shaw University in Raleigh and Bennett College in Greensboro; and women's colleges such as Meredith College in Raleigh and Salem College in Winston-Salem.

Above: The Leonidas L. Polk House at 537 N. Blount was built in 1891 on North Person Street in Raleigh, shortly before the death of its namesake, who was North Carolina's first commissioner of agriculture and a key founder of North Carolina State University. Polk served in the North Carolina House of Representatives and served with the Confederate Army in the Civil War, after which he founded the town of Polkton in Anson County and started a weekly newspaper there called the Ansonian. A distant cousin of President James K. Polk, he was appointed to the agriculture commissioner position in 1877 and served for three years. Afterward, he rose to prominence in the National Farmers Alliance, a powerful agrarian adovocacy organization, eventually serving as vice president and president. The Alliance helped lead to the establishment of the political Populist Party, and it is said that the party might have nominated L.L. Polk for president in 1892 if he had not died unexpectedly in June of that year. The home remained in the Polk family until the mid-1960s, when the state acquired it and moved it to the rear of 612 N. Blount. It was restored and moved again, to its current location, in November 2000 and is used today by the Leonidas LaFayette Polk Foundation as a Polk Museum. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.    

Above: “The 1893 House” is a restored Neoclassical Revival property that dates to 1893 and was completely revitalized in 2023–24 to blend historical character with modern luxury.

Above: The Capehart-Crocker Queen Anne style structure at 424 N. Blount was built in 1898 and today is home to the North Carolina Ethics Commission. The house originally sat at 403 N. Wilmington Street but was uprooted and moved to its current location in 1979 to make way for development of the State Government Mall. It is named for its first residents, Lucy Capehart, the daughter of former State Attorney General Bartholomew Moore, and her husband, B.A. Capehart, and the second occupant, Sheriff H.H. Crocker. The State of North Carolina acquired it in 1971, and it has been used for government offices ever since. 

 

Above: This building at 201 N. Person St. is the headquarters of the North Carolina Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association but was once the home of flutist and composer Lamar Stringfield, a Raleigh native who in 1932 founded and was first conductor of the North Carolina Symphony. His boyhood home is three blocks east of here. He left the North Carolina Symphony to become assistant conductor at Radio City Music Hall in New York City for the 1938-39 season. He was with the Knoxville Symphony from 1946-47 and served two stints as music director of the Charlotte (N.C.) Symphony (1945-1946 and 1948-49). 

 

Above: The Lewis-Joyner House at 304 E. Jones St., which sits just southeast of the Executive Mansion where sitting governors reside, today is home to the law offices of Newman and Newman PLLC. It is in the historic Oakwood Neighborhood, just outside the boundaries of the Blount Street Historic District. It dates to 1878 and was one of 11 homes built by Julius Lewis & Co. in the neighborhood. Lewis & Co. started as a hardware and building and supply company in 1865. James Yadkin Joyner lived here throughout his influential tenure as North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction, which lasted from 1902 to 1919.

Above is the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, also known as the State Library. It is at 109 E. Jones St. Below are the headquarters of the North Carolina Medical Society at 222 N. Person St. 

Above and remaining photos below: Seaboard Station is a radical departure from the historic district presented above. But the new, mixed-use district is in downtown Raleigh just west of PeaceUniversity. Named for the historic Seaboard Air Line Railroad depot that originally stood there, it is a sprawling, modern destination featuring hundreds of apartments, boutique shops, trendy restaurants, and a hotel, the Hyatt House Downtown. The site features three distinct luxury apartment buildings — The Signal, The Point and The Miles.