After Salem and Winston merged to become Winston-Salem in 1913, the new slogan
for the combined city became 50-15, or 50,000 people by 1915. The population growth
of Winston-Salem between 1880 and 1930 was amazing. Every Census it stayed above 115%
during that period. Out of those years, it was the years between 1913-1930 that shaped
the Winston-Salem we all know and enjoy today. At that time Winston-Salem was the
largest city in North Carolina and the old Victorian neighborhoods were almost full. There was
a need for a new, modern middle class neighborhood. A group of Pennsylvania businessmen had
the answer in 1914. Ardmore. Named after a well-known Philadelphia suburb they were from,
it became the fastest growing neighborhood in the history of the city.
Have the pictures loaded yet? Ok, lets go exploring!
Art Deco Ardmore Elementary School (1929)
Ardmore Elementary (above and below) was designed by Northrup & O'Brien in
1929 in Art Deco. Homes near the school jumped in value, with home owners selling
to take advantage. A Smithdeal Realty & Insurance Co. ad in the Twin City Sentinel
(today’s Winston-Salem Journal) said:
SCHOOL TIME! Homes for Sale near New
Ardmore School: Live near this new modern school so your children will not have
long distance to travel, crossing dangerous streets.
Art Deco Ardmore Elementary School (1929)
The school was overflowing with students after it opened and was in need of major expansion,
according to a September 9, 1929 newspaper article.
Ardmore School ready to open Monday,
September 16, 1929 "The last of the new buildings has been completed and all structures
have been placed in first class condition, all lights having been restored." Twin City Sentinel,
September 14, 1929 The school had one major expansion in 1955 and closed in Spring 1984.
It's used by a church and is a meeting facility today.
Ardmore Baptist Church (1927 - 2003)
Are you proud to be a vegetarian American? :eat:
Ardmore Baptist Church (1927 - 2003)
Old and new sections of Ardmore Baptist. I focused on the new tower, built in 2003.
It is very beautiful and simple in design. A perfect fit for an older neighborhood like Ardmore.
Let’s look at the houses!
Ardmore construction crews set a national record for 22-years (1914 - 1936). They could
build a new house in a week!
They of course had to, to meet the demand from
rapid growth of the city. Ardmore was annexed in 1923, 1926 and 1927 into the Winston-Salem
city limits. The rest of the neighborhood was annexed in 1949. The southern end of Ardmore
is known to locals as China Town and has some cool stores and restaurants. I didn't tour
the southern end of Ardmore. The neighborhood is Winston-Salem's largest, stretching
from the Parkway to Hanes Mall (East-West) and the East-West Expressway to around 1-40 (North-South).
Tudor Style residences, like the example above, where popular from 1890 - 1939.
Art Moderne Richard Meibohm House
Richard Meibohm moved to Winston-Salem from Buffalo, N.Y., in the 1930's. He built this
rare Art Moderne residence. It was designed by a well-known New York architect, but I can't
find the information on it? (anyone from Winston-Salem remember who the architect
was?) This is a very rare architectural style for a house and this one is very well preserved.
A rare find in any city and one of the must see architectural gems hidden in Ardmore. These are
usually architect designed and occur most often in fashionable Northeastern neighborhoods.
I enjoyed this neighborhood and wouldn't mind living there! It was really nice and relaxing!
No, I didn't get any photos of the Church. I was running out of daylight.
Ardmore is on the National Register of Historic Places. It has the largest collection of original
early garages of any neighborhood in the country.
kay: This is the neighborhood where producer Mitch Easter grew-up. The famous Drive-in
Studios was started by Mitch Easter in Winston-Salem's Ardmore Neighborhood in 1981.
Mitch Easter was the producer for REM, Wilco, Suzanne Vega, The Connells, Velvet Crush
and Pavement. He was also with the Winston-Salem band "Let's Active" (famous song:
Every Word Means No) on IRS Records; one of the great pioneer bands in Alternative Rock.
Ardmore's most popular festival is the Garage Fest, which highlights the great garage bands
and the historic garages of Ardmore. Ardmore is part of the roots of Alternative Rock! :rock:
Another Tudor Style house
Liberals...
Pardon the election signs and related stuff. I took these photos a week or
two before election day.
Spanish Eclectic (1915 - 1939)
I'm guessing the person who built the home above moved to Winston-Salem from the Southwest or Florida?
Spanish Eclectic is rare outside of Florida and the Southwest United States. It's usually
found in Florida, Southern California, Arizona and Texas. A large number of Spanish Eclectic
houses were built in Florida and Southern California in the 1920's, where this is the
most common style for homes of that time period. Some cities, like Santa Barbara,
California loved this style so much they adopted it as an official style during this time period.
Winston-Salem Liberals are to the point with their messages
Halloween! What a fun time of the year! It was fun seeing how everyone decorated.
I never realized how beautiful Fall is until I started work on these photos! It is a very
beautiful time of the year!
Foursquare (1895-1935)
The right side of this house is a 1930's addition.
The Foursquare was also known as the Prairie Box. A style given to us by the "Prairie School"
in Chicago and popularized by Sears Roebuck and Company. It has many of the Prairie Style's
features and is often called Prairie Style. The Foursquare is what most people think of as
"the all-American family home" on Main Street USA. You will find them in every major city.
I like the curved roof and colorful bricks used on this all brick Tudor House (above).
Tudor houses are very cool and as we explore the neighborhoods built around teens and
twenties, we will see an abundance of them.
Winston-Salem residents enjoy backyard garbage pick-up (no wheeling a cart to the curb),
free recycling, yard waste carts (seen above) and the city will pick-up "bulky items" twice a year,
such as large furniture or appliances.
Check out the medians! Very nice design.
Like I said before, the Liberals and Artists vandalize Winston-Salem. This was spray
painted throughout the neighborhood! The city is trying to stop them, but so far what
they are doing isn't working. :lol:
Did You Know?
The Ronald McDonald House of the Triad is located in Ardmore. It was built in 1919.
Craftsman (1905 - 1929)
This is one of the oldest houses in the neighborhood, built in 1914. According to someone
I met there, the oldest houses are located around Elizabeth Avenue?
Ardmore Moravian Church (1931)
Another Northrup & O'Brien design. It's in the popular Moravian Revival Style. Winston-Salem's
very own signature architectural style! It's designed to look like Home Moravian Church, built
between 1797-1800. Winston-Salem has the largest number of Moravians in the World and is
majority Moravian! It's the only majority Moravian city in the South. That explains the arts,
crafts and liberals. Bethlehem, PA has second highest number of Moravians.
For our Pennsylvania viewers, Winston-Salem was settled by Moravians from Eastern
Pennsylvania in 1753. Most of their original houses and buildings from the 1700's are still standing!
kay:
One of my favorite small Tudor houses (above) in Ardmore!
Ardmore United Methodist Church (1925)
This is one of the most beautiful churches in Ardmore!
Ardmore United Methodist Church (1925)
This is one of the locations where I could spend hours! It was a beautiful and peaceful place in Ardmore.
Ardmore United Methodist Church (1925)
Ardmore United Methodist Church (1925)
An interesting story about the Tower Chimes (above). They were a gift in 1945 in honor of the
boys and girls who served in World War II.
Ardmore United Methodist Church - under construction
Ardmore United Methodist Church (1925)
Ardmore United Methodist Church (1925)
This was the view (above) as I sat on the steps of the church! It was like I was taken back
in time, as I sat there. I highly recommend walking to this church and reading or relaxing on
those steps if you live there.
Historic Views! Ardmore during the Great Depression!
Interesting tower and final.
The house above has a Victorian tower with final, which I thought was very cool. The house
had twin front gables with Victorian stickwork. I'm guessing this house is older than
the neighborhood? I'm also guessing from the front porch, it was built around 1895 - 1910.
I had another photo, but I was running out of daylight and the photo didn't turn out.
Spanish Eclectic (1915 - 1939)
Again, this style is rare outside the Southwest and Florida. A large number of people
from out-of-state were moving to Winston-Salem during its big growth years and there
are some unusual house styles there that resulted from this.
There was a party at this house when I walked-by.
Nurses Home (1928) Wake Forest University Medical Center
Welcome to Hawthorne Hill! Home of the huge Wake Forest University Medical Center.
The building (above) was built to house nurses in 1928. The basement was
used as classrooms. The upper levels were dorm space. It was later used as a
progressive care center. The medical center opened in 1923. Today it's one of
the nation's top hospitals and Winston-Salem's largest employer.
This house (above) screams Tudor. I don't care much for the blue color.
Hawthorne Hill Buildings
Many of the residents in Ardmore work at the medical center, national research labs,
children's hospital and the university located on Hawthorne Hill, the second tallest and
second largest skyline in Winston-Salem.
One of my favorite Tudor houses in Ardmore!
I also like this Tudor next door!
So, are there any Queens on Queen Street? Of course! This is Winston-Salem.
I found this (above) Eastlake Queen Anne on Queen Street! The owner was in the process
of restoring it. It was the victim of several bad renovations over the past 100 years. This house
is older than the neighborhood around it.
Matt's Pick: Best house in Ardmore!
The Tudor details are amazing! False thatchwork roof, cool chimney, half-timbering, brick
arched entry and that arched window! WOW!
The house above has a Porte-cochere. A word rarely used these days. That was the word
for Carport in 1915. It was an expensive new feature on homes around that time. A time
when there were no garages. All you had was a roof over your Model T and a door to the
house, so bad weather wasn't a problem. Your great-great-grandparents had it rough.
The SuperBlock!
A World War I era idea to create high density low-rise housing surrounding beautiful parks
with pedestrian friendly walkways. Designers focused on making these pedestrian friendly,
so many residents must park along the road side or at one of the few parking areas and walk
to where ever their apartment is. After World War II, a housing shortage led to the FHA's
608 program in 1946. The program lasted from 1946 - 1950 in cities that faced severe
housing shortages after the war. This Winston-Salem SuperBlock was built in 1947 using
the 608 program.
Since I learned about the 1947 SuperBlock, I've searched for it. It took me a while to find it,
but I did and wow it is big!
One of the open park areas
Notice they are connected at the corners to make them like individual buildings,
but also like one large building! This allows for windows on this sides also.
Liberals... We must be in Winston-Salem. :lol:
Notice there is nowhere to park. There is some parking deep inside the SuperBlock
near the central buildings.
The Appalachian Foothills terrain led to this interesting example.
Look at them! They look endless! This is where the few parking spaces are located.
I would imagine people fight for these few spaces.
They don't all look alike. There are some differences on the side gables, central walkway
window, facade and entry. That is actually rare on SuperBlocks.
Welcome to Winston-Salem!
Good question! Who would Jesus bomb? He wouldn't.
Wow! They still look endless!
Highland Presbyterian Church
Highland Presbyterian Church
I'm sure he has seen many changes in his years, but Ardmore still looks and feels like
it did when it was new.
How do we end threads on Winston-Salem?
.... with skyline photos of course! :hyper: 17-storey Brenner Children’s Medical Center at Hawthorne Hill,
along with the Janeway National Research Center and a west view of downtown Winston-Salem.
:hyper: 17-Storey Brenner Children's Medical Center :hyper: Start Scrolling >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
:hyper: 17-Storey Brenner Children's Medical Center :hyper: Keep Scrolling >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
:hyper: Brenner Children's Medical Center, Janeway Research Tower and Central Business District in the distance :hyper: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Skyline photo by request for yadkinv!
This gives viewers an idea of how far this neighborhood is from Downtown. This part of Ardmore
is the closest to downtown and it's still a good distance away. You'll find historic homes on the
far edges of the city. I finally found an angle that includes Hawthorne Hill and the skyline.
Unfortunately, it doesn't show all the Hawthorne Hill towers.
Animal Liberation!
Josh... Brandon... I had no idea, I thought everyone chained their friends up in the backyard! :lol:
Learn something new on every trip.
Thank you for your time!
Please let me know if you enjoyed this tour! Our next photo tour will be Buena Vista, an
upscale historic neighborhood of Fortune 500 CEOs and beautiful historic homes. Thank you again!
Next Thread: Buena Vista
