Title
Presentation on The Southeastern Building
Body
Department: Planning
Council District: 3
Public Hearing: n/a
Advertising Date/By: n/a
Contact 1 and Phone: Hannah Cockburn
Contact 2 and Phone: Mike Cowhig
PURPOSE:
The Southeastern Building has been nominated for APA-NC’s 2016 Great Places award for a Great Historic Rehabilitation. The Great Places in North Carolina awards program was established in 2012 to highlight North Carolina’s Great Places and the communities and people that have created them. The citizens of Greensboro are being requested to vote in the historic restoration category that runs from May 2 - May 13, 2016.
BACKGROUND:
This nomination recognizes the important role historic restorations play in preserving the authentic flavor of our community. For Elm Street and downtown Greensboro, the Southeastern Building has been a signature part of the skyline for nearly 100 years. The nomination highlights the hard work of the many people involved in a restoration project, including the developer and architects who have spent years investing time, energy and money into this building to make it a once again a showpiece.
The Southeastern Building was designed by Greensboro architect Raleigh James Hughes, constructed in 1920. The nine-story tower with a limestone façade is considered by architectural historians to be a “crisply detailed…classical skyscraper”. The American Exchange National Bank Building was the tallest in Greensboro when constructed. The project was so successful that in 1927 the bank asked Greensboro architect Harry Barton to design a substantial addition to the rear along East Market Street.
The street elevation of the nine-story building includes details rarely found in North Carolina cities, such as Indiana Limestone sheathing, a terra cotta stringcourse decorated with a Greek key between the third and fourth floor, and a terra cotta frieze below the ninth-story windows. A cornice tops the façade, composed of dentils, egg-and-dart molding, and a projecting cornice.
Around 1940, architect J. P. Coble designed modifications to the two lowest floors that removed the columns and replaced them with aluminum-framed storefronts in the then-fashionable ‘Moderne’ style.
Two years of renovations by Developers Barry Siegal and Willard Tucker have restored the building and re-established the original columns and neoclassical details to the lower floors. Upper floors have been renovated for fifty-one residential apartments. Other floors will house office, retail, and restaurant spaces.
The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 as part of the Downtown Greensboro Historic District, and Landmark designation was awarded in 2010.
BUDGET IMPACT:
None
RECOMMENDATION / ACTION REQUESTED:
The citizens of the City of Greensboro are being requested to go to the following link: www.greensboro-nc.gov/GreatPlaces <http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/GreatPlaces> during the online voting which runs May 2 - May 13, 2016 to place your vote for the Southeastern Building for the APA-NC’s 2016 Great Places award.