Historic Structures

16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham Alabama

The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church has served as the religious and cultural center of Birmingham's African-American community, and now also, as a landmark to Birmingham's Civil Rights District. Built in 1909-11, it was designed by Wallace A. Rayfield, a graduate of Howard University and Pratt Institute, and the first African-American to establish an architectural practice in Birmingham. The church was erected by successful African-American contractor Thomas C. Windham. Located downtown near the former center of the African-American business district, Sixteenth Street Church has been known throughout its history as everybody's church. Many distinguished Americans such as Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, Jackie Robinson, Marian Anderson, Mary McLeod Bethune and W.E.B. DuBois were heard there. The church began to receive national attention in 1963 when it became the principle site for organizing civil rights demonstrations led by the Reverends Fred Shuttlesworth and Martin Luther King, Jr. The Bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that killed four young girls attending Sunday School resulted in the national and international condemnation of segregation.

Mount Lubentia Plantation - Magruder House, Largo Maryland

The Mount Lubentia plantation house, in both plan and interior detailing, is of a formal and dignified Federal style. The size and appointments of the rooms and the considerable space given to the center stairhall reflects a refinement and sense of social space indicative of the period beginning in the mid-18th century. By the time of the Revolution, the early hall-and-parlor house form had given way to a larger plan based on formalism rather than functionalism. The four-room, Georgian-inspired plan was far more expansive, with specialization in the usage of rooms. Mount Lubentia epitomizes these ideals with its plan, grace and spaciousness. The formal stairhall and center passage occupies one-quarter to one-third of the first-floor space. In addition, each room—large and with high ceilings—differs slightly in its detailing. The elegance and formality of Mount Lubentia is apparent immediately upon entering the house. There is a graceful, open-well stairway connecting with a center hall. The formality is further in evidence by the use of what appears to have been separate parlors for receiving guests and for family use. The receiving parlor—located near the front entry and the impressive stairhall—does not adjoin the family dining parlor which looks out over the garden to the rear of the house, carefully separating formal space from family space. In addition, each room is an entity unto itself, having its own particular moldings and interior finish such as mantels and built-in cabinets.

SS. Peter & Paul Russian Orthodox Church, St. Paul Alaska

This 1905 church is the oldest building on the island of St. Paul. The church's separate elements - sanctuary, nave, narthex, vestibule, and belltower - are clearly expressed on the exterior in a harmonious composition, and the interior features an elaborate mahogany iconostas. In contrast to their housing, which was supplied by the government, the church was commissioned by the natives, and remains an important expression of Russian-influenced Aleut culture. The Russian people began to settle on St. Paul Island in 1810. They had no means of constructing a temple. Finally Russian Ignatii Cherkashenin, who died in 1822, and Creole Kassian Shayashnikov built the first church, without assistance from the Company, in 1821. Since that time Shayashnikov has continued (in the 1840s) to take care of the church as church warden.

Holy Ascension Russian Orthodox Church, Unalaska Alaska

One of the oldest Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska, the Holy Ascension Church of 1894 has a cruciform plan but a hip-roofed nave that emphasizes its squareness. Featuring three altars, this church is rivaled only by St. Michael's Cathedral in Sitka for size and grandeur. In addition, the site is associated with Fr. Innocent (Veniaminov), the Russian Orthodox missionary priest who studied Aleut language and culture while located here in the early nineteenth century. Holy Ascension Russian Orthodox Church is a National Historic Landmark. The first church in Unalaska was built in 1808 by Fedor Burenin, the Russian-American Company manager. Depicted in an 1821 watercolor by L. Choris, it was a small octagonal chapel, apparently of log construction, with a cupola. It appears to have been located on the east side of the small town.

Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company - Fairchild Aircraft, Hagerstown Maryland

Kreider-Reisner Factory No. 1 (also known as Fairchild No. 1) was built as a result of a partnership between upstart airplane builders Ammon H. Kreider and Lewis E. Reisner and aviation industrialist Sherman Fairchild in 1929, in order to meet demand for the Challenger, a popular sport biplane. A modern open industrial structure by the late 1920s standards, the factory was constructed in only four months in the former airfield behind the original Kreider-Reisner Shed. Here Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company and Fairchild Aviation Corporation developed and mass produced several innovative commercial aircraft, including the KR-31 and KR-34 Challengers, the F-22 and F-24, and the F-91 Amphibian. Entering the defense field in 1939, Fairchild's PT-19 Primary Trainer and C-82 Packet both earned major Army contracts, leading to tremendous expansion of both the factory and the company. During World War II, Fairchild No. 1 was the center of the Hagerstown System of manufacturing as Fairchild subcontracted with over twenty-five businesses throughout the city to assist in the production of military aircraft for the war effort. Although Fairchild closed in the 1980s, the factory survives as a symbol of Fairchild's and Hagerstown's heyday as a major aviation manufacturing center. Kreider-Reisner Factory No. 1 (Fairchild No. 1) represents the evolution of the Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company from a small partnership assembling biplanes out of a patchwork of buildings into the modern Fairchild corporation operating essentially under one roof with state of the art practices. Although forced to cut back production not long after it opened due to the effects of the stock market crash, Fairchild managed to survive the Depression by reducing production costs and building quality, affordable planes. It was poised for growth with the onset of World War II after it developed the PT-19 Primary Trainer for the military in 1939. Moving into the air transport market, Fairchild also developed the F-31, F-91 Amphibian and C-82 Packet. New wartime contracts led to further expansion of the company adjacent to the Hagerstown Airport with the construction of Fairchild No. 2, designed by Albert Kahn & Associates. During WW II, Fairchild No. 1 became the center of the Hagerstown System of aircraft manufacturing, in which a variety of local industrial concerns were converted to aviation subcontractors to meet the incredible demand of the U.S. Army. The company and city went into eventual decline following the Korean War, as Fairchild sold its flagship factory in 1963 and ultimately closed its remaining plants in the 1980s. Even after its conversion to miscellaneous light industrial uses, Fairchild No. 1 remains as a testament to the growth of aircraft development and construction in Hagerstown from 1929-45.

Snow Hill - Samuel Snowden House, Laurel Maryland

Snow Hill is one of a number of fine brick dwelling houses built in Laurel by the prominent Snowden family during the mid- to late-18th century. The Snowdens were the original settlers of this area. They developed and dominated the local business—and thus the economy of the area—even before the actual founding of the town of Laurel. Richard Snowden first immigrated to Calvert County from Wales in 1658. From 1676 to 1685 he received 1,976 acres. By 1690, he had settled on his property and erected a home on the Patuxent River, southeast of the current town of Laurel in what is currently Howard County. His son, Richard, Jr., (Captain Richard Snowden), continued to increase the family landholdings so that his son, Richard III, inherited 27,000 acres in Prince George's, Montgomery, Howard and Anne Arundel Counties. It was Captain Richard Snowden who (along with four others) started the Patuxent Iron Works, the first in the state, in 1726. The Snowden family later constructed mills—first a grist mill in 1811, later converted to a large cotton mill in 1824. Their mill became the town's primary industry, employing hundreds and was so important to Laurel's economy that Laurel was known as Laurel Factory. Thus, the Snowden's mining and milling interests were responsible for the creation of Laurel.

Compton Bassett Mansion - Clement Hill House, Upper Marlboro Maryland

Compton Bassett is a product of the tobacco growing plantation system on which Prince George's early economy and growth were based. Until the Civil War, tobacco, grown on large plantations using slave labor, was by far the single greatest product of this agricultural county. Tobacco was so important to colonial Maryland that it was used as a medium of exchange. Because Prince George's became the largest tobacco-producing county in Maryland, plantations such as Compton Bassett formed the backbone of the county's economy and shaped the lifestyles of its inhabitants (both white and black). Compton Bassett is located just outside the town of Upper Marlboro, the heart of the tobacco growing region and the site of one of seven original tobacco warehouses and inspection stations. It is located near the Patuxent River which formed the corridor of initial inhabitation for settlers migrating from Maryland's first settlements to the south. Thus, the region in which Compton Bassett is located is among the county's first settlements. In fact, Clement Hill, Jr.'s initial land grant came before the founding of Upper Marlboro in 1721. It was a thriving county seat by the time that Clement Hill IV erected the current residence.

Beck Building - Redding's Restaurant, Jefferson Wisconsin

The Bruno P. Beck Building was preceded by a frame structure that was well known in Jefferson as Kispert & Roessler, clothier and shoe store. The building was erected in the 1850s and housed Kispert & Roessler from c. 1880 until its demolition in 1920. Kispert & Roessler was the last frame structure on the 100 block of South Main Street. In 1921, the Beck Building was constructed for the Beck family, who lived on the second floor and operated a shoe store on the first floor until 1940. After the Becks, the building remained vacant for about six years. Purchased by Earl and Elizabeth Smith, the shoe store was converted to a hardware store and operated in that capacity for about 14 years, until 1960. In that year, Rose Redding purchased the building, remodeled it, and operated a restaurant. For over 30 years, the building was known as Redding's Restaurant until 1993. In 1995, the building was leased for a short period, operating as the Sunrise Cafe. As the Sunrise Cafe, the interior was remodeled, with booths replacing free-standing tables and chairs, and carpeting laid over the original tile.

Homewood House - Carroll Mansion, Baltimore Maryland

Wye House Mansion, Easton Maryland

Wye House, built in 1781-84 and achieving its final form by 1799, is an outstanding example of a large Southern frame plantation house. Possibly designed by Robert Key, architect and carpenter of Annapolis, Wye House is a seven-part Roman Country House composition, and it illustrates the transition in style from late Georgian to Early Federal architecture. Construction of Wye House, built for Edward Lloyd IV (1744-96), a wealthy Maryland planter, began about 1781, and the central block and two detached dependencies were completed in 1784. Robert Key, a carpenter of Annapolis, worked on the house between 1781 and 1798 and may have also been the designer of the plan. By 1799, the house had assumed its original and present seven-part form: the two detached pavilions had been connected to the central block by means of small one-story hyphens and two one-story end units had been added to the sides of the pavilions. The portico on the south, or front, elevation and the large veranda on the north, or garden, facade had also been added by 1799. The plantation has been in the possession of the Lloyd family since 1658.

Doughoregan Manor, Ellicott City Maryland

Doughoregan Manor, was the country home from 1766 to 1832 of Charles Carroll III of Carollton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence for Maryland, planter, landowner, politician, and U.S. Senator. The Georgian brick plantation house, built about 1727, was greatly enlarged and remodelled in the Greek Revival Style in the 1830's. His favorite country home, Charles Carroll is buried in the family chapel attached to the north end of the mansion. Charles Carroll,III, was born at Annapolis, Maryland, September 19, 1737, into a wealthy Roman Catholic family. He was educated by the Society of Jesus in Maryland; he attended the College de St. Omer in French Flanders from 1748 to 1752 and the College de Louis le Grand in Parish from 1753 to 1757. He then went to London for several years, where he continued the study of civil law that he had begun in France. In 1765, at the age of 28, Carroll returned to Maryland and took up the development of the 10,000 acre tract in Frederick County located at the mouth of the Monocary River and known as Carrollton Manor, which his father made over to him at this time. Here in a farmhouse he erected near present-day Buckeytown, Charles Carroll lived the life of a country gentleman of property. In 1765 he began the practice of adding of Carrollton to his name to distinguish himself from his father and cousins of the same name.

Green Gables - Fleishhacker House, Woodside California

Significant as a masterwork, a house and landscape planned as a unified composition by one person, Charles Sumner Greene of the famous architectural firm Greene and Greene, for one patron, Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Fleishhacker, and kept intact by (so far) three generations of their family. A museum catalogue has said, Green Gables bespeaks a gracious yet comfortable manner of living, but its particular beauty derives from its harmonious relationship with the land, always a special forte of Charles [Greene]. Here it is a sublime creation.(1) In relation to its area, San Mateo County and the Santa Clara Valley of California, Green Gables can claim the earliest roof of shingles imitating thatch, the first free-form swimming pool, one of the first buildings surfaced with gunite, and the last great estate with land, use and ownership intact.(2) The historic owners, Mortimer Fleishhacker Sr. and Mortimer Fleishhacker Jr., were significant figures in Northern California banking and industry and in San Francisco cultural, charitable and philanthropic organizations. Sketches and correspondence in the Documents Collection of the College of Environmental Design, University of California Berkeley, testify to the relationship of this architect and client, and show some of their design decision process. The largest of all Greene and Greene designs, the Fleishhacker estate concept developed vast, formal gardens to contrast with the natural chaparral of the rolling, mountainous site.

Dearing House, Tuscaloosa Alabama

The Dearing House was built for Alexander B. Dearing (b. 1800) North Carolina, a prominent Tuscaloosa merchant and brother of Capt. James Dearing. One of Alexander Dearing's daughters married Dr. W. S. Wyman and lived in the house before and after the Civil War. Legend tells that Union raiders spared the house in 1865 after the mistress of the house fed her last setting of turkey eggs to hungry soldiers who appeared at her door. Major James Spence purchased the house in 1888 and in 1919 the S. G. Swain family moved in. This two-story brick and stucco Greek Revival residence features an Ionic columned portico extending about three sides. The interior features a circular staircase, elaborate friezes and black Italian marble mantles.

Carson House - Ingomar Club, Eureka California

Technically, this house is the second Carson House, built for William McKendrie Carson in 1885. The first Carson House was a less ambitious residence, across the street from the second great mansion. Carson came to California in 1849. He was part owner of a flour mill in the 1860's and went into lumber. Finally making a more concerted program of mill development, Carson formed a partnership with Dolbeer; their first mill was at the site of the present Carson House. The firm prospered and Carson became one of the leading citizens of Northern California, (Dolbeer and Carson were the third largest exporters of lumber in Eureka throughout the later 1860's and 1870's). It is usually related that the lumber business was at a low ebb in 1885, and William Carson determined on a massive personal project to employ his temporarily inactive employees. Most of the craftsmen employed on the mansion were practitioners of related trades at the mill - carpenters, carvers, plumbers, etc.

Medford Soo Line Railroad Depot, Medford Wisconsin

The Medford Centennial Book states that more than any other factor, ...The Wisconsin Central Railroad had the greatest influence on the why and wherefore of Medford's uptown and downtown locations... it seeded the mushroom which spread into a hamlet and later a city. As the first rail line into northern Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Central deserves special attention. Incorporated in 1871, WC's first division of railroad to penetrate the northern frontier was a 65-mile stretch from Menasha to Stevens Point. Under the financial leadership of eastern capitalist Gardner Colby, the company acquired more than 837,000 acres under a federal land grant. In exchange for free land, WC's obligation was to be the first company to link the shore of Lake Superior with the southern part of the State. Most historians agree that the WC was organized for the purpose of acquiring the wilderness lands, because the railroad promoters sold the land to lumbermen as soon as they had acquired it. The lands north of Stevens Point were often referred to as The Pinery and were sparsely settled in the early 1870's. Thus, construction of the Wisconsin Central through the north country generally preceded settlement by Europeans. Like many northern Wisconsin towns, Medford owes its origins to the Wisconsin Central Railroad. The WC began laying rails northwest of Stevens Point in early 1872, completing its line as far as Colby in September of that year. At the same time, crews cleared a path north to the Black River. The first train passed through what now is Medford in July, and the first depot was erected in September of 1873. W.B. Jeffers, the first depot agent, and two other persons were the sole permanent residents of Medford in the winter of 1873. The name Medford was selected to recognize the home town in Massachusetts of one of the railroad's investors. In the Spring of 1874, the Wisconsin Central built a 7-room guest house for prospective German and Swiss buyers of railroad farm lands. This immigrant house located near what is now Main and Lincoln Streets in Medford may have been the only instance of the railroad company giving free shelter to prospective land buyers. Wisconsin Central donated a 316' x 500' land parcel just east of the depot to Taylor County for the site of the Taylor County Courthouse.

Tulip Hill House, Galesville Maryland

Tulip Hill, located in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, approximately 2.5 miles west of Galesville on State Route 468, is a finely designed and little altered example of an early Southern Georgian brick plantation house. Erected in 1755-56, its basic plan and design are typical of the great Georgian mansions of mid-century, but its experimental approach to late Georgian formality in certain decorative features gives it distinctive character which adds interest to its detail. With the wings and hyphens added between 1787-90, Tulip Hill is also a very distinguished example of a five-part composition country house. Sitting on a rise of land, the impressive approach to the house from the river by a tree lined lane through the meadows and into the terraced garden exists today as it did over 200 years ago, maintaining the original site and environment. This offers today's visitor much the same impression as it did in the eighteenth century. Samuel Galloway, Quaker merchant-planter, purchased the old Talbot patent of 'Poplar Knowle, 260 acres with water frontage on West River and Browns Creek, in 1755. He renamed the property Tulip Hill, retaining in this new name the distinctive feature of the grove of grand tulip poplar trees, many still standing with ages up to 300 years. Letters reveal that the central block was well underway in 1755-56, under the direction of John Deavour. The architect is unknown, but the interior floor plan of the house bears a close relationship to Stenton, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, built by Galloway's Quaker friend, James Logan. The interior of Tulip Hill has been attributed to the young carver, William Buckland, on the basis of motif and a reference in a document that Galloway borrowed a carver from Gunston Hall, where Buckland is known to have been working at the time, but no firm evidence has been found to fully substantiate this theory. In 1787-90 John Galloway, Samuel's son, enlarged Tulip Hill into its final and present five-part form by adding two end wings, two connecting curtains, and also the present portico on the north (land) front of the central block. The plantation house remained in the possession of the Galloway family until 1886. After passing through several ownerships, the mansion was rehabilitated.

Gipfel Brewery - Union Brewery, Milwaukee Wisconsin

A nineteenths-century historian, whose account may well have been based on conversations with Charles Gipfel, states that the first Gipfel brewery building on this site was erected in 1843, but that the present one was constructed ten years later. The building was constructed either for David Gipfel or for his older son Carl Wilhelm (Charles). Family ownership of the property dates back to June 30, 1843, when David Gipfel purchased the lot from Daniel and Cordelia Brown for $400.00. He added adjoining property to his holdings with the purchase from Harvey Birchard on November 25, 1845. It is documented that the Gipfels operated a small brewery on this site during the 1840's. By 1851 at the latest, Charles Gipfel had assumed control of the firm, which he called the Union Brewery, and he remained in business here through the late nineteenth century--at various times as a brewer, a saloonkeeper, and a dealer in wine and liquor.

Arlington Place - Munger Mansion, Birmingham Alabama

The land and area that surrounds what is now Arlington House was originally deeded by Captain William Ely to the newly created Jefferson County. As an agent for the Deaf and Dumb Asylum in Hartford, Connecticut, he came to Alabama with the intent of building a school on the present site of the house. Originally know as Frog level, the State Legislature renamed the area Elyton in honor of Captain William Ely. Once Elyton was incorporated, it was established in 1820 as the seat of Jefferson County. At this time the courthouse was removed from Carrollsville, near the present Town of Powderly, to the more centrally located Elyton. This is where it remained until Birmingham was founded. An early report on courthouses in Alabama describes the placement of Elyton: Elyton was the crossing place of two important stage lines connecting north and south Alabama and eastern and western parts of the state. Later progress brought the crossing of two railroads to this area and it was this connection which led to the creation of the City of Birmingham. Two portions of the original land grant were purchased by William 0. Tarrant on February 19, 1821, and John Burford, Jr. & Sr., on March 5, 1821. One year later in 1822, Stephen Hall purchased both, constituting approximately 475 acres of land.

Montpelier - Snowden House, Laurel Maryland

Montpelier is by far the grandest of the many Snowden family homesteads built in the Laurel area from the time of the first Snowden settler, ca. 1690, to the late-18th century. A wealthy, Quaker family, they developed and dominated the local economy for over a century. Richard Snowden, later referred to as Richard the immigrant, came from Birmingham, England, to Maryland ca. 1658. He later received grants of land in this area, settling on a portion of it (located in the current Howard County) ca. 1690. His residence was known as Birmingham Manor for his original home. Upon his death, the Birmingham Manor property passed on to his son, Richard Snowden II, also known as Captain Richard Snowden. Richard continued to increase the family landholdings here until they totalled approximately 27,000 acres spanning Prince Georges, Montgomery, Anne Arundel and Howard counties. It was Richard II that started the Snowden or Patuxent Iron Works in 1735, was the first iron works in the state. His property upon his death was passed on to his son, Richard III, often referred to as the Iron Master. From him, that portion of the extensive Snowden family holdings on which Montpelier was to be erected passed onto one of his sons, Thomas. Thomas Snowden I (1722-1770) was, for many years, credited with the construction of Montpelier, originally believed to have been erected ca. 1740. However, architectural historians now believe that, based on the style and detailing of the house, it was built between 1770-1785. The two firebacks in the house give the date of 1783, which may have been the official year of completion of the main block of the house. The hyphenated wings were added later, in 1794-1795.

Gunston Hall, Mason Neck, Lorton Virginia

Gunston Hall was the home of George Mason, gentleman, planter, and constitutional theorist, a man as influential as any other in building the theoretical underpinnings of the American Revolution and of the Constitution of 1787. He was a model member of the landed gentry, serving on the bench, in the parish vestry, in the Assembly, as well as in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. George Mason (1725-1792) was the fourth of that name and line in Virginia, his forebearer having settled on 900 acres in the Northern Neck of Virginia on a grant dated 1655. By the time the fourth George Mason came into his inheritance, there were 5,000 acres in the estate. Because of the early death of his father, he was under the guardianship of his mother, Ann Thomson Mason, and his uncle, John Mercer of Marlborough. Mason's early years were spent in Mercer's library which was rich in the law, accounting for Mason's wide legal knowledge throughout his later career.