History of Washington Park's Architects
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Information from the National Register of Historic Places: Architects | Development Companies | Residents | History of Winston-Salem | Ludlow's Plan | The Park | Streetcars
Several of Washington Park's buildings are known to have been designed by architects, and many more are believed to have been architect-designed, though that information is not readily available. Willard C. Northup, who with Lect O'Brien formed the noted local firm of Northup & O'Brien, has been identified as the architect of four houses in Washington Park:
- The Horace Vance House at 100 Banner, built in 1914;
The Charles Siewers House at 20 Cascade, built in 1916;
The A. H. Eller House at 129 Cascade, built in 1918 to replace the Victorian house moved to Park Boulevard;
The John L. Gilmer's house at 605 Cascade, built in 1929 to replace his earlier house which had been destroyed by fire.
A fifth building, Cicero Lowe's imposing Neo-classical Revival house at 204 Cascade, is often attributed to Nor-thup as well. Northup was born in Michigan, moved to Asheville as a child, and received his architectural degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Around 1906 he moved to Winston-Salem, later became partner with Leet O'Brien and was active in the state's professional organizations. He became president of the North Carolina State Board of Architectural Examiners as well as a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects (AIA). He designed both commercial and residential buildings in Winston-Salem and throughout the state, and is most well known for his many Georgian Revival houses designed in the 1920s and 1930s.
Luther Lashmit, who practiced both with Northup's firm and alone, designed the major remodeling of Burton Craige's house at 134 Cascade in 1928. He transformed a mid-nineteenth century brick farmhouse to an elegant Colonial Revival house. A few years before, Lashmit had designed the award-winning Fleshman-Graham House at 207 Cascade Avenue for the daughter of wealthy parents next door. Lashmit was a native of Winston-Salem where he practiced for many decades before his death in the late 1980s. He studied architecture at Carnegie institute of Technology and attended the Fountainbleau Ecole des Beaux Arts in France. Like Northup & O'Brien, with whom he worked, Lashmit designed a large number of period revival residences, primarily for wealthy families. Perhaps his most well-known is Graylyn, the Norman Revival estate completed in 1931. He also designed the R. J. Reynolds, Jr., house in 1940 in the International style (demolished 1978).