Monday, January 4, 2021

In the Wild: Fayetteville, NC

I was completely surprised to get an email from someone telling me that they'd just purchased a Palmer & Lamdin house in Fayetteville, NC! When I went back and looked at the project list from P&L and the successor firms, this house was not listed. But once I saw it, and the owner (DB) shared the blueprints, I knew it was authentic.

(Please excuse the hideously over HDR'd photos from the real estate listing)

Interestingly, the house had originally been built for DB's maternal great-grandfather. He had heard that there was some connection between this house and Biltmore, but it wasn't until his brother found the original blueprints, and DB did a little research, that he understood the connection. 

The house was designed in the few years when the firm was Palmer, Willis & Lamdin were working together. The partnership did not last long, and there is scant information about J. Swing Willis. 

There are many of PW&L's trademark features in this house, including a turret, casement windows, a façade that both advances and recedes, a loggia with a peaked wooden ceiling and much more. 

DB told me that he's going to be painting and updating the house to make it more comfortable with the original style. Additionally, he's going to be returning some of the home's original furnishings to where they belong. 

DB also thinks that there might be more information about the house in some family files. I will look forward to seeing them, and sharing them with you.

Here are some additional photographs of the house. 





Thanks so much to DB for his generosity in sharing his house and adding to the Palmer & Lamdin catalogue raissonné. 

3 comments:

  1. What a gem of a house with the inviting forecourt and then archway - sporting that great cupola - leading to the motorcourt. Just the right amount of aged patina on the chimneys. Handsome curved master stairway, etc. Some really nice work by the firm with this residence. Kudos to the new owner for snatching up such a stately manor.

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  2. Another great find. What's the connection to Biltmore?

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    1. P&L designed the Biltmore Country Club in Asheville, as well as this house and possibly another CC in NC.

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