Biltmore Forest Club New (Old) Images

I am always astonished when I Google something I've searched for a million times (Palmer & Lamdin) and all of a sudden, a bunch of new matches show up. This was recently the case when I searched for Palmer, Willis & Lamdin, and found not only a new house in Greensboro, North Carolina, but new pictures of the Biltmore Forest Club in Asheville. I wrote about it here. 

The images I found were in a 1927 issue of the American Architect and Architecture journal. There wasn't really a story about the club, as far as I could tell, but there were a number of images. 

The best thing is that there are plans of the building included, so that you can see how the space works. 

Fayetteville Stable

Last month, I wrote about a house in Fayetteville, NC. The new owners had kindly sent me pictures and blueprints of the house, which had been owned by his great-grandparents. 

A few days ago, he sent me a picture his aunt had found of the stables at the house, which has now been converted into a guest house. 

The guest house is absolutely charming, with the dovecote tower on the roof and the wonderful metal casement windows, both signatures of Palmer & Lamdin.

It's such fun to see original pictures of P&L's work! Thanks for sharing, DB!

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.