"E" is for Elm Street

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Today's letter on ABC Wednesday is "E" and, as we are featuring A-Z streets this round, we felt compelled to feature Elm Street. Elm Street is the heart and pulse of Greensboro. It separates east from west and runs almost the entire length of the city. In the southern extreme, Elm merges with Eugene St.; to the north, at Lake Jeanette, it becomes Bass Chapel Road. Along the way, Elm Street passes through downtown, Fisher Park, Irving Park, State Street, Cornwalis, Cone Boulevard, Buffalo Lake, New Irving Park, and Pisgah Church Road. Of all 138 streets starting with the letter "E," Elm has the most homes listed: 374.

The house in the above photo is located at 1007 North Elm Street, at the northern end of Fisher Park, just south of the Wendover Avenue overpass. The house was completed in 1919 for the John M. Galloway family. It was designed by Greensboro architect Harry Barton and constructed under the supervision of Andrew Schlosser, Greensboro's premier stonemason (G.H.Fripp, p. 58). Noteworthy are 1) Schlosser's fine stonework; 2) the chocolate mortar and 3) the ballroom on the top floor of the home.

1007 North Elm provides a glimpes of how the street looked before it became commercialized. Today, these older homes are mostly offices of professionals, organizations, or locally-owned, small businesses. The sculpture in the foreground was done by Frank Holder whose dance training echoes in the sculpture's movement.

Posted at 05:30 AM in 2011, 2011: 1st Quarter, ABC Wednesday, Architecture, Houses, Neighborhoods, People, Visual Arts | Permalink