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The old building for Baptist Female University (now Meredith College) was one of Raleigh’s most ornamental examples of the Queen Anne style of architecture. Designed by A.G. Bauer, the building stood at the corner of Edenton and Blount and housed the University until 1926. It then served as the Mansion Park Hotel once Meredith had moved to its new location, then as government offices in 1951. The building was demolished in 1967 after it had been deemed “unsafe and uninsurable.”
“Tear down that building, a parking lot will go great there. No need to take any photos. We have quite a few grainy ones of it. Be sure to save those.” -Arrogance of Government
That building was so beautiful, and it is sad that it is gone. I’m sure it was a financial nightmare to keep maintained though. The parking lot that now covers that whole block is ugly even for a parking lot.
I had an old friend years ago that once worked worked maintaining the boilers there. He said it was a huge and quirky building. He also said that he thought the four foot high square driveway pillars that are now on the Blount Street (the red and cream colored brick ones that aren’t marking driveways anymore) were entrance roads to the complex. I am not sure though.
Good point CJT. I haven’t seen any photos of it after the 1930s. Would love to see a picture if anyone has one of how it weathered into the 60s.
ladye jane -
Karl (Raleigh Boy) has several he took as a kid during that timeframe. I know he’s planning on writing an article about it, but not sure when.
Yes, I do have about half a dozen photos of the building which I took in 1966-67. By that time, though, those awesome wrap-around porches had been removed, and the building itself painted a drab state government gray. But even those alterations did not impact the presence of that imposing leviathan!I intend to post my story on the BFU building on the Goodnight Raleigh site in the near future, so stay tuned!
I find it to be a tragedy that a building like this was even allowed to become “unsafe and uninsurable” to begin with.
These are so much more beautiful then those modern square box buildings we get now!!
When the wrecking ball hit in 1967, it somehow missed a series of brick columns that marked entrances to the property. You can still see them, six along Blount Street and one around the corner on Edenton.
Micah said:
“I had an old friend years ago that once worked worked maintaining the boilers there. He said it was a huge and quirky building. He also said that he thought the four foot high square driveway pillars that are now on the Blount Street (the red and cream colored brick ones that aren’t marking driveways anymore) were entrance roads to the complex. I am not sure though.”
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