History of the AIA North Carolina Tower

On March 23, 2007, The American Institute of Architects, North Carolina Chapter, held a Special Membership meeting in at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro. The membership voted on a motion to authorize the expenditure of funds for the purpose of constructing new office facilities for the AIA North Carolina Headquarters in Raleigh. By a majority vote, the membership granted its approval to move forward. The history of the tower, however, will be maintained, and it is the intent of the AIA North Carolina Task Force leadership to find a worthy steward of the property once it no longer houses AIA North Carolina functions. You can downloand the Tower sales brochure through this link. The AIANC's real estate broker, Ann-Cabell Baum Anderson, can be reached at 919-828-0077 or at cabelldtr@glenwoodagency.com

The Tower was built in 1887 by the Raleigh Water Works, a private business, which had the franchise to supply Raleigh with water. The two story front attached to the Tower was used for offices. The Tower was constructed in an octagonal shape with three foot thick granite (locally quarried) walls approximately thirty feet in height and twenty five feet in diameter. It was capped with a fifty foot high iron tank having a capacity of 100,000 gallons. To help support the tank, there were nine 12" X 12" heart pine columns within the Tower. The mechanical equipment and piping were also housed inside the Tower. The two-story brick building to the rear of the Tower was the maintenance shop for the water works.

In 1901 the water works took over the property and operated it until 1913 when it was purchased by the City of Raleigh. Within a short time, the water supply became inadequate and the Tower was abandoned. By 1937 the tank had been removed and the Raleigh city officials were preparing to either sell the property or demolish the Tower. The property was sold to Raleigh architect William Henley Deitrick, FAIA in May of 1938.

Mr. Deitrick, always sensitive and catholic in tastes, never particularly subscribed to vogues in architecture to the exclusion of other styles. At the time when some in the profession were advocating exclusively "contemporary" design, he did not design a new office, but chose instead to buy and renovate theTower. Although Mr. Deitrick was seeking new quarters in order to expand, he was thinking, even then, of architectural preservation and restoration, long before such words would become popular in today's architectural conscience.

Architect Deitrick was well aware that work on the little neo-Georgian offices connected to the Tower, as well as the dilapidated maintenance shop, would require a complete spatial restudy and restoration. He had the pine columns removed from the Tower and four octagonal rooms were designed to fit one on top of the other. The maintenance shop was converted into drafting rooms and conference space. The whole project, including the front offices, was redesigned with an eye to preserving the Georgian feeling. A pediment was added to the street entrance and, for privacy, brick walls and a gate were built to enclose the property. A small courtyard was designed in the space between the two buildings as a respite from city traffic.

The Tower became the focus of the Deitrick fìrm's second phase and he carried on a wide and diversified practice, training several generations of young architects, until his retirement in 1959. The firm of Guy E. Crampton and Associates continued the practice until 1963. In a mutual agreement with the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Mr. Deitrick deeded the property to the Chapter in perpetuity with restrictive covenants on the preservation of the exterior. In addition, he retained a right to maintain personal office space in the Tower until his death in 1974.

The century-old Tower required many improvements during the 1980's, such as weatherproofìng, roof repairs, window and door replacement, extensive interior refinishing and repainting. Work began in 1990 on the exterior renovation and stabilization of the Tower, along with a new HVAC system. The interior renovation began in 1992 and was completed in 1994. The rear building was renovated and leased to a tenant.

The Tower is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has been designated by the Raleigh Historic Sites Commission as a Raleigh Landmark It is one of the first and leading examples of adaptive reuse of an historic building.

Written by

C. F. Branan, AIA Emeritus

February 16,1996