John S. Norris (1804-July 25, 1876), builder and architect, was born and worked in New York City, but his best known works are his public and private buildings in Wilmington, North Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, which encompassed Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Italianate styles. Typical of his generation, he began his career as a...

John Coffin Wood (September 10, 1809-December 3, 1873) and Robert Barclay Wood (March 31, 1815-March 15, 1890), brothers and brickmasons from Nantucket, were among Wilmington, North Carolina's leading builders in the 19th century. The Woods came to the city in the late 1830s to build St. James Episcopal Church and spent their lives there...

Thomas Ustick Walter (1804-1887), the nationally important Philadelphia architect best known for designing the great dome of the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, planned two Gothic Revival style Episcopal churches in antebellum North Carolina: St. James Episcopal Church in Wilmington and the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill. Along with the firm...

James Francis Post (1818-July 15, 1899), a native of New Jersey, came to Wilmington by 1849 and became the city's premier 19th century builder-architect during the years when Wilmington was the largest city in the state. He designed, built, or supervised construction of some of Wilmington's most distinguished buildings, as well building many of...

Addison Hutton (1834-1916), an important Philadelphia architect born a Quaker in Pennsylvania, began his career as assistant to architect Samuel Sloan from 1857 to 1861, supervising Sloan's works in the South. The first of these were Sloan's First Presbyterian Church (1859-1861) and First Baptist Church (1859-1870), in Wilmington, North Carolina. In antebellum Wilmington, where...

James Walker (1827-1901) was a Scots-born builder, contractor, and brickmason who came to Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1857 to supervise construction of the United States Marine Hospital for his brother John Walker, the contractor for the project. James stayed in Wilmington the rest of his life, becoming one of the leading builders and a...

Samuel Sloan (March 7, 1815-July 19, 1884), a prolific and influential Philadelphia architect, designed several important buildings in North Carolina, including some of the largest state-sponsored projects in the post-Civil War period. One of the very few nationally important architects who worked in North Carolina in the immediate postwar years, he took on projects...

Emerson and Fehmer (fl. 1870s-1880s) was an architectural firm noted for its work in the northeastern states. The partners consisted of William Ralph Emerson (1833-1917) and Carl Fehmer (1838-1916), architects who also had notable careers on their own. Their work concentrated in the Northeast, with few known works in the South. It was probably...

A. G. Bauer (December 4, 1858-May 11, 1898), architect, designed some of North Carolina's most imposing and ebulliently stylish buildings of the late 19th century. He came to North Carolina in 1883 as assistant to architect Samuel Sloan of Philadelphia at a time when the state was embarking on major postwar projects but had...

William Alfred (Will. A.) Freret (1833-1911), a native of New Orleans, served as Supervising Architect of the Treasury from 1887 to 1889. He was the son of William Freret, a mayor of the city, and cousin to New Orleans architect James Freret. During his brief tenure as supervising architect, his office (which included some...