Albert (fl. 1820s, 1830s, 1840s), and Osborne (fl. 1840s, 1850s), brothers, were enslaved bricklayers and plasterers of notable skill. The two men belonged to the prolific brick builder Dabney Cosby, and their high quality work, especially in the plastering technique called "roughcasting," was an important component of Cosby's building business. Cosby worked extensively in...

John Berry (August 18, 1798-January 11, 1870) was a Hillsborough brickmason who became one of the most respected builders in the antebellum Piedmont. Berry was one of the first native North Carolina artisans to establish a large, long-lasting, and supra-local practice. Although his work concentrated in his native Orange County, he began early in...

Isaac J. Collier (b. ca. 1810) was a cabinetmaker, carpenter, and contractor who worked in Chatham and Orange Counties from the 1830s into the 1850s, often in partnership with other artisans. Like many small-town and rural woodworkers, he combined trades in furniture making and building. He was one of several antebellum local artisans who...

John Conroy (fl. 1790s) was a builder active in Raleigh and Chapel Hill in the late 18th century. Although little is known of him, he possessed design skills as well as good connections, for he is credited with planning or constructing edifices in the new capital and at the university. There are several unsigned...

Dabney Cosby (August 11, 1779-July 8, 1862), a native of Virginia, had a long and distinguished career as a "brick builder" in Virginia and North Carolina. When he was about sixty years of age, he moved to North Carolina, and he practiced there until his death in 1862. His shop was among the largest...

Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892), a leading American architect of the antebellum period, had an important series of commissions in North Carolina that were significant both in the development of the state and Davis's national practice. The monumental North Carolina State Capitol (1833-1840) was designed by the firm of Town and Davis, but his subsequent...

Douglas D. Ellington (1886-1960), architect, a North Carolina native trained at the École des Beaux Arts, is best known for designing Asheville's outstanding Art Deco buildings of the 1920s. One of the most important architects practicing in North Carolina during the mid-20th century, Ellington developed a unique synthesis of Beaux Arts classicism, modern functionalism...

Jacob W. Holt (March 30, 1811-September 21, 1880) was a Virginia-born carpenter, builder, and contractor who moved to Warrenton, North Carolina, and established one of the state's largest antebellum building firms. His work covered several counties in North Carolina and Virginia. Drawing upon popular architectural books, he developed a distinctive style that encompassed Greek...

The firm of Hook and Rogers was established in 1905 by C. C. Hook and Willard G. Rogers. Rogers had moved to Charlotte from Cincinnati, Ohio, around 1900 as an architect for the engineering firm of Stuart W. Cramer. The partnership of Hook and Rogers closely followed that of Hook and Sawyer and covered...

One of the first leaders in the state's early 20th century architectural profession, Charles Christian Hook (February 18, 1870 - September 17, 1938) moved to Charlotte as a young man in 1890 and practiced in the "Queen City" for the rest of his long career. He was Charlotte's first fulltime professional architect, and one...