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...

Thomas Henry Briggs, Sr. (1821-1886), builder and manufacturer, worked in Raleigh during a long career that extended from the antebellum period into the 1880s. With James Dodd, he formed about 1850 the company of Briggs and Dodd, contractors and manufacturers of building components. The firm constructed some of the city's most stylish and complex...

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...

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...

Daniel Steigerwalt Kramer (June 18, 1834-April 23, 1899), was a carpenter, builder, and manufacturer active in Elizabeth City in the late 19th century, and the father of Joseph Perry Kramer, a prolific builder and architect in Elizabeth City. Daniel S. Kramer, who began his career as a carpenter in Pennsylvania, is described as having worked...

John A. Waddell (1826-January 12, 1883), carpenter and contractor, spanned the transition in building from antebellum traditions to post-Civil War mass production. He began his career as a house carpenter associated with builder Jacob W. Holt in Warrenton, North Carolina, and after the Civil War he established the large contracting and manufacturing firm of...

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...

James Manassas Westall (September 11, 1861-January 1, 1943), a "pioneer builder" in Asheville, was a contractor who erected many of the city's railroad boom era buildings before retiring to operate a building supply business. He was one of several men from the "first families" of western North Carolina who became leaders in the building...

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...