William Carter Bain (January 8, 1839- July 8, 1920) was a prolific and adaptable contractor who epitomized the energetic entrepreneurship of the post-Civil War well into the 20th century. Bain began as a small-town artisan, served in the Confederate army, and became a regional builder and manufacturer. Adapting successfully to changing times during a...

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...

John D. Briggs (April 5, 1856-June 23, 1934), member of a Raleigh family long active in construction, was a contractor, architect, and engineer responsible for many industrial buildings including several American Tobacco Company and Liggett and Myers warehouses in Durham. He was one of six sons of Thomas H. Briggs, Sr., the respected and...

Ellington, Royster, and Company (1878-1894) was a contracting and building supply business established in 1878 by Leonard H. Royster (1840- 1912), a native of Raleigh, and William J. Ellington (1849-1919), originally from Chatham County. Their partnership became one of Raleigh's largest contracting and building supply businesses during the post-Civil War period. Royster, who began...

John B. Halcott (fl. 1880s) was an Albany, New York, architect who planned ornate and substantial late 19th century buildings in Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina. How his connection with North Carolina clients came about is not yet established: he was one of many northern architects who obtained commissions in the state in the...

William J. Hicks (February 18, 1827-January 14, 1911), millwright, builder, contractor, architect, and prison warden, began his career in the 1850s and became a prominent figure in North Carolina construction after the Civil War. He epitomized the practical, ambitious, and adaptable men who made their way in the unsettled times after the war. Hicks was...

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...

Leonard (Len) H. Royster (October 2, 1840-April 2, 1912) was a carpenter and builder who in 1878 formed with William J. Ellington (1849-1919) the Raleigh contracting and manufacturing firm of Ellington, Royster, and Company. Royster, a native of Raleigh, and Ellington, who came from Chatham County, created one of the city's largest contracting and...

Frank K. (Kingsbury) Thomson (April 21, 1872-July 14, 1961), engineer and architect from Ohio, was an experienced and practical professional who worked in Raleigh from 1896 into the 1910s, mainly in partnership with the younger architect Charles W. Barrett. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to James and Julia Thomson, Frank Kingsbury Thomson (often misspelled Thompson) gained...

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...