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...

Thomas J. Holt (ca. 1814-1890), brother of contractor Jacob W. Holt, began his career as a carpenter but assumed the role and title of architect and worked in the North Carolina Piedmont for many years. He was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, the second son of carpenter David Holt and Elizabeth McGehee Holt...

William Jones (1785?-1851?) was a house carpenter who worked in Wake County and possibly Franklin County in the early 19th century. Given the commonness of the name, however, it is not clear whether the William Jones, house carpenter, who worked in Raleigh ca. 1810-1817 is the same one who was working in Franklin County...

Asa King (ca. 1782-1843) was a highly skilled house carpenter who executed unusually fine Federal period woodwork in some of New Bern's most outstanding buildings. New Bern, the state's largest and most elegant city in this period, presents the state's premier assemblage of urban Federal style architecture, much of which shares similar forms, workmanship...

William Nichols (1780-December 12, 1853), an English-born house carpenter, architect, and engineer, worked in North Carolina from 1800 until 1827, during which time he planned and built some of the state's finest and most advanced buildings. The first resident architect in North Carolina since John Hawks, he was also the first North Carolina architect...

Elhannon Nutt (fl. 1800-1810s) was a carpenter and joiner who fashioned elaborate and high quality woodwork, most notably mantels, for the houses of some of the central Piedmont's wealthiest men, where his work was combined with that of carpenters John J. Briggs and William Jones. According to Jean Bradley Anderson, Elhannon was the third son...

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...

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...

A. L. (Albert Lawrence) West (1825-1892), a Richmond, Virginia, architect, had a long and productive career that spanned the second half of the 19th century. Although most of his work was in Virginia, he also designed a number of North Carolina buildings, of which only the Pasquotank County Courthouse in Elizabeth City still stands West...