Wheeler, Oliver Duke (1864-1942)
Birthplace:
Freedom, New York, USA
Residences:
- Charlotte, North Carolina
- Atlanta, Georgia
Trades:
- Architect
NC Work Locations:
Building Types:
Styles & Forms:
Beaux-Arts; Colonial Revival; Gothic Revival
Oliver Duke Wheeler (May 21, 1864-October 27, 1942), was an architect who with his sequence of partners and associates—Luke Hayden, Louis E. Schwend, James M. McMichael, Neil Runge, D. Anderson Dickey, and others—had a long career in North Carolina and one of the state’s most prolific practices of the day. Headquartered in Charlotte from 1899 onward, Wheeler’s firms were especially well known for their economical classical courthouses of similar designs, but they also planned a wide variety of other buildings. Wheeler’s firms also did extensive work in South Carolina. Of their many commissions, including a large number reported in the Manufacturers’ Record, only a small proportion have been identified.
Oliver Duke Wheeler was born in Freedom, New York, a son of farmers William and Eliza Wheeler, who had migrated to America from Wales. In 1886 young Wheeler moved to Atlanta to work in the construction business, and in the same year he married Alice Carter from Russell County, Virginia. He later married Nannie Crenshaw, who outlived him. Throughout his career, first in Atlanta and then in Charlotte, Wheeler exhibited a pattern of forming architectural partnerships that were highly productive but short-lived. Except for the untimely death of his young associate Louis E. Schwend, the reasons for the frequent turnover of business partners are not known. Like other architects of the era, Wheeler and his associates kept their names in front of the public in the Manufacturers’ Record and other publications. From time to time, the firm would send in an impressive roster of projects for which they had “completed plans,” but it is not certain how many of these were actually constructed.
Wheeler’s first partnership came when he established an architectural firm in Atlanta with Luke Hayden, probably in the 1890s. The commission for Trinity Methodist Church in Charlotte brought the partners to the Queen City: The Manufacturers’ Record of April 15, 1898, noted that Charlotte’s Trinity M. E. congregation had adopted plans by Hayden and Wheeler of Atlanta.
Seeing the opportunities of the New South capital of the Carolinas, Hayden and Wheeler moved their main office to Charlotte in April, 1899, and took Louis E. Schwend (1875-1900) as a third partner. Like C. C. Hook and others, they moved to a business and industrial center on the verge of explosive growth. They captured a plum project: the Manufacturers’ Record of July 21, 1899, reported that Hayden, Wheeler, and Schwend had drawn plans for a 6-story office building of the Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company (the “4C’s”), and in December, 1899, the firm reported that they had drawn plans for a 2-story, stone and terra cotta office building for the same firm. The 4C’s was a dynamic young company, which developed the new Charlotte suburb of Dilworth and many other ventures. One of its leaders was Edward Dilworth Latta, for whom Dilworth was named. (Latta also employed architect C. C. Hook to plan residences and other Dilworth buildings.) During 1899, Hayden, Wheeler, and Schwend placed many notices in the Manufacturers’ Record of plans they had drawn for clients in Charlotte and various other towns. How many of these were built is unknown. Their notices appeared alongside Hook’s, whose firms’ geographic range often overlapped with Wheeler’s.
Like other firms, Wheeler’s office sometimes submitted designs that were not selected by the clients: for example, the firm submitted (and illustrated in their promotional publication) a classically detailed courthouse for Alexander County in 1899, but the county’s leaders actually built a simpler courthouse planned by the B. F. Smith Fireproofing Company, a popular firm in the state.
Although Louis Schwend worked with Hayden and Wheeler only briefly, he had a lasting influence on Wheeler’s firms’ production. As related by Robert M. Topkins and Joe A. Mobley, in 1899 Schwend represented the firm in the winning design for the Iredell County Courthouse in Statesville. He produced a bold and classically inspired design, presented when tastes were beginning to shift from the eclectic to the classical. The Charlotte Daily Observer stated, “The design is quite a credit to young Mr. Schwend, who won it in hot competition.” Although in 1900 Schwend, identified as an architect and native of Ohio, was boarding with the Wheeler family, he subsequently returned to his native Cincinnati where he died in November. For several years, Wheeler and his partners used Schwend’s courthouse design in many counties across the state over the years, repeating the symmetrical but lively composition with central portico, mansard-like dome, and stepped back façade. The basic design could be more or less costly depending on local budget and preferences.
In about 1900 the firm of Hayden, Wheeler, and Schwend published a promotional booklet entitled “Modern Buildings,” which indicated that they had branch offices in Greensboro, N. C., and Columbia, S. C., as well as the main office in Charlotte. Following Schwend’s death in November 1900, subsequent editions of the publication reflected the rapid changes in Wheeler’s firms: in about 1902 Wheeler and McMichael inserted their name, and in about 1903 Wheeler and Runge stamped the book with their firm name as “successor firm” to the original authors.
After 1900, Hayden, Wheeler, and Company had offices in Greensboro and Columbia. Wheeler also opened his own practice in Charlotte in 1901, and he moved there permanently by 1902. There Wheeler formed a brief partnership (1901-1902) with James M. McMichael, who soon went on to his own long and prolific practice. In 1903 Wheeler joined with Neil Runge to form Wheeler, Runge, and Company, and in 1905 the firm added another associate, D. Anderson Dickey, as Wheeler, Runge, and Dickey. These three opened an office in Nashville, Tennessee, by 1907. In 1908, however, Runge and Dickey formed their own firm in Nashville. The following year C. F. Galliher and Eugene John Stern joined Wheeler in yet another partnership. Galliher left in 1909, after only ten months, to join Runge and Dickey in Nashville. Eugene J. Stern, originally from Austria-Hungary, had studied architecture in New York. At long last, Wheeler had a lasting partnership, and Wheeler and Stern operated successfully in Charlotte until the onset of World War I. Although Wheeler lived until 1942, and was listed as an architect living in Charlotte in 1930, little is known of his work after his partnership with Stern ended.
Throughout Wheeler’s many partnerships, the firms’ work encompassed a wide range of building types, styles, and locations. They geared popular styles to suit the budgets and tastes of the clients in small towns and cities. Their numerous public and commercial projects included not only courthouses, but also churches, schools, orphanages, county jails, theaters, and commercial buildings. Their residential work included a few houses in late Queen Anne style, but Wheeler’s firms generally favored the popular “Southern Colonial” style, as exemplified by the James H. Lee House (1912-1914), built for a leading businessman in Monroe. As in their courthouses, Wheeler and his partners developed a standard and widely accepted basic design—their Colonial Revival houses could vary in size and elaboration but normally featured a broad central passage, a colossal portico, and a veranda extending into a porte cochere.
Certainly the Wheeler firms’ best-known works in North Carolina are their nine county courthouses built from 1899 to 1913. They were based on Schwend’s Beaux-Arts design of the Iredell County Courthouse, which appealed to county commissioners seeking facilities of modern, convenient, classical design and reasonable cost in a period of rapid courthouse construction. Such edifices were erected in Ashe, Avery, Caldwell, Randolph, Scotland, Stokes, Watauga, and Wilkes Counties. The courthouses in Caldwell, Scotland and Watauga were razed in the 1960s, but the other six still stand. The clients for the Wilkes County Courthouse (1902) wrote, “We think this courthouse is point of size, convenience and price decidedly best suited to our ability and wants. . . . we are reliably informed [that it is] the best and most convenient cheap courthouse in the state.”
Wheeler took an active role in promoting and organizing the architectural profession in North Carolina. The Wilmington Star reported on December 29, 1900, that “O.D. Wheeler was elected to the executive committee of the newly organized Southeastern Architectural League, at Charlotte.” He was also active in the successor North Carolina Architectural Association, which was organized in 1906 at Wrightsville Beach. When the North Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects was formed in 1913, Wheeler and other architects (including prominent Charlotteans) declined to join the AIA (in part because of regional differences, in part because of restrictions on fee structure), and continued their NCAA activities. In 1940 the NCAA and the NCAIA merged.
At Wheeler’s death, the Charlotte Observer (October 29, 1942) recalled that he had been one of the city’s most prominent architects. He had come to Charlotte, the paper reported, “to direct the building of the old Trinity Methodist Church” at South Tryon and Second Streets, and had overseen construction of “numerous churches, hospitals, and public buildings throughout Georgia and the Carolinas.”
The following is a chronology of Wheeler’s partnerships, all of which were headquartered mainly in Charlotte except Hayden and Wheeler, which was formed in Atlanta: Hayden and Wheeler (before 1899); Hayden, Wheeler, and Schwend (1899-1900); Hayden, Wheeler, and Company (1901); Wheeler, McMichael, and Company (1901-1902); Wheeler, Runge, and Company (1903-1905); Wheeler, Runge, and Dickey (1905-1908); Wheeler, Galliher, and Stern (1908-1909); Wheeler and Stern (1909-late 1910s).
The building lists for Wheeler and his firms cover chiefly the early years of Wheeler’s career, as cited in the Manufacturers’ Record up to 1910 (from notes by Michelle Michael, as listed in “The Rise of the Regional Architect”). Many of these indicate only that the firm had drawn plans, without any indication of whether those plans were selected, a contract let, or the building actually constructed. These included numerous buildings in Charlotte, Fayetteville, High Point, Monroe, Statesville, and elsewhere. The building list is selective, encompassing the firms’ best known buildings and a representative sampling of others for which there is information about construction, location, and status. More research, drawing especially on the Manufacturers’ Record from 1910 onward, will doubtless uncover and confirm additional attributions.
- Catherine W. Bishir, North Carolina Architecture (1990).
- Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Eastern North Carolina (1996).
- Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003).
- Catherine W. Bishir, Michael T. Southern, and Jennifer F. Martin, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Western North Carolina (1999).
- Charlotte Vestal Brown Papers, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.
- Charlotte News, Oct. 28, 1942.
- Brian R. Eades and J. Daniel Pezzoni, Architectural Perspectives of Cleveland County, North Carolina (2004).
- Sidney Halma, Catawba County: An Architectural History (1990).
- Peter R. Kaplan, The Historic Architecture of Cabarrus County, North Carolina (2004).
- Mary Norton Kratt and Mary Manning Boyer, Remembering Charlotte: Postcards from a New South City, 1905-1950 (2000).
- Michelle Ann Michael, “The Rise of the Regional Architect in North Carolina as Seen Through the Manufacturers’ Record, 1890-1910,” M.H.P. thesis, University of Georgia (1994).
- Kirk Franklin Mohney and Laura A. W. Phillips, From Tavern to Town: The Architectural History of Hickory, North Carolina (1988).
- Claudia P. Roberts (Brown) and Diane E. Lea, The Durham Architectural and Historic Inventory (1982).
- Robert M. Topkins and Joe A. Mobley, “Design for a Decade: Louis E. Schwend and the Iredell County Courthouse of 1900,” Carolina Comments (Nov. 1990).
- John E. Wells and Robert E. Dalton, The South Carolina Architects, 1885-1935: A Biographical Dictionary (1992).
- Wilmington Star, Dec. 29, 1900.
A. L. Dearing Residence
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler, Runge, and Dickey, architectsDates:1903-1905
Location:Monroe, Union CountyStreet Address:108 W. Houston St., Monroe, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Residential
Images Published In:Mary Ann Lee, An Inventory of Historic Architecture: Monroe, N.C. (1978).
Anson County Courthouse
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1914
Location:Wadesboro, Anson CountyStreet Address:Courthouse Square, Wadesboro, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003).
Note:The Anson County Courthouse, with a long, Doric portico set in antis, is the only one of Wheeler and partners’ North Carolina courthouses that deviates from the formula established in the Iredell County Courthouse.
Ashe County Courthouse
Contributors:L.W. Cooper, contractor; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler, Runge, and Company, architectsDates:1904
Location:Jefferson, Ashe CountyStreet Address:Main St., Jefferson, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir, Michael T. Southern, and Jennifer F. Martin, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Western North Carolina (1999).
Avery County Courthouse
Contributors:R.C. Campbell, builder; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1913
Location:Avery CountyStreet Address:Montezuma St. and Courthouse Dr., Newland, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir, Michael T. Southern, and Jennifer F. Martin, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Western North Carolina (1999).
Avery County Jail
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1912
Location:Avery CountyStreet Address:1829 Schultz Cir., Newland, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Belk Department Store
Contributors:J. A. Jones, builder; Wheeler, Galliher, and Stern, architects; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1908-1910
Location:Charlotte, Mecklenburg CountyStreet Address:115 East Trade St., Charlotte, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Commercial
Images Published In:Mary Norton Kratt and Mary Manning Boyer, Remembering Charlotte: Postcards from a New South City, 1905-1950 (2000).
Caldwell County Courthouse
Contributors:Hartley and Smith, contractors; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler, Runge, and Company, architectsDates:1905
Location:Lenoir, Caldwell CountyStreet Address:Main St., Lenoir, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Public
Carnegie Library
Contributors:Alfred Lazenby, builder; Lazenby Brothers, builders; James M. McMichael, architect; Wheeler, McMichael, and Company, architects; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectVariant Name(s):Charlotte Public Library
Dates:1901-1903
Location:Charlotte, Mecklenburg CountyStreet Address:310 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Public
Images Published In:Mary Norton Kratt and Mary Manning Boyer, Remembering Charlotte: Postcards from a New South City, 1905-1950 (2000).
Note:A notice carried in the Roxboro Courier of November 6, 1901, reported that Lazenby Brothers of Statesville had the contract to build the $25,000 Carnegie library. It was to be “of the French renaissance style.” The Manufacturers’ Record of November 7, 1901, noted that “Lazenby Brothers of Statesville” had received a $25,000 contract to erect a proposed Carnegie Library in Charlotte, a prominent edifice designed by Wheeler, McMichael, and Company (the short-lived partnership of Oliver Wheeler and James M. McMichael). The accompanying postcard image shows the library on the right, and First Baptist Church on the left.
Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company (4Cs) Office
Contributors:Hayden, Wheeler, and Schwend, architects; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectDates:1899
Location:Charlotte, Mecklenburg CountyStreet Address:Charlotte, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Commercial
Images Published In:Mary Norton Kratt and Mary Manning Boyer, Remembering Charlotte: Postcards from a New South City, 1905-1950 (2000).
Note:The Charlotte Consolidated Construction Company Building is the first building on the left in the postcard.
Duplin County Courthouse
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1911-1912
Location:Kenansville, Duplin CountyStreet Address:Courthouse Square, Kenansville, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Eastern North Carolina (1996).
E.T. Bost House
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler, Runge, and Dickey, architectsDates:1905
Location:Cabarrus CountyStreet Address:Bost’s Mill near Reed Mill Rd. and NC 200, Bost’s Mill, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Residential
Images Published In:Peter R. Kaplan, The Historic Architecture of Cabarrus County, North Carolina (2004).
Fire Station No. 2
Contributors:Variant Name(s):Dilworth Fire Station
Dates:1908-1909
Location:Charlotte, Mecklenburg CountyStreet Address:1212 South Blvd., Charlotte, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
First Baptist Church
Contributors:W. Lee Harbin, contractor; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1910-1911
Location:Shelby, Cleveland CountyStreet Address:120 N. Lafayette St., Shelby, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Religious
Images Published In:Brian R. Eades and J. Daniel Pezzoni, Architectural Perspectives of Cleveland County, North Carolina (2004).
First Methodist Episcopal Church
Contributors:Alfred Lazenby, builder; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectDates:1917-1919
Location:Salisbury, Rowan CountyStreet Address:Church St., Salisbury, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Religious
Note:According to a church history at http://www.fumcsalisbury.org/our-history.html, the congregation had built a brick building in 1857, which was enlarged and remodeled in the 1890s. In 1915 the congregation began to plan a new church to replace the previous one. The Manufacturers’ Record of March 9, 1916 identified O. D. Wheeler as the architect. (Wheeler had been associated several years earlier with Charlotte architect James M. McMichael, so it is not surprising that the format of the church is similar to church designs by McMichael.) The cornerstone laying occurred in 1917. The Salisbury Evening Post of March 6, 1919, reported that “Mr. A. R. Lazenby, contractor for the new First Methodist church, has been in Baltimore several days . . . securing some materials” for the “finishing touches.” The church was occupied on the second Sunday in March 1919. The Salisbury Evening Post of December 15, 1919 lauded the “magnificent” new church as a “splendid community asset.” The 1917-1919 church was replaced by the present brick church in 1962-1963, and additional facilities have been built over the years.
First National Bank
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1909
Location:Burlington, Alamance CountyStreet Address:Main St. at Front St., Burlington, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Commercial
Images Published In:Allison Harris Black, An Architectural History of Burlington, North Carolina (1987).
Grace A. M. E. Zion Church
Contributors:Hayden, Wheeler, and Schwend, architects; William W. Smith, contractor; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectDates:1900-1902
Location:Charlotte, Mecklenburg CountyStreet Address:219 S. Brevard St., Charlotte, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Religious
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir, North Carolina Architecture (1990).
Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003).Note:Contractor William W. Smith was a leading member of the congregation, which was formed in 1886.
Guilford County Jail
Contributors:Hayden, Wheeler, and Schwend, architects; Louis E. Schwend, architect; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectDates:1899
Location:Greensboro, Guilford CountyStreet Address:Courthouse Square, Greensboro, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Public
Halifax County Courthouse
Contributors:Wheeler, Galliher, and Stern, architects; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectDates:1909
Location:Halifax, Halifax CountyStreet Address:Courthouse Square, Halifax, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Eastern North Carolina (1996).
Hay Street Methodist Church
Contributors:J.H. Harbin, contractor; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler, Runge, and Dickey, architectsDates:1907-1908
Location:Fayetteville, Cumberland CountyStreet Address:Intersection of Hay St., Old St., and Ray St., Fayetteville, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Religious
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Eastern North Carolina (1996).
Hotel Joffre
Contributors:E.C. Ingram, contractor; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1917-1919
Location:Monroe, Union CountyStreet Address:301 N. Main St., Monroe, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Commercial
Images Published In:Suzanne S. Pickens, ed., Sweet Union: An Architectural and Historical Survey of Union County, North Carolina (1990).
Note:The Charlotte Observer of June 23, 1996, reported the demolition of the hotel.
Iredell County Courthouse
Contributors:Hayden, Wheeler, and Schwend, architects; Nicholas Ittner, contractor; Louis E. Schwend, architect; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectDates:1899-1900
Location:Statesville, Iredell CountyStreet Address:Center St. at Court St., Statesville, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003).
Note:This courthouse, designed by Louis Schwend, became the prototype for many other courthouses designed by Wheeler and his partners in North Carolina.
Iredell County Jail
Contributors:Dates:1909
Location:Statesville, Iredell CountyStreet Address:122 S. Meeting St., Statesville, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Note:It is not known whether J. A. Jones was involved in construction of the Iredell County Courthouse, for whom the contractor has been identified as Nicholas Ittner.
J.P. Allison Business Building
Contributors:J.P. Allison, contractor; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler, Runge, and Company, architectsDates:1904
Location:Concord, Cabarrus CountyStreet Address:N. Union St. at Franklin Ave., Concord, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Commercial
Images Published In:Peter R. Kaplan, The Historic Architecture of Cabarrus County, North Carolina (2004).
J.W. Cannon House
Contributors:Hayden, Wheeler, and Schwend, architects; Louis E. Schwend, architect; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectDates:1900
Location:Concord, Cabarrus CountyStreet Address:65 N. Union St., Concord, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Residential
Images Published In:Peter R. Kaplan, The Historic Architecture of Cabarrus County, North Carolina (2004).
James H. Lee House
Contributors:William Erwin Wallace, carpenter; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1912-1914
Location:Monroe, Union CountyStreet Address:501 S. Church St., Monroe, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Residential
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir, North Carolina Architecture (1990).
Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003).
Suzanne S. Pickens, ed., Sweet Union: An Architectural and Historical Survey of Union County, North Carolina (1990).
Randolph County Courthouse
Contributors:J.P. Owen, contractor; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler, Runge, and Dickey, architectsDates:1908-1909
Location:Asheboro, Randolph CountyStreet Address:145 Worth St., Asheboro, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003).
Rockingham County Jail
Contributors:Camden Iron Works, builder; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1910
Location:Wentworth, Rockingham CountyStreet Address:NC 65, Wentworth, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003).
Scotland County Courthouse and Jail
Contributors:James M. McMichael, architect; Wheeler, McMichael, and Company, architects; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectDates:1901
Location:Laurinburg, Scotland CountyStreet Address:Courthouse Square, Laurinburg, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Public
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Contributors:G. Marion Tucker, contractor; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1911
Location:Monroe, Union CountyStreet Address:116 S. Church St., Monroe, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Religious
Images Published In:Suzanne S. Pickens, ed., Sweet Union: An Architectural and Historical Survey of Union County, North Carolina (1990).
Statesville Loan and Trust
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler, Runge, and Dickey, architectsVariant Name(s):Commercial National Bank
Dates:1905-1908
Location:Statesville, Iredell CountyStreet Address:116 S. Center St., Statesville, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Commercial
Note:The Manufacturers’ Record (Oct. 26, 1905) announced that Wheeler, Runge, and Dickey had drawn plans for the Statesville Loan and Trust building. Its tan brick and neoclassical details harmonize with their neighboring Iredell County Courthouse.
Stokes County Courthouse
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler, Runge, and Company, architectsDates:1903-1904
Location:Danbury, Stokes CountyStreet Address:Main St., Danbury, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003).
Thomas C. Lee House
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1914
Location:Monroe, Union CountyStreet Address:810 E. Franklin St., Monroe, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Residential
Images Published In:Suzanne S. Pickens, ed., Sweet Union: An Architectural and Historical Survey of Union County, North Carolina (1990).
Tompkins Tower
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler, Runge, and Company, architectsDates:Ca. 1903
Location:Charlotte, Mecklenburg CountyStreet Address:S. Church St., Charlotte, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Commercial
Images Published In:Mary Norton Kratt and Mary Manning Boyer, Remembering Charlotte: Postcards from a New South City, 1905-1950 (2000).
Tranquil Park Sanitarium
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectDates:1916
Location:Charlotte, Mecklenburg CountyStreet Address:2800 Selwyn Ave., Charlotte, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Health Care
Images Published In:Mary Norton Kratt and Mary Manning Boyer, Remembering Charlotte: Postcards from a New South City, 1905-1950 (2000).
Trinity College Library
Contributors:Hayden, Wheeler, and Schwend, architects; Louis E. Schwend, architect; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectDates:1902
Location:Durham, Durham CountyStreet Address:Trinity College Campus, Durham, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Educational
Images Published In:Claudia P. Roberts (Brown) and Diane E. Lea, The Durham Architectural and Historic Inventory (1982).
Note:The photograph shows a portion of the Trinity College Campus (now the East Campus of Duke University). The building in the right foreground is the Craven Memorial Bulding designed by Hook and Sawyer. Behind it, the domed building is the Trinity College Library by Hayden, Wheeler, and Schwend.
Trinity Methodist Church
Contributors:Hayden and Wheeler, architects; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectDates:1898-1899
Location:Charlotte, Mecklenburg CountyStreet Address:S. Tryon St., Charlotte, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Religious
Images Published In:Mary Norton Kratt and Mary Manning Boyer, Remembering Charlotte: Postcards from a New South City, 1905-1950 (2000).
Note:The Trinity Methodist Church was the project that brought Wheeler and his partners Hayden and Schwend [Louis E. Schwend] to Charlotte.
Watauga County Courthouse
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler, Runge, and Company, architectsDates:1904
Location:Boone, Watauga CountyStreet Address:Courthouse Square, Boone, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Public
Weldon Methodist Church
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1910-1911
Location:Weldon, Halifax CountyStreet Address:Washington St. and Fifth St., Weldon, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Religious
West End Methodist Episcopal Church
Contributors:Oliver Duke Wheeler, architect; Wheeler and Stern, architectsDates:1910-1913
Location:Winston-Salem, Forsyth CountyStreet Address:Brookstown Ave., Winston-Salem, NC
Status:No longer standing
Type:Religious
Images Published In:Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).
Note:The church burned in March 1947.
Wilkes County Courthouse
Contributors:L.W. Cooper and Company, contractors; James M. McMichael, architect; Wheeler, McMichael, and Company, architects; Oliver Duke Wheeler, architectDates:1902
Location:Wilkesboro, Wilkes CountyStreet Address:E. Main St. at N. Bridge St., Wilkesboro, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Images Published In:Catherine W. Bishir, Michael T. Southern, and Jennifer F. Martin, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Western North Carolina (1999).
Note:In a time-honored practice, the Wilkes County building committee visited courthouses in Laurinburg and Statesville (both by Wheeler’s firm) and selected that design model, the architect, and even the same builder, L.W. Cooper and Company of Charlotte.
Yadkin Hotel
Contributors:Dates:1913; 1922 [addition]
Location:Salisbury, Rowan CountyStreet Address:Depot St. and Council St., Salisbury, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Commercial
Images Published In:Davyd Foard Hood, The Architecture of Rowan County North Carolina: A Catalogue and History of Surviving 18th, 19th, and Early 20th Century Structures (1983).