NC Architects and Builders is a growing system. We will post this entry as soon as it is ready.
| Birthplace: | Hillsborough, North Carolina, USA |
| Residences: |
|
| Trades: |
|
| NC Work Locations: |
|
| Building Types: |
|
| Styles & Forms: |
|
| Title: | The Barracks, Hillsborough vicinity, Orange County, NC (HABS NC,68-HILBO.V,1-1) |
| Citation: |
Archie A. Biggs, "The Barracks, Hillsborough vicinity, Orange County, NC (HABS NC,68-HILBO.V,1-1)," Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress), Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division, Washington, D.C.
|
| Source: |
Henry Richards, Sr. (1813-1890), was a native Hillsborough brickmason who worked with Hillsborough builder John Berry as his associate and masonry overseer. Succeeding Berry's mentor Samuel Hancock in that role, Richards probably oversaw many important projects built by Berry's shop throughout the Piedmont.
The Richards family had resided in Hillsborough since 1769, when Charles and John Richards purchased town lots there. It is probable that Henry Richards, Sr., was related to Susan Richards Hancock, the wife of Samuel Hancock. Both Henry Richards and John Berry were Masons and members of Hillsborough's Eagle Lodge No. 19, chartered in 1791.
Richards was listed in the U.S. census of 1850 as a brickmason, aged 37, with property valued at $1,500, plus two slaves. He was head of a household that included his wife Eliza and their children, plus John Scarlett, 17, also a brickmason and probably an apprentice. Richards was associated with John Berry by 1850 and probably earlier. Their first documented project was a major Berry undertaking, construction of Smith Hall (Playmakers Theatre), designed by architect Alexander Jackson Davis, at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. In a document of January 18, 1850, "Berry & Richards" submitted their "Proposal for building the University Library agreable [sic] to the plan & specificasion [sic] submitted by the trustees." Although the signature "Berry & Richards" reads like a formal partnership, according to Berry's granddaughter, the attorney Margaret Berry Street, Berry's working association with Richards, as with Hancock earlier, was an informal one.
Richards appears to have worked steadily with Berry until Berry's death in 1870. Having a reliable masonry supervisor was vital to Berry's large operation, which sometimes included multiple projects at distant sites. Twice in the 1850s the two men worked on massive multi-story buildings on major contracts: in 1855 they accomplished the masonry contract for St. John's College in Oxford (where Jacob W. Holt had the carpentry contract, which was managed by his brother Thomas J. Holt); and in 1859 the Hillsborough Military Academy Main Building and the brick Commandant's House nearby. At the military academy, Berry and Richards were working from designs by architect John A. Kay of Columbia, South Carolina.
After John Berry's death in 1870, Richards is believed to have helped complete the Berry Building in downtown Hillsborough, which Berry had begun. Richards continued in his trade as a brickmason, and was so listed with his family in the U.S. censuses of 1870 and 1880, and at least two of his children, Henry, Jr., and Meredith, became brickmasons as well. However, no works have been attributed to Richards beyond those associated with Berry.
The home of Henry Richards, Sr., and his wife Eliza J. Adams Richards (1821-1902) still stands in Hillsborough, enlarged and altered, at 307 West King Street. At least seven members of the Richards family, including Henry and Eliza and their five sons, are buried in the Richards family plot in the southwest corner of Hillsborough's Old Town Cemetery.
Note for building list: In the absence of written records, attributions of Henry Richards's work with John Berry are made chiefly on the basis of local tradition and information from Margaret Berry Street, who was interviewed by the author.
Author: Mary Claire Engstrom.
Published 2009
| Variant Name(s): |
|
| Contributors: |
|
| Dates: | 1849-1852; 1924-1925 [internally reconstructed] |
| Location: | Chapel Hill, Orange County |
| Street Address: | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC |
| Status: | Standing |
| Type: |
|
| Images Published In: |
|
| Title: | Smith Hall |
| Citation: |
Tim Buchman, "Smith Hall," Tim Buchman Photographs, 1988-1998 (Buchman), Built Heritage of North Carolina: Historic Architecture in the Old North State, North Carolina State University, Libraries, Special Collections Research Center
|
| Source: |
| Variant Name(s): |
|
| Contributors: |
|
| Dates: | 1855-1857 |
| Location: | Oxford, Granville County |
| Street Address: | Corner of College St. and Alexander Ave., Oxford, NC |
| Status: | No longer standing |
| Type: |
|
| Images Published In: |
|
| Note: |
The immense St. John's College, a Masonic project, became the Oxford Orphanage after the Civil War, also a Masonic institution. |
| Title: | Main Building, Oxford Orphanage, Owned and Operated by Grand Lodge of Masons of N.C. |
| Citation: |
"Main Building, Oxford Orphanage, Owned and Operated by Grand Lodge of Masons of N.C.," North Carolina Postcard Collection (P052), North Carolina Postcards, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
|
| Source: |
| Contributors: |
|
| Dates: | 1844-1845 |
| Location: | Hillsborough, Orange County |
| Street Address: | Courthouse Square, Hillsborough, NC |
| Status: | Standing |
| Type: |
|
| Images Published In: |
|
| Title: | Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough, Orange County, NC (HABS NC,68-HILBO,4-3) |
| Citation: |
"Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough, Orange County, NC (HABS NC,68-HILBO,4-3)," Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress), Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division, Washington, D.C.
|
| Source: |
| Variant Name(s): |
|
| Contributors: |
|
| Dates: | 1859-1860 |
| Location: | Hillsborough, Orange County |
| Street Address: | Barracks Rd., Hillsborough, NC |
| Status: | No longer standing |
| Type: |
|
| Images Published In: |
|
| Title: | The Barracks, Hillsborough vicinity, Orange County, NC (HABS NC,68-HILBO.V,1-1) |
| Citation: |
Archie A. Biggs, "The Barracks, Hillsborough vicinity, Orange County, NC (HABS NC,68-HILBO.V,1-1)," Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress), Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division, Washington, D.C.
|
| Source: |
| Contributors: |
|
| Dates: | 1859-1861 |
| Location: | Hillsborough, Orange County |
| Street Address: | Hillsborough Military Academy, Barracks Rd., Hillsborough, NC |
| Status: | Standing |
| Type: |
|
| Images Published In: |
|
| Title: | |
| Citation: | |
| Source: |
| Contributors: |
|
| Dates: | 1860-1861 |
| Location: | Hillsborough, Orange County |
| Street Address: | 100 block W. Tryon St., Hillsborough, NC |
| Status: | Standing |
| Type: |
|
| Images Published In: |
|
| Title: | Hillsborough Methodist Church, Hillsborough, North Carolina |
| Citation: |
Jerry A. Cook, "Hillsborough Methodist Church, Hillsborough, North Carolina," Historic Architecture Research. Project Records (UA110.041), Built Heritage of North Carolina: Historic Architecture in the Old North State, North Carolina State University, Libraries, Special Collections Research Center
|
| Source: |
| Contributors: |
|
| Dates: | 1860-1870 |
| Location: | Hillsborough, Orange County |
| Street Address: | SW Corner of S. Wake St. and W. King St., Hillsborough, NC |
| Status: | Standing |
| Type: |
|
| Images Published In: |
|
| Note: |
The Romanesque Revival brick church was begun by D. Kistler from William Percival's designs, but after problems, Berry completed it. |
| Title: | |
| Citation: | |
| Source: |
| Contributors: |
|
| Dates: | 1869-1870 |
| Location: | Hillsborough, Orange County |
| Street Address: | 105 N. Churton St., Hillsborough, NC |
| Status: | No longer standing |
| Type: |
|
| Images Published In: |
|
| Note: |
John Berry had begun this project but caught cold and died. It was completed after his death. Another building replaced it on the site in 1927. |
| Title: | |
| Citation: | |
| Source: |
Brought to you by The NCSU Libraries and The NCSU Libraries Copyright & Digital Scholarship Center.
Please contact us with any additions, corrections, or updates.
