Robert and Elizabeth Lassiter House

Contributors:
A. G. Odell, architect
Dates:

1951

Location:
Charlotte, Mecklenburg County
Street Address:

726 Hempstead Place

Status:

Standing

Type:

Residential

Note:

The house built in the Eastover neighborhood in 1951 is cited as the oldest fully realized modernist house in Charlotte. It was designated as a Charlotte historic landmark in 2003. A few other 1950s modernist houses by Odell no longer stand. Typical of Odell’s residential commissions, Odell and Robert Lassiter were friends. The architect worked closely with Robert and Elizabeth to create a plan that suited their preferences and needs. It is a flat-roofed 1-story house with redwood-sheathed walls and large areas of glass, a contrast to the more traditional houses prevalent in the neighborhood. Like many modernist houses, and again unlike others in the neighborhood, the house emphasizes privacy and is more open to the rear than to the street and has only a driveway from the street, not a walkway from the sidewalk. An addition was designed by Odell’s firm in the 1970s.