Northup and O'Brien (1916-1953)

Northup and O’Brien, a Winston-Salem firm that encompassed architects Willard Close Northup, Leet O’Brien, and after 1927, Luther Lashmit, was one of the most prolific and distinguished architectural firms in North Carolina during the first half of the 20th century. The firm offered a full range of architectural possibilities for the urbanizing state, and its founders and members led in the establishment and promotion of the architectural profession. During their period of practice, their home base of Winston-Salem was the wealthiest city in the state, and the firm gained and kept as clients many of the leading industrialists of the city, while their field of commissions also extended throughout much of North Carolina. Their work encompassed myriad revival styles—including their distinctive local “Salem Revival” style originated by Northup—as well as new trends in modernism. The firm found remunerative and regular work in planning public schools, universities, and health facilities according to standards of the day, while also designing sophisticated residences, skyscrapers, and civic edifices.

Born in Hancock, Michigan, by the time of his high school graduation in 1900 Willard Close Northup (1882-1942) lived in Asheville, North Carolina, where his father owned a hardware store. To develop his architectural skills, young Northup attended the Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry in Philadelphia, studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and was briefly employed by a Charleston, South Carolina, architecture firm. Returning to North Carolina, he gained experience in the offices of such established architects as Charles McMillen of Wilmington and Richard Sharp Smith and William H. Lord of Asheville. He moved briefly to Muskogee, Oklahoma, to work for the architectural firm of McKibbon and McKibbon, but soon returned to North Carolina, where in 1906 he opened his own practice in Winston (soon to become Winston-Salem). Willard Northup’s first commissions were small residences, but he soon expanded his repertoire to include more ambitious Colonial Revival and Georgian Revival houses, plus other projects such as the Marshall Fields Factory Village in Fieldale, Virginia, and the O’Hanlon Building, North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Winston-Salem City Market, and Salem Town Hall and Fire Station in Winston-Salem.

In 1907, with his practice thriving, Northup hired a young draftsman, Winston-Salem native Leet Alexander O’Brien (1891-1963). O’Brien was a graduate of the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh and had worked in that city for the architectural firm of Ingham and Boyd for several years before returning to North Carolina.

Northup and O’Brien formed their partnership firm in 1915 or 1916 and established a strong reputation for their religious, commercial, and institutional work, with a specialty in consolidated schools during a period when state and local investment in public education was mounting. Both men served in World War I. O’Brien, who was exempted from the draft due to his poor eyesight, was stationed at the Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks in Washington, DC. Northup went abroad to oversee military camp construction for two years, achieving the rank of captain.

Meanwhile, Northup had begun his vital and lasting role in the promotion of the architectural profession in North Carolina. In 1913, he was one of five North Carolina architects (see Glenn Brown) instrumental in founding a state chapter of the American Institute of Architects (NCAIA), and he was equally important in the passage of legislation regulating architectural practice in 1915. Northup served the North Carolina Chapter of the AIA as education chairman in 1913, treasurer-secretary from 1913 to 1916, vice-president in 1916, and president in 1921. In 1932 he received one of the highest honors of the AIA—elevation to fellowship as FAIA. In 1919, Northup was appointed president of the North Carolina Board of Architecture, a position he held until 1931 and again from 1933 until his death in 1942.

Leet O’Brien also participated in professional organizations, becoming an AIA member in 1925, joining the North Carolina Society of Engineers, directing the Winston-Salem Engineers Club, and serving on the advisory committees of the North Carolina State Planning Board, the North Carolina Arts Society, and the North Carolina Engineering Foundation. He was elected treasurer-secretary of NCAIA in 1927, vice-president in 1932-1933, and president in 1934-1935. When planning began in the late 1940s for a new architecture school at North Carolina State College, O’Brien suggested that the NCAIA create a foundation to support the program. Northup and O’BrienpartnerLuther Lashmit, Charlotte architect Walter W. Hook, and Raleigh architect William H. Deitrick incorporated the North Carolina Architectural Foundation, which later became the North Carolina Design Foundation, in 1949.

Many talented architects began their careers working for Northup and O’Brien. The firm hired Durham native George Watts Carr, educated at Davidson College and the Eastman Business School in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1926 to supervise their projects in his thriving hometown. Carr established his own Durham practice in 1927, which continued until he retired in 1974.

A key figure in the Northup and O’Brien firm, and one of the state’s outstanding architects of the mid-20th century, was Winston-Salem native Luther Lashmit. Although he did not become a partner until 1945, Lashmit was a vital part of the firm from 1927 onward and lead architect for some of its premier projects. Lashmit graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, traveled in Europe, and taught at the Georgia Institute of Technology before returning to Winston-Salem to work with Northup and O’Brien. He took on the prestigious project of designing Graylyn, the opulent and up-to-date Norman Revival-style residence of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company president Bowman Gray and his wife Nathalie Lyons Gray; the project began in 1927 and was not completed until 1932. Lashmit left Northup and O’Brien in 1933 to teach at Carnegie Institute until 1938, when he rejoined the firm and in 1939 designed another distinctive residential project, Merry Acres (R.J. Reynolds, Jr., House), the streamlined International style home for the son of the founder of the Reynolds Tobacco Company. In 1942, Luther Lashmit took another leave from the firm to work for the Federal Public Housing Authority, and upon his return home in 1945 became a partner in Northup and O’Brien. After O’Brien retired in 1953, Luther Lashmit formed a partnership with engineers Mack D. Brown and William W. Pollock, who had joined the firm in 1929 and 1936, respectively, and architect William Russell James, Jr., to reorganize the firm under the name Lashmit, James, Brown, and Pollock. After several additional partnership changes over the years, the successor firm became Calloway Johnson Moore and West in 1994 and now operates under the initials CJMW.

Northup and O’Brien’s commissions encompassed hundreds of commercial, institutional, educational, ecclesiastical, and residential buildings throughout North Carolina in a full range of popular 20th architectural styles. An unusual quantity of their architectural drawings survives (see note below), including several in Winston-Salem repositories and those for some 300 projects at Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, in Raleigh.

In his early work in Winston-Salem, Northup incorporated distinctive architectural features seen in older Salem buildings—particularly the arched entrance “bonnet” hood design at the venerable Home Moravian Church—into new edifices such as the Salem Town Hall (1912), the last municipal building erected before Salem’s consolidation with Winston in 1913. Honoring Salem’s Moravian heritage, he specified bonnet hoods over the corner entrances. When he drew plans for the Rondthaler Memorial Building (1913) to expand facilities at Home Moravian Church, he repeated many of the older building’s features, including the round-arched entrance hood. Northup and O’Brien produced many renditions of the “Salem Revival” style, which became a localized version of the widely popular Colonial Revival style. The firm’s many church designs included those for Moravian congregations, such as Calvary Moravian Church (1925) and Ardmore Moravian Church (1931) in Winston-Salem. By contrast, Fairview Moravian Church (1923), in Winston-Salem displays the more generally popular Neoclassical Revival style.

Northup and O’Brien’s commercial building designs range from modest storefronts to skyscrapers. Winston-Salem examples include the Art Deco style Sosnick’s Department Store (1929), and skyscrapers such as the 8-story Neoclassical Revival style O’Hanlon Building (1915) and the 6-story Pepper Building (1929), in variegated brown brick and sandstone veneer with Art Deco detailing. One of the firm’s premier projects was the 15-story Durham Life Insurance Building in Raleigh, the city’s tallest skyscraper upon its completion in 1942, with a stepped ziggurat form and elegant Art Deco detailing recalling Winston-Salem’s iconic Reynolds Building by Shreve and Lamb.

Many local and state agencies commissioned Northup and O’Brien to design public buildings. The Renaissance Revival-style Winston-Salem City Hall, built in 1926 of red brick with a rusticated stone base and pilasters at the upper stories, was recognized by the North Carolina chapter of the AIA with an Honor Award in 1929. The Forsyth County Courthouse, erected in 1926 with limestone facing and enlarged in 1958, and the Justice Building in Raleigh (1938), constructed of Mount Airy Granite, show the firm’s mastery of the austere, modernized classicism of the era.

The rapid expansion and greater complexity of medical facilities in the 20th century provided Northup and O’Brien with a steady source of commissions. The firm planned hospitals, nurses’ housing, and other medical buildings, most of which have been razed or heavily altered. Among these projects were Forsyth County’s second tuberculosis hospital (1930); that hospital’s wing for black patients (1938); the state-of-the-art Art Deco-style Kate Bitting Reynolds Memorial Hospital (1938) built to serve Winston-Salem’s African American community; the first building on the Bowman Gray School of Medicine campus (1940); and the major expansion of the adjacent North Carolina Baptist Hospital—all of which were executed in red brick with streamlined cast-stone details. The firm also planned the late 1940s renovations and new construction at present Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh (a psychiatric treatment facility) and the associated Dorothea Dix School of Nursing.

Northup and O’Brien also served the state’s transformative investment in public school buildings in the early and middle years of the 20th century. By 1940, the firm had designed more than one hundred public consolidated schools statewide. Many have been replaced, but many still stand. Surviving examples in their home county include such Colonial and Neoclassical Revival-style buildings such as Clemmons School (1925), Old Town School (1926), and Griffith School and Gymnasium (1926), and one of Forsyth County’s earliest modernist schools, Lewisville School (1948).

As the state’s colleges expanded, Northup and O’Brien designed buildings and site plans for many old and new campuses. Their Winston-Salem commissions included projects at Salem Academy and College; Winston-Salem State University; the Methodist Children’s Home; and Memorial Industrial School. Farther afield, the firm planned buildings at present Appalachian State University in Boone, Davidson College near Charlotte, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and North Carolina Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount.

By the time the firm’s founders died or retired, Northup and O’Brien’s oeuvre was among the most extensive, varied, and distinguished in the state. Not addressed in this summary is how these men interacted with the state and local leaders who developed North Carolina into the notably progressive state of the mid-20th century. Certain it is that Northup, O’Brien, and Luther Lashmit played a role in that transformation, and their legacy stands not only in the buildings of their home community but in public, private, and institutional buildings throughout much of the state.

Note: This building list is necessarily selective. The firm’s architectural output was so extensive that a full listing of works is not feasible here. The North Carolina State University Special Collections Library in Raleigh, which houses the principal collection of the firm’s drawings, notes in its finding guide more than 300 projects; other repositories for the firm’s drawings include the Moravian Archives; Old Salem, Inc.; and the Z. Smith Reynolds Library at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. Architectural surveys of Winston-Salem have identified many more buildings. The building list highlights some of the firm’s best known buildings and illustrates their geographical range. Other buildings are listed in the finding guides of the collections cited above.

  • 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).
  • Sid Bost, “Lashmit, Brown and Pollock Firm Reorganized and Name Is Changed,” Winston-Salem Sentinel, Jan. 1, 1972.
  • “Funeral Service for Willard C. Northup,” Twin City Sentinel, Feb. 14, 1942.
  • C. David Jackson and Charlotte V. Brown, History of the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 1913-1998 (1998).
  • C. David Jackson and Charlotte V. Brown, History of the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 1913-1998 (1998).
  • Northup and O’Brien, Architects, “Commissions During 1940 Totaling Over Three Million Dollars” (firm publicity brochure), copy in Charlotte Vestal Brown Papers, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.
  • Willard Close Northup, biographical sketch, The American Institutes of Architects Archives, Record Group 803, photocopy in Charlotte Vestal Brown Papers, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.
  • “O’Brien, Architect, Dies at 72,” Winston-Salem Journal, Aug. 15, 1963.
  • Leet A. O’Brien, “Questionnaire for Architects…Qualified for Federal Public Works,” photocopy in Charlotte Vestal Brown Papers, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.
  • Molly Grogan Rawls, Old Salem and Salem College (2010).
  • Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).
  • Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem: Then and Now (2008).
  • Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem: From the Collection of Frank B. Jones Jr. (2006).
  • Gwynne Stephens Taylor, From Frontier to Factory: An Architectural History of Forsyth County (1981).
  • “W. R. James Jr., Architect, Dies,” Winston-Salem Sentinel, Mar. 19, 1962.
Sort Building List by:
  • Adamsleigh

    Contributors:
    Luther Lashmit, architect; Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    John H. Adams House

    Dates:

    1929-1931

    Location:
    Sedgefield, Guilford County
    Street Address:

    3210 Forsyth Dr., Sedgefield, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    H. McKelden Smith, Architectural Resources: An Inventory of Historic Architecture, High Point, Jamestown, Gibsonville, Guilford County (1979).

    Note:

    As part of the exclusive Sedgefield development, Lashmit designed the extensive Tudor Revival residence for High Point industrialist J. H. Adams. It was destroyed in 2019 after having been bought for millions of dollars.


  • Adolphus H. Eller House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1920s

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    129 Cascade Ave., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Gwynne Stephens Taylor, From Frontier to Factory: An Architectural History of Forsyth County (1981).


  • Agnew Hunter Bahnson House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects; Willard C. Northup, architect
    Dates:

    1920

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    450 Spring St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Note:

    The original address was 702 West Fifth St.


  • Agriculture Laboratory

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1945

    Location:
    Raleigh, Wake County
    Street Address:

    North Carolina State University Campus, Raleigh, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational


  • Albemarle City Hall

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1938

    Location:
    Albemarle, Stanly County
    Street Address:

    N. 2nd St., Albemarle, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Public


  • Ardmore Moravian Church

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1931

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    2013 W. Academy St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Religious

    Images Published In:

    Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003).


  • Ardmore School

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    Redeemer Presbyterian Church and School

    Dates:

    1929

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    1046 Miller St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational

    Note:

    The building is an unusual example of Art Deco style in a schoolhouse.


  • Armory

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1949

    Location:
    Raleigh, Wake County
    Street Address:

    North Carolina State University Campus, Raleigh, NC

    Status:

    Unknown

    Type:

    Educational


  • Bess Gray Plumley House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1921-1924

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    821 West End Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential


  • Blair Hall

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    Blair Library and Administration Building

    Dates:

    1938-1939

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Winston-Salem State University Campus, Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational

    Note:

    Blair Hall still functions as Winston-Salem State University’s Administration Building, housing the offices of the Chancellor, Academic Affairs, and Business Affairs.


  • Bowman Gray School of Medicine

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center

    Dates:

    Ca. 1940

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Cloverdale Ave., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Unknown

    Type:

    Health Care

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).

    Note:

    It is not known how much of the Northup and O’Brien building at Bowman Gray still stands in the large medical complex.


  • Burton Craige House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects; Luther, Lashmit, architect
    Dates:

    1929

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    134 Cascade Ave

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Heather Fearnbach, Winston-Salem’s Architectural Heritage (2015).

    Note:

    The large Colonial Revival residence was built around an earlier house for a Salisbury attorney who became counsel for RJR in 1911. The landscape designer, popular in Winston-Salem, was Thomas Sears.


  • Calvary Moravian Church

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1925

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    600 Holly Ave., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Religious

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).

    Note:

    The large, Flemish bond brick church was evidently the first in the local Salem Moravian Revival style, which set the tone for many other Moravian churches.


  • Clemmons School

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1925; 1936; 1950

    Location:
    Clemmons, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    3540 Clemmons Rd., Clemmons, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational


  • Clewell Hall

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects; Willard C. Northup, architect
    Dates:

    1921-1922

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Salem College Campus, Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Old Salem and Salem College (2010).

    Note:

    This was among the first of the Colonial Revival buildings planned for Salem College in Northup’s Salem or Moravian Revival style.


  • Comer Covington House

    Contributors:
    Luther Lashmit, architect; Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    Hillbrook

    Dates:

    1929-1931

    Location:
    High Point, Guilford County
    Street Address:

    900 Rockford Rd., High Point, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Benjamin Briggs, The Architecture of High Point, North Carolina: A History and Guide to the City’s Houses, Churches and Public Buildings (2008).

    Note:

    For textile industrialist Covington, Lashmit designed an imposing yet picturesque stone residence, combining motifs of Norman Revival and English Tudor and cottage styles. As at Reynolda and elsewhere, Thomas Sears was the landscape designer.


  • Corrin Refectory

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1941

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Salem College Campus, Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational


  • Dormitories

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1946

    Location:
    Raleigh, Wake County
    Street Address:

    North Carolina State University Campus, Raleigh, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational


  • Durham Life Insurance Building

    Contributors:
    Luther Lashmit, architect; Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1940-1942

    Location:
    Raleigh, Wake County
    Street Address:

    336 Fayetteville St., Raleigh, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Commercial

    Images Published In:

    Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (2003).

    Note:

    Similar in its ziggurat form to the earlier Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, the 12-story skyscraper had one of the nation’s first three uses of Willis Carrier’s special system for air conditioning tall buildings.


  • East Fourth Street Moravian Church

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    Fries Memorial Moravian Church

    Dates:

    1914

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Unknown

    Type:

    Religious

    Note:

    The building is currently occupied by Mars Hill Baptist Church.


  • Education Building

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    State Office Building

    Dates:

    1937-1938

    Location:
    Raleigh, Wake County
    Street Address:

    114 W. Edenton St., Raleigh, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Public


  • Edward C. Ashby House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1930s

    Location:
    Mount Airy, Surry County
    Street Address:

    302 Cherry St., Mount Airy, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Laura A. W. Phillips, Simple Treasures: The Architectural Legacy of Surry County (1987).


  • Eller Hall

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1937-1939

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Winston-Salem State University Campus, Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational

    Note:

    One of five campus buildings from the late 1930s, Eller Hall is a classroom building that has served various purposes.


  • Ferrell House

    Contributors:
    Luther Lashmit, architect; Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1928

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    2115 Georgia Ave., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Heather Fearnbach, Winston-Salem’s Architectural Heritage (2015).


  • First Presbyterian Church and Manse

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1932; 1937

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    300 Cherry St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Religious


  • Forsyth County Courthouse

    Contributors:
    J. A. Jones, builder; J. A. Jones Construction Company, builders; Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1925-1926; 1958

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    West Third St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Public

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).
    Gwynne Stephens Taylor, From Frontier to Factory: An Architectural History of Forsyth County (1981).

    Note:

    The stone-faced neoclassical edifice, built at the same time as Northup and O’Brien’s Winston-Salem City Hall, was actually a complete transformation of the brick edifice by Frank P. Milburn, vestiges of which survive. J. A. Jones’s work likely was the 1925-1926 transformation of Milburn’s building, though it is possible that he built Milburn’s earlier courthouse.


  • Fred J. DeTamble House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1938

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    2810 Club Park Rd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential


  • Friends Church

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1927

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Corner of Broad St. and Sixth St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Religious


  • Galloway House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1917-1918

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    817 West End Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential


  • Galloway-Motsinger House

    Contributors:
    Luther Lashmit, architect; Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1926; 1930

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    1040 Arbor Rd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Gwynne Stephens Taylor, From Frontier to Factory: An Architectural History of Forsyth County (1981)
    Heather Fearnbach, Winston-Salem’s Architectural Heritage (2015).

    Note:

    The Rocky Mount Telegram of February 14, 1986, reported on the “Show House” fundraiser in Winston-Salem, which featured the “10,500 square-foot Georgian mansion designed and built by Luther Lashmit for Mamie Gray Galloway, sister of Bowman Gray.” Gray was president of RJR. Located in the Buena Vista suburb, it was in 1986 the home of Dr. and Mrs. Selwyn Rose.


  • General Engineering Lab Building

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1948

    Location:
    Raleigh, Wake County
    Street Address:

    North Carolina State University Campus, Raleigh, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational


  • Gramley Library

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1937; 1972

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Salem College Campus, Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Old Salem and Salem College (2010).


  • Graylyn

    Contributors:
    Luther Lashmit, architect; Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    Bowman Gray Residence

    Dates:

    1927-1932; 1980-1984

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    1900 Reynolda Rd., Winston-Salem, 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).
    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem: From the Collection of Frank B. Jones Jr. (2006).

    Note:

    For the president of the R. J. Reynolds company, Lashmit designed an elaborate Norman Revival chateau as a luxuriously up to date residence. Extensive drawings are at Special Collections Research Center, NCSU Libraries, Raleigh, NC.


  • Griffith School and Gymnasium

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1926; 1950

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    1385 Clemmonsville Rd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational


  • H. Montague House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1929

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    350 Stratford Rd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential


  • Hargrove Bellamy House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1920s

    Location:
    Wilmington, New Hanover County
    Street Address:

    1417 Market St., Wilmington, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential


  • Henry E. Shaffner House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1907-1909

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    150 S Marshall St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Note:

    The building is now a Bed & Breakfast.


  • Horticultural Laboratory

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1947

    Location:
    Raleigh, Wake County
    Street Address:

    North Carolina State University Campus, Raleigh, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational


  • Hubert M. Radcliff House

    Contributors:
    Luther Lashmit, architect; Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1927

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    2300 Georgia Ave., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Heather Fearnbach, Winston-Salem’s Architectural Heritage (2015).


  • Indera Mills

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1904-1916

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    400 Marshall St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Industrial


  • James A. Gray Building

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1937

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    1001 Reynolda Rd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).


  • James C. Dodson House

    Contributors:
    Luther Lashmit, architect; Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1926-1928

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    363 Stratford Rd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential


  • John L. Dillard House

    Contributors:
    Luther Lashmit, architect; Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1937

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    1093 Kent Rd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).


  • Justice Building

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1938-1940

    Location:
    Raleigh, Wake County
    Street Address:

    2 E. Morgan St., Raleigh, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Public


  • Lasater Mill

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1933

    Location:
    Clemmons, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    7951 Lasater Rd., Clemmons vicinity, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Industrial

    Note:

    The picturesque, stone grist mill was built as an outbuilding for the elaborate country estate of Reynolds executive Robert E. Lasater; the main house was designed by Charles Barton Keen, architect of Reynolda House.


  • Leazar Hall

    Contributors:
    Thomas Wright Cooper, architect (ca. 1922); Harry P. S. Keller, architect (1912); Nelson and Cooper, architects (ca. 1922); G. Murray Nelson, architect (ca. 1922); Northup and O'Brien, architects (1947); Ross Edward Shumaker, architect (1945)
    Dates:

    1912; ca. 1922 [additions]; 1945 [additions]; 1947 [additions]

    Location:
    Raleigh, Wake County
    Street Address:

    North Carolina State University Campus, Raleigh, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational

    Images Published In:

    Burton F. Beers and Murray Scott Downs, North Carolina State University: A Pictorial History (1986).
    Facility Coordinators, http://www.ncsu.edu/facilities/buildings/.
    Marguerite E. Schumann, Strolling at State: A Walking Guide to North Carolina State University (1973).

    Note:

    Ross Edward Shumaker designed the building’s east balconies.


  • Lewisville School

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1947-1948; 1980s

    Location:
    Lewisville, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    150 Lucy Ln., Lewisville, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).

    Note:

    The formal, modernist design defined one of the first high schools built immediately after World War II.


  • Mechanical Engineering Building

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1949

    Location:
    Raleigh, Wake County
    Street Address:

    North Carolina State University Campus, Raleigh, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational


  • Merry Acres

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    R. J. Reynolds, Jr., House

    Dates:

    1939

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Merry Acres Lane, Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    No longer standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Catherine W. Bishir, North Carolina Architecture (1990).
    Gwynne Stephens Taylor, From Frontier to Factory: An Architectural History of Forsyth County (1981).

    Note:

    Built for R. J. Reynolds, Jr., Merry Acres was probably the finest streamlined modernist residence in the state. It was razed in 1978. Extensive drawings survive at Special Collections Research Center, NCSU Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.


  • Methodist Children's Home

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1926-1948

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    1001 Reynolda Rd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Institutional

    Note:

    At the Methodist Children’s Home, established in 1909, Northup and O’Brien planned a series of buildings including the Administration Building and several dormitories, most of them in a red brick Colonial Revival style.


  • Morris-Early Furniture Store

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects; Leet O'Brien, architect
    Dates:

    1929

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    514 Fourth St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Commercial


  • Norfleet Cottage

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1936

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    1001 Reynolda Rd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential


  • North Carolina Baptist Hospital

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center

    Dates:

    Ca. 1940

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Cloverdale Ave., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Unknown

    Type:

    Health Care


  • North Elementary School

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    Patterson Avenue Grade School

    Dates:

    1922-1923

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    1500 Patterson Ave., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    No longer standing

    Type:

    Educational


  • O'Hanlon Building

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects; Willard C. Northup, architect
    Dates:

    1915

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    105 Fourth St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Commercial

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).
    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem: Then and Now (2008).
    Gwynne Stephens Taylor, From Frontier to Factory: An Architectural History of Forsyth County (1981).


  • Old Town School

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1924-1926; 1998

    Location:
    Bethania, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    3930 Reynolda Rd., Bethania, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational

    Images Published In:

    Gwynne Stephens Taylor, From Frontier to Factory: An Architectural History of Forsyth County (1981).


  • Pegram Hall

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1937

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Salem College Campus, Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational


  • Pepper Building

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    Van Dyke Building

    Dates:

    1929

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    104 Fourth St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Commercial

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).
    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem: From the Collection of Frank B. Jones Jr. (2006).
    Gwynne Stephens Taylor, From Frontier to Factory: An Architectural History of Forsyth County (1981).


  • Reidsville High School

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1920-1922

    Location:
    Reidsville, Rockingham County
    Street Address:

    116 N. Franklin St., Reidsville, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational

    Note:

    In 1920 Northup and O’Brien designed a high school for Reidsville, which is presumably the one that was built; it features strong neoclassical elements including the columned entrance section and large, arched windows.


  • Reynolds Estate Superintendent House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    Ca. 1926

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential


  • Richard Nathaniel Marion House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects; Willard C. Northup, architect
    Dates:

    Ca. 1914

    Location:
    Rockford, Surry County
    Street Address:

    SR 2230, Rockford, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Catherine W. Bishir, Michael T. Southern, and Jennifer F. Martin, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Western North Carolina (1999).


  • Rondthaler Memorial Building

    Contributors:
    Fogle Brothers, builders; Northup and O'Brien, architects; Willard C. Northup, architect
    Variant Name(s):

    Home Moravian Church Sunday School Building

    Dates:

    1913

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    500 block S. Church St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Religious

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).

    Note:

    Northup planned the additional building for Home Moravian Church (1797-1800; see Johann Gottlob Krause and Frederic William Marshall) in an early example of his Salem Moravian Revival style with the distinctive bonnet hood repeating the motif from Home Church.


  • Rondthaler Science Building

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1951; 1960; 1963

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Salem College Campus, Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).


  • S. Douglas Craig House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1925-1927

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    1935 West First St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Note:

    The original address was 1945 West First St.


  • Salem Town Hall and Fire Station

    Contributors:
    Fogle Brothers, builders; Northup and O'Brien, architects; Willard C. Northup, architect
    Dates:

    1912; 1915

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    50 Cemetery St., Winston-Salem, 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).
    Gwynne Stephens Taylor, From Frontier to Factory: An Architectural History of Forsyth County (1981).

    Note:

    In this red brick municipal building, Northup created one of the first of Winston-Salem’s “Salem Revival” buildings featuring the distinctive “bonnet” hood at the entrance. It was built shortly before Salem formally became part of the city of Winston-Salem.


  • Snow Building

    Contributors:
    Dates:

    1933

    Location:
    Durham, Durham County
    Street Address:

    333 W. Main St.

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Commercial

    Images Published In:

    Ill. Claudia Roberts [Brown] et al., The Durham Architectural And Historic Inventory (1982)

    Note:

    One of the state’s most elegantly rendered Art Deco buildings, in a blend of that style with the Gothic Revival, the stone-faced commercial building with spiky roofline and intricate recessed entry was the product of the office of Northup and O’Brien, which was headed by George Watts Carr of Durham in the 1920s; after that office closed in 1929, Carr completed the building as part of his own practice. Further information is sought about the various architects’ roles in the design.


  • Sosnick's Department Store

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    Loewy Building; Thalhimers Department Stores Department Store

    Dates:

    1929; 1949

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    500 Fourth St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Commercial

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem: From the Collection of Frank B. Jones Jr. (2006).


  • Spach-Alspaugh House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1930

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    373 Stratford Rd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential


  • St. Mary's School Dormitory

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1928

    Location:
    Raleigh, Wake County
    Street Address:

    St. Mary’s School, Hillsborough St., Raleigh, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational


  • St. Paul's Lutheran Church

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1927

    Location:
    Durham, Durham County
    Street Address:

    Durham, NC

    Status:

    Unknown

    Type:

    Religious


  • Strong Residence Hall

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1942

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    Salem College Campus, Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Educational


  • W. H. Slane House

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    Three Musketeers

    Dates:

    1929-1930

    Location:
    High Point, Guilford County
    Street Address:

    1204 Westwood, High Point, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Residential

    Images Published In:

    Benjamin Briggs, The Architecture of High Point, North Carolina: A History and Guide to the City’s Houses, Churches and Public Buildings (2008).


  • W. Luther Ferrell Residence

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    Ca. 1924

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    536 West End Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    No longer standing

    Type:

    Residential


  • West Highlands Presbyterian Church

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1922

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    2380 Cloverdale Ave., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Religious


  • Winston-Salem City Hall

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Dates:

    1926

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    101 Main St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Public

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).
    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem: Then and Now (2008).
    Gwynne Stephens Taylor, From Frontier to Factory: An Architectural History of Forsyth County (1981).


  • Winston-Salem City Market

    Contributors:
    Northup and O'Brien, architects
    Variant Name(s):

    The Downtown School

    Dates:

    1925

    Location:
    Winston-Salem, Forsyth County
    Street Address:

    601 N. Cherry St., Winston-Salem, NC

    Status:

    Standing

    Type:

    Commercial

    Images Published In:

    Molly Grogan Rawls, Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards (2004).


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