Nelson and Cooper (ca. 1921-ca. 1931)
Founded:
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Residences:
- Raleigh, North Carolina
Trades:
- Architect
NC Work Locations:
Building Types:
Styles & Forms:
Beaux-Arts; Colonial Revival; Georgian Revival; Neoclassical
Nelson and Cooper (ca. 1921-ca. 1931) was a Raleigh architectural firm established by G. Murray Nelson and Thomas W. Cooper. The partnership produced designs, chiefly in Georgian Revival, Colonial Revival, and neoclassical modes, for numerous residences and public buildings in Raleigh and Durham during the prime construction years of the 1920s and into the 1930s.
As shown in Raleigh city directories and the United States Census, Nelson (a native of Canada) arrived in Raleigh in 1918 or 1919 and joined in a brief partnership with the established architectJames A. Salter, for whom Thomas W. Cooper, a Raleigh native and former stonecutter, was already working as a draftsman. Salter soon returned to solo practice and became State Architect, and in 1920 or 1921 Nelson and Cooper formed their partnership, which lasted for at least a decade and had offices in both Raleigh and Durham. The Coffey Family Papers at SCRC contains a set of blueprints (1920) for the Nathaniel A. Dunn House by Nelson and Cooper as well as a several undated colored drawings on tracing paper for unnamed houses, signed by Nelson and Cooper. These may yet be identified further. How the two men divided the firm’s work is not established. It is likely that some buildings generally credited to one man or the other were from the firm of Nelson and Cooper. For additional information and building lists see biographical entries on each of the principals. Note: Some accounts suggest that Nelson and Cooper established their partnership in the early or mid-1910s, but this is not correct.
David F. Cannon House
Contributors:Coffey Family, contractors; John N. Coffey, contractor; John W. Coffey, contractor; John W. Coffey and Son, contractors; Thomas Wright Cooper, architect; Nelson and Cooper, architectDates:1938
Location:Raleigh, Wake CountyStreet Address:2613 White Oak Rd., Raleigh, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Residential
Images Published In:Houses By Coffey, Charlotte Vestal Brown Papers, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.
J. Deryl Hart House
Contributors:Thomas Wright Cooper, architect; George W. Kane, builder; Nelson and Cooper, architects; G. Murray Nelson, architectDates:1934
Location:Durham, Durham CountyStreet Address:2324 Duke University Rd., Durham, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Residential
Note:Dr. Hart came to Duke as head of surgery and later became president of Duke University. In recent years the large Tudor Revival residence has been the home of Duke President Richard Brodhead. The architect for the house has been identified both as Nelson and Cooper and Nelson alone. Records of its construction are in Dr. Hart’s papers at Duke University.
Jay Broadus Hubbell House
Contributors:Nelson and Cooper, architectsDates:1931
Location:Durham, Durham CountyStreet Address:121 Pinecrest Rd., Durham, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Residential
Note:The house was built in 1931 for Jay Broadus Hubbell, one of the founders of the field of American literary studies and professor of American Literature at Duke University.
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 CountyStreet 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.
Nathaniel A. Dunn House
Contributors:Coffey Family, contractors; John N. Coffey, contractor; John W. Coffey, contractor; John W. Coffey and Son, contractors; Thomas Wright Cooper, architect; Nelson and Cooper, architectsVariant Name(s):N. A. Dunn House
Dates:1929-1930
Location:Raleigh, Wake CountyStreet Address:1105 Cowper Dr., Raleigh, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Residential
Images Published In:Houses By Coffey, Charlotte Vestal Brown Papers, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Note:Nelson and Cooper’s blueprints, dated 1929, for the Nathaniel A. Dunn House are in the Coffey Family Papers, Special Collections Research Center, NCSU Libraries. It is a characteristic example of the Georgian Revival style residences prevalent in Hayes Barton. The blueprints are the only set by Nelson and Cooper identified thus far.
Pullen Memorial Baptist Church
Contributors:James A. Davidson, builder; G. Murray Nelson, architect; Thomas Wright Cooper, architect; Nelson and Cooper, architectsDates:1923
Location:Raleigh, Wake CountyStreet Address:1801 Hillsborough St.
Status:Standing
Type:Religious
Note:Pullen Memorial Baptist Church is a fully developed example of Romanesque Revival church architecture, rare in the state and notable for its strong massing and intricate brickwork. The congregation had met in a mission church at the south end of Fayetteville Street in central Raleigh for several years, but after that church burned, the congregation moved to this location near present North Carolina State University in west Raleigh. Aimed at the students at the college as well as other citizens, the $65,000 structure was built with more than 40 Sunday school rooms. Source: Davidson and Jones Archives; News & Observer, Jan. 1, 1922. This issue of the News and Observer carried a lengthy story about the proposed church and its architects (though not the builder) and featured a large drawing of it.
Ricks Hall
Contributors:Dates:Ca. 1922
Location:Raleigh, Wake CountyStreet Address:North Carolina State University Campus, Raleigh, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Educational
Images Published In:Marguerite E. Schumann, Strolling at State: A Walking Guide to North Carolina State University (1973).
State Agriculture Building
Contributors:Thomas Wright Cooper, architect; Nelson and Cooper, architects; G. Murray Nelson, architect; James A. Salter, preliminary architect; John E. Beaman, contractorDates:1922-1923
Location:Raleigh, Wake CountyStreet Address:2 W. Edenton St., Raleigh, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Public
Syme Hall
Contributors:Thomas Wright Cooper, architect (1922); Nelson and Cooper, architect (1922); Hobart Upjohn, architect (1916)Variant Name(s):South Hall
Dates:1916; 1922 [additions]
Location:Raleigh, Wake CountyStreet Address:North Carolina State University Campus, Raleigh, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Educational
Note:Further research is required to ascertain the authorship of this substantial dormitory. It has been credited to Nelson and Cooper with the original section described as built in 1916 plus additions in 1922, which have been cited to Hobart Upjohn. It is unlikely that Nelson or Nelson and Cooper were involved in the 1916 portion, since their partnership was not formed until 1920 or 1921, and there is no record of Nelson’s presence in Raleigh as early as 1916.
Thomas Ruffin House
Contributors:Thomas Wright Cooper, architect; Nelson and Cooper, architects; G. Murray Nelson, architect; James A. Davidson, builderDates:Mid-1920s
Location:Raleigh, Wake CountyStreet Address:1001 Harvey St.
Status:Standing
Type:Residential
Note:Source: Davidson and Jones Archives, private collection
William Proctor House
Contributors:Coffey Family, contractors; John W. Coffey, contractor; Thomas Wright Cooper, architect; Nelson and Cooper, architects; G. Murray Nelson, architectDates:1932
Location:Raleigh, Wake CountyStreet Address:1521 Jarvis St., Raleigh, NC
Status:Standing
Type:Residential
Images Published In:Houses By Coffey, Charlotte Vestal Brown Papers, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.