Frank Walser (June 6, 1924-June 10, 1996), a native of Tyro (Davidson County), N. C. who spent his professional life in Raleigh, was a highly skilled contractor who built many of the buildings that gained Raleigh and the Triangle area a reputation as a center of mid-twentieth century modernist architecture. The area’s leading modernist architects, including faculty members at the path-breaking School of Design (now College of Design) at present North Carolina State University, often designed buildings with features unfamiliar to many local builders. As a recent graduate of present NCSU, Walser played an essential role in the successful construction of these works, earning the gratitude and respect of both architects and clients, thus making his story an important part of the history of mid-century modernism in North Carolina. He executed the designs of such significant area architects as James Fitzgibbon, George Matsumoto, Eduardo Catalano, and G. Milton Small, Jr., as well as Arthur McKimmon, Macon Smith, and Kenneth Scott and others. Although he also built more traditionally designed buildings, the focus of this entry is on his work in the Triangle area’s remarkable body of mid-century modernist architecture. A number of his buildings are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

(For an overview of mid-century modernist architecture in the area, including several buildings cited in this account, see David R. Black, “Early Modern Architecture in Raleigh Associated with the Faculty of the North Carolina State University School of Design, Raleigh, North Carolina,” National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form (1994). Much of the information in this entry comes from the websites ncmodernist.org and usmodernist.org., which contain extensive additional material. For illustrations, see that site and Victoria Ballard Bell, Triangle Modern Architecture.)

Frank Walser was a son of Raymond and Bernice Walser. In 1940 the family, including Frank and his two sisters, was residing in Greensboro. Frank graduated from Greensboro High School and in 1941 entered present North Carolina State University. He served in World War II as a fighter pilot in Europe. In 1944, he married Ellen Hornbuckle, whom he had met in 1942 in Raleigh. After the war, Frank returned to NCSU and earned a civil engineering degree, which at that time was the chief source of architectural training at the university. He and Ellen had four children: Ray, Bern, Beth, and David. Bern Walser worked closely with Frank for over a decade and continued the family building tradition as a contractor in his own right.

Grounded in his training in civil engineering, the young Frank Walser entered upon a career as a small, independent contractor at the same time that architects associated with the newly founded (1948) School of Design at NCSU and others were beginning to design modernist buildings, including houses, in a vocabulary unfamiliar to Raleigh and its builders. He employed a small crew of craftsmen generally from nearby areas of Wake and Johnston counties. He also formed personal friendships with many of the architects whose works he executed. How he developed the interest and skills required to accomplish these unfamiliar projects so well remains an open question.

During a career that extended into the 1970s, he gained recognition for his craftsmanship and attention to detail as well as his ability to translate the architects’ concepts into reality. Many were in new suburban areas, chiefly in Raleigh. The list of his buildings reads as a who’s who of modernist architects’ principal residential projects in Raleigh. They included works in both Wrightian and Miesian modes and several structurally adventurous buildings. In contrast to some more traditional builders, Walser seems to have relished the challenges of such projects and worked harmoniously with the architects. Without Walser’s skills and understanding, the famous collection of modernist architecture in the Triangle area might never have been accomplished at such a high level of quality.

The first modernist house Walser built was the small but radically modern Fadum House (1950) designed by architect James Fitzgibbon. Probably his most famous project was the dramatically unconventional Eduardo Catalano House (1954) in Raleigh with its bold roofline, which attracted national and international attention to the home the architect designed for himself. In addition to Catalano, architects George Matsumoto and G. Milton Small, Jr., commissioned Walser to build their own residences in a Miesian vocabulary.

Walser reportedly built all but one of the Raleigh houses designed by Matsumoto, whose distinguished work in the 1950s embodied both Wrightian and Miesian influences and showed attention to economy and practical construction. These include the Ritcher House in a Wrightian mode and the Poland House, which shows Miesian influences. Beyond Raleigh, Walser also built the Milton Julian House in Chapel Hill from Matsumoto’s design.

Working with leading modernist G. Milton Small, Jr., who employed a Miesian mode learned from the master himself, Walser constructed not only Small’s own residence and office building but other modernist structures in Raleigh, such as the Philip Rothstein House, the Paul O. Stahl Residence, and Our Savior Lutheran Church. In turn, Walser built his own family residence from designs by Small.

In a more traditional mode, Walser also built some of the first houses in Raleigh’s Drewry Hills suburb; according to NCModernist.org, as reported by architect Jim Brandt, Walser and Milton Small “went into business to develop houses in [the Raleigh suburb of] Drewry Hills in the 1950s,” but the initial houses “didn’t make much money, so they stopped.” Walser was the original builder of two other Raleigh churches: the Raleigh Moravian Church on Ridge Road and St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church on Six Forks Road. Later projects included the MacGregor Downs Country Club Clubhouse, which opened in 1967. Walser also built houses, offices, and other structures as far west as Durham and Orange counties and as far east as Hertford and Sampson counties.

On June 27, 1956, the News and Observer published an illustrated article about awards given by the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, which included the Catalano House (designed by Catalano and built by Frank Walser), and the Gregory Poole Equipment Building (designed by G. Milton Small and George Matsumoto and built by F. N. Thompson). Not only the architects but also “Frank Walser, Raleigh contractor and State College alumnus, who built the [Catalano] House received awards. The photograph accompanying the article showed Small, A. J. Fox, J. Gregory Poole, Frank Walser, George Matsumoto, and Eduardo Catalano. Generally, it was rare for architectural prizes to recognize the role of the builders.

At Walser’s death, an article in the News and Observer of June 13, 1996, reflected on Walser’s career as “an architect’s dream. He could build just about anything.” It credited him with as many as 150 of the city’s “most beautiful contemporary homes back in the ‘50s, ‘60’s and ‘70s.” The article pointed to three reputation-making projects, the Catalano House, the Matsumoto House, and the Gregory Poole, Sr., House. Of these, only the Matsumoto House survives. Retired Raleigh architect Arthur McKimmon recalled, “It took Frank a long time to do some of his jobs, but it was worth it when it was over. . . . He didn’t take on a large volume of work because he was so meticulous.” Another Raleigh architect observed that Walser could work in both modern and classical modes, but that “his trademark” was that “He didn’t want to do anything but a good, exceptional job.” Frank Walser was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh. His son, Bern, continued in the building industry for many more years.

Note: Further research is needed to fill out the story of this important builder. More information on the residences he built is to be found at the US modernist website, which features both Walser and the architects with whom he worked, as well as in the Matsumoto Papers and the G. Milton Small, Jr., Papers at North Carolina State University Libraries.

Papers and Drawings of George Matsumoto, FAIA, MC 42, Special Collections Department, North Carolina State University Libraries.

David R. Black. “Early Modern Properties Associated with the North Carolina State University School of Design, Raleigh, North Carolina,” Multiple Property National Register of Historic Places Documentation Form, 1994. On file at Survey and Planning Branch, State Historic Preservation Office, Raleigh, North Carolina.