Jan 29, 2009
National Register of Historic Places - Paul and Ellen Welles House (Robert and Anne Dahle House)
Statement of Significance: The Paul and Ellen Welles House, a dramatic and intact Modernist Split-Level house constructed in 1956, stands at 3227 Birnamwood Road in the subdivision of Highland Gardens in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. Durham architect Kenneth McCoy Scott designed the house; the Jim Edwards Company served as contractor. Summer camp operator and sailing enthusiast Paul Welles Jr. and his wife Ellen built the house on land subdivided from the farm of Ellen's parents, George W. and Mary Mordecai. The Welles House meets Criterion C for its local architectural significance as a striking and well-preserved 1950s Modern residence. Its design was greatly influenced by the Modern design theory taught by professors at the School of Design, established at North Carolina State University in Raleigh in 1948 under dean Henry Kamphoefner. The progressive faculty, including George Matsumoto and Milton Small, designed a number of Raleigh buildings, especially houses for themselves and other faculty members. Because the house was built for both Paul and Ellen Welles, "Jr." has been left out of the historic name. Kenneth McCoy Scott belonged to the first class of graduates of the School of Design who disseminated the Modernist aesthetic, characterized by the relation of the building to site, the flowing organization of space, and the interrelationship of interior space with the outdoors. The Welles House, one of Scott's finest designs, exemplifies this aesthetic. The house features an embedded placement at the base of the large sloping lot that allows a sweeping vista through rear glazed walls to a meadow; an open plan with cathedral ceilings; and copious built-in storage. Scott's modernism, like that of his faculty mentors Matsumoto and Small, combined Frank Lloyd Wright's interest in orientation to site and economic construction with Mies van der Rohe's use of the selective use of rich interior finishes. In the case of the Welles House, the interior accents are antique nineteenth-century flooring re-milled into walls, ceiling, and storage cabinets, as well as natural birch cabinets. A free-standing carport planned by the architect in front of the house was never built. Instead, a shed-roofed one-car garage and carport, sheathed with similar board-and-batten siding to the house, was constructed in the same location in 1990. This newer outbuilding's contemporary design, scale, and materials harmonize with the main house.
National Register of Historic Places - Paul and Ellen Welles House (Robert and Anne Dahle House)
Statement of Significance: The Paul and Ellen Welles House, a dramatic and intact Modernist Split-Level house constructed in 1956, stands at 3227 Birnamwood Road in the subdivision of Highland Gardens in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina. Durham architect Kenneth McCoy Scott designed the house; the Jim Edwards Company served as contractor. Summer camp operator and sailing enthusiast Paul Welles Jr. and his wife Ellen built the house on land subdivided from the farm of Ellen's parents, George W. and Mary Mordecai. The Welles House meets Criterion C for its local architectural significance as a striking and well-preserved 1950s Modern residence. Its design was greatly influenced by the Modern design theory taught by professors at the School of Design, established at North Carolina State University in Raleigh in 1948 under dean Henry Kamphoefner. The progressive faculty, including George Matsumoto and Milton Small, designed a number of Raleigh buildings, especially houses for themselves and other faculty members. Because the house was built for both Paul and Ellen Welles, "Jr." has been left out of the historic name. Kenneth McCoy Scott belonged to the first class of graduates of the School of Design who disseminated the Modernist aesthetic, characterized by the relation of the building to site, the flowing organization of space, and the interrelationship of interior space with the outdoors. The Welles House, one of Scott's finest designs, exemplifies this aesthetic. The house features an embedded placement at the base of the large sloping lot that allows a sweeping vista through rear glazed walls to a meadow; an open plan with cathedral ceilings; and copious built-in storage. Scott's modernism, like that of his faculty mentors Matsumoto and Small, combined Frank Lloyd Wright's interest in orientation to site and economic construction with Mies van der Rohe's use of the selective use of rich interior finishes. In the case of the Welles House, the interior accents are antique nineteenth-century flooring re-milled into walls, ceiling, and storage cabinets, as well as natural birch cabinets. A free-standing carport planned by the architect in front of the house was never built. Instead, a shed-roofed one-car garage and carport, sheathed with similar board-and-batten siding to the house, was constructed in the same location in 1990. This newer outbuilding's contemporary design, scale, and materials harmonize with the main house.
Jan 29, 2009
Posted Date
Sep 05, 2023
Historical Record Date
Jan 29, 2009
Source Name
National Register of Historic Places
