Nov 12, 1971
National Register of Historic Places - Dodd-Hinsdale House (William H. Dodd House)
Statement of Significance: William H. Dodd, one of Raleigh's mayors, is believed to have had the Dodd-Hinsdale House built on the west half of Raleigh city lot 201 about 1887, the lot having been given to him by his parents in 1871. Though no record of proof has been found, it is thought that Thomas Briggs, a successful Raleigh merchant, was the building contractor. Financial reverses forced Dodd to mortgage his house on June 24, 1889, and through default it was sold to W. H. Pace on December 31, 1889, who sold the house at a sizable profit to John W. Hinsdale, on January 21, 1890. 1971 John Wetmore Hinsdale, born in 1843, in Buffalo, New York, came to North Carolina with his family while he was still very young. A student at the University of North Carolina when the Civil War broke out, Hinsdale was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Eighth North Carolina regiment as a de-de-camp to Brigadier General T. H. Holmes. Ending the war as "the Youngest colonel in the Confederate army," Hinsdale entered Columbia College Law School in 1865, was admitted to the New York in 1866, and returned to North Carolina to practice in the same year. In 1875, he moved to Raleigh where he became the attorney for North Carolina of the Seaboard Airline Railroad system and gained a wide reputation as a formidable lawyer with an extensive practice. The house has remained in the Hinsdale family since 1890 and until recently was owned by John W. Hinsdale, also a lawyer, son of the 1890 purchaser. Following Mr. Hinsdale's death, August 21, 1971, the property is now in the hands of his estate. The significance of the Dodd-Hinsdale House rests primarily on its architectural rather than its historical merit. This architectural impact is derived more from its total coloristic effect than from individual stylistic attributes, although the brick surrounds of the openings represent an ingenious decorative use of masonry. In spite of and in part because of commercial encroachment on three sides and the looming presence of a high- rise concrete commercial tower immediately to the east, the Dodd-Hinsdale House possesses a striking architectural presence. The structure, still buffered by its fence, gate and greenery, is a self-contained living monument to Raleigh's Victorian past. In fact, the mansard tower thrusts itself arrogantly from the building mass in brash Victorian defiance of the super scale of the twentieth century which now menaces its continued existence.
National Register of Historic Places - Dodd-Hinsdale House (William H. Dodd House)
Statement of Significance: William H. Dodd, one of Raleigh's mayors, is believed to have had the Dodd-Hinsdale House built on the west half of Raleigh city lot 201 about 1887, the lot having been given to him by his parents in 1871. Though no record of proof has been found, it is thought that Thomas Briggs, a successful Raleigh merchant, was the building contractor. Financial reverses forced Dodd to mortgage his house on June 24, 1889, and through default it was sold to W. H. Pace on December 31, 1889, who sold the house at a sizable profit to John W. Hinsdale, on January 21, 1890. 1971 John Wetmore Hinsdale, born in 1843, in Buffalo, New York, came to North Carolina with his family while he was still very young. A student at the University of North Carolina when the Civil War broke out, Hinsdale was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Eighth North Carolina regiment as a de-de-camp to Brigadier General T. H. Holmes. Ending the war as "the Youngest colonel in the Confederate army," Hinsdale entered Columbia College Law School in 1865, was admitted to the New York in 1866, and returned to North Carolina to practice in the same year. In 1875, he moved to Raleigh where he became the attorney for North Carolina of the Seaboard Airline Railroad system and gained a wide reputation as a formidable lawyer with an extensive practice. The house has remained in the Hinsdale family since 1890 and until recently was owned by John W. Hinsdale, also a lawyer, son of the 1890 purchaser. Following Mr. Hinsdale's death, August 21, 1971, the property is now in the hands of his estate. The significance of the Dodd-Hinsdale House rests primarily on its architectural rather than its historical merit. This architectural impact is derived more from its total coloristic effect than from individual stylistic attributes, although the brick surrounds of the openings represent an ingenious decorative use of masonry. In spite of and in part because of commercial encroachment on three sides and the looming presence of a high- rise concrete commercial tower immediately to the east, the Dodd-Hinsdale House possesses a striking architectural presence. The structure, still buffered by its fence, gate and greenery, is a self-contained living monument to Raleigh's Victorian past. In fact, the mansard tower thrusts itself arrogantly from the building mass in brash Victorian defiance of the super scale of the twentieth century which now menaces its continued existence.
Nov 12, 1971
Posted Date
Aug 30, 2023
Historical Record Date
Nov 12, 1971
Source Name
National Register of Historic Places
