JOSEPHUS DANIELS HOUSE: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE SITE PREPARED BY EDWARDS-PITMAN ENVIRONMENTAL, INC. Post Office Box 1171 Durham, North Carolina 27702 919-682-2211 www.edwards-pitman.com FOR THE RALEIGH HISTORIC DISTRICTS COMMISSION Post Office Box 829 Century Station Raleigh, North Carolina 27602 919-832-7238 JULY 29, 2005 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................................1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................1 National Historic Landmark Designation, 1976 ........................................................................................2 Local Historic Landmark Designation, 1990 .............................................................................................2 Inclusion in National Register of Historic Places Historic District, 2002...................................................3 Summary of Significance ..............................................................................................................................4 Significant under NRHP Criterion B and NHL Criterion 2.........................................................................4 Other Properties Associated with Josephus Daniels ....................................................................................5 Historic Integrity under NRHP Criterion B and NHL Criterion 2 ..............................................................6 Boundary of the Historic Property.............................................................................................................7 Additional Historical Information Relating to Parcel......................................................................................9 Evaluating the Integrity of the Parcel ..........................................................................................................14 Appendix A. Photographs Appendix B: NRHP and NHL Criteria Appendix C: Resumes Report prepared by: Jennifer F. Martin, Project Manager Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc., Durham, North Carolina Cynthia de Miranda, Principal Investigator Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc., Durham, North Carolina Susan P. Little, FASLA Little and Little Landscape Architects, Raleigh, North Carolina Executive Summary In July 2005, the Raleigh Historic Districts Commission authorized this report to provide information about the significance and integrity of the grounds surrounding the Josephus Daniels House at 1520 Caswell Street, in Raleigh, North Carolina. The house and grounds, also known historically as Wakestone, have been designated a National Historic Landmark (1976), a Local Landmark (1990), and a contributing property in the Hayes Barton National Register Historic District (2002). All of these listings include the entire legal parcel as the boundary of the designated property; the boundaries of that parcel have not changed since any of the listings or designations. None of the nominations or designation reports specifically discusses the history of the parcel and how it relates to the house during the period of significance. In all cases, however, use of the parcel boundary as the historic resource boundary is justified and appropriate because it is the land historically associated with the resource. 1 It is the conclusion of this report that the acreage surrounding the house was not simply land that did not get developed when the surrounding neighborhood was built. The entire parcel was integral to Josephus Daniels’s use of the property as a homeplace and part of what constituted Wakestone. The parcel, like the house, has seen some alterations since the period of significance, but the majority of those changes were made prior to the property’s designation as both a National Historic Landmark and as a Local Landmark. Changes made since designation do not compromise the historic integrity of the parcel. The entire parcel contributes to the historic significance of the overall property and retains historic integrity today. Introduction Josephus and Addie Bagley Daniels bought the land in 1920 and immediately hired Howard Satterfield to design and build the house. This was their permanent residence from 1921 until the death of Josephus Daniels in 1948 (his wife predeceased him by five years). In 1950, the Daniels’s four sons, who had been left the house and lot in their father’s will, sold both to the Raleigh Masons. The Masons have since used the property as a meeting place for three local lodges. The parcel at 1520 Caswell Street encompasses 3.89 acres, according to the Wake County Geographic Information System (GIS) website.2 Three buildings stand on the parcel today: the house and garage, both built in 1920, and a small brick storage building erected in more recent decades. The Raleigh Masons added an auditorium to the rear of the house in 1957 and installed paved parking lots south and west of the house before and after 1976, respectively. The Masons also paved the circular drive, which had a gravel surface in 1976, according to the National Register of Historic Places nomination prepared that year. The nomination also states that the Masons were contemplating paving the area in front of the house for parking. A 1953 aerial 1 See the “Guidelines for selecting boundaries: Buildings,” in Donna J. Seifert et al., National Register Bulletin: Defining Boundaries for National Register Properties (Washington, D.C.: US Department of the Interior, 1995, revised 1997), 7. 2 The GIS system is available on the World Wide Web at http://imaps.co.wake.nc.us/imaps/. Information in the report was acquired when the system was accessed on July 13, 2005. Josephus Daniels House: Information to Supplement 1976 NRHP Nomination Page 1 Prepared by Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc. Durham, NC 919-682-2211 July 29, 2005 photograph shows that grass no longer grew in the area between the circular drive and the sidewalk by the early 1950s. The photograph indicates that the Masons, or possibly the Daniels, had been using the area for parking long before the property was designated a National Historic Landmark. (See photographs and a site plan in Appendix A.) National Historic Landmark Designation, 1976 The Josephus Daniels House, or Wakestone as the Daniels called their home on the hill, was designated a National Historic Landmark and—by default—listed in the National Register of Historic Places in December 1976. The verbal boundary description in the nomination form reads: “The boundary of the nominated property includes both the Daniels’ garage and the main house and coincides with the boundary of the legal lot known as 1520 Caswell Street, Raleigh, North Carolina.” The period of significance is 1920 through 1948, which includes construction and the entire period of Josephus Daniels’s ownership and residence. The boundary of the listed property is the legal parcel at 1520 Caswell Street; the limits of that parcel have not changed since listing. Changes to the property since listing include the paving of the circular driveway, the addition of pavement to what had already become a parking area in front of the house, construction of a small storage building in the woods just southeast of the garage, and some planting of the southeast corner of the parcel along Williamson Drive and along Glenwood Avenue. The nomination mentions that the owners were contemplating paving the second parking lot at the time of the nomination. Local Historic Landmark Designation, 1990 The house (excluding the auditorium addition), garage, and parcel were designated a Local Landmark by the City of Raleigh in 1990. The designating ordinance establishes that: Section 1. The property designated as Josephus Daniels House, in the planning jurisdiction of the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, be and is declared a Raleigh Historic Property. Said property being more particularly described as follows: Josephus Daniels House, 1520 Caswell Street, including the parcel which contains approximately three (3) acres and has its boundary coincident with the legal boundary of the lot known as 1520 Caswell Street. It is bounded by Caswell Street, Glenwood Avenue, and Williamson Drive. Section 2. Those elements of the property that are integral to its historical, architectural, archaeological significance, or any combination thereof are as follows: The 1920 randomly laid stone Georgian Revival-style original section of the house with its wings and all pre-1950 additions and dependencies (including the garage), which excludes the massive 1956-58 rear wing, but includes all grounds and landscape features and all appurtenant features on the designated portion of the building and grounds as described in Section 1. A mistake on the “Raleigh Historic Property Designation Application and Report” cover form records that there is one contributing building and no noncontributing buildings on the parcel. The form should list two contributing buildings (house and garage) and possibly one noncontributing building (the storage building, if built before 1990). The ordinance, as demonstrated above, makes clear that there is more than one building on the parcel. Josephus Daniels House: Information to Supplement 1976 NRHP Nomination Page 2 Prepared by Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc. Durham, NC 919-682-2211 July 29, 2005 The form also lists the “approximate acreage or dimensions” of the parcel as 3 acres. The ordinance