By Alex Bass
Alex.bass@triangletribune.com
RALEIGH – Eugene Myrick, president of the Biltmore Hills Neighborhood Association, cut to the chase about the historic community chartered in the early 1960s at a Jan. 29 meeting at John Chavis Park.
“It was a community built for African American people because they couldn’t own homes in other places,” Myrick said. “I want our neighborhood to be somewhat of a destination where people come through and be like, ‘wow, this is history.’”
The city of Raleigh has initiated the nomination process – with a $20,000 budget – for Biltmore Hills to join the National Register of Historic Places. The Register already includes other prominent African American residential communities.
Battery Heights, with roots back to the mid-1950s, was home to legendary physician Dr. George C. Debnam and his family. Madonna Acres, dating to the beginning of the 1960s, was developed by John Winters – Raleigh’s first African American builder to cultivate homes for African Americans. Among Madonna Acres’ residents was Clarence Lightner, a renowned mortician and Raleigh’s first Black mayor.
“How did that shape how this neighborhood grew, and how he (Winters) developed it?” asked Mary Ruffin Hanbury, the consultant hired to develop the nomination. Hanbury was referring to de jure racial covenants that prohibited Black people from homeownership in certain communities, and the resulting urban renewal.
“To be able to talk about what it must have been like to be a real estate developer and have to be smart enough to have to go through those hoops to get something done is an interesting story,” she said.
Hanbury noted that the nomination, available for individual and collective places at least 50 years old, includes two major components: historical significance and physical description. Winters’ legacy, including his various home building plans, covers the historical significance. Hanbury, who consulted previously on the city’s Black Heritage and Historic Places report (including Biltmore Hills), said this particular project is ahead of the game, per a requirement that each district building be photographed, mapped, and tagged with explanatory text for database inclusion.
“All of that has been done,” she said.
Preparing the National Register nomination is the second of four steps, after Biltmore Hills first was placed on the N.C. Study List. The Raleigh Historic Development Commission is scheduled to review the nomination draft in May before Step 3. Then, the nomination will be sent to the State Historic Preservation Office, whose review could take a year. Once a nomination reaches the national level, the National Park Service has 45 days to render a final decision.
“There is a definite number on that,” said Collette Kinane, the city’s project leader. “It’s just that middle step that we’re not really sure about.”
An honorary National Register distinction does not prevent homeowners from making significant property renovations. Such recognition can help one secure federal funds and tax credits for historic preservation endeavors. In those cases, recipients are bound to designated parameters.
Myrick sees potential in this context for Biltmore Hills by following an Atlanta paradigm. “You don’t just go through there and see King’s house and a 20-story building,” Myrick said. “You see the whole block, both sides of the street.”
