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3307 GastonA lovely Edward Loewenstein home with a more beautiful history. This architectural masterpiece - a Commencement House - is a creation of minds able to express their talents through architecture and design while students at the Women's College of North Carolina.
This authentic mid-century modern home is awash with sunlight from the walls of windows across the home's front and back. These same walls of glass offer incredible views of Donald Ross's classic course; views of his challenging front nine design for holes #1, 2, 3, & 4 of Sedgefield Country Club are available from various vistas throughout the home. This tranquil and serene setting amid a classic backdrop of nature and golf is conveniently located in Guilford County near Jamestown & Greensboro. |
Who Is Loewenstein? |
Loewenstein Biography
http://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/people/P000339 Edward Loewenstein (1913-1970), a Chicago native, came to Greensboro in 1945 with his wife, Frances Stern, who was Julius Cone's stepdaughter. An MIT graduate, Loewenstein started an architecture firm with Robert Atkinson., which is where he worked until his passing in 1970. The firm employed the first Black architects in Greensboro, "among them the late William Streat (Loewenstein's MIT classmate who eventually joined North Carolina A&T's faculty), the late W. Edward Jenkins, and Clinton E. Gravely, all of whom went on to establish prolific architectural careers in North Carolina and beyond." A promoter of community, Loewenstein began working with women at the Women's College of NC (now UNCG). In this capacity is where he offered design studios for the college that resulted in student-designed homes affectionately called "Commencement Houses." Students designed and supervised the construction of three "Commencement Houses" in Greensboro. . . the Commencement House are: "the Frances and Irvin Squires House (1958); the Marion and Kenneth P. Hinsdale House (1959), and the Nancy and Herbert L. Smith House (1965), in Sedgefield." Note: Further information on Loewenstein may be obtained from the author, Patrick Lee Lucas. Published 2009 |
History of the Commencement Homes |
Recent Project about Modernism in Piedmont Triad
(includes photos of our house: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoaGtBPtask) When Gregory Ivy, a modern artist who founded the then Woman’s College Department of Art, first attracted architect Edward Loewenstein in 1957 to teach a studio course to design and build a single family dwelling, the architect leapt at the opportunity, looking to get women out of the classroom and into the field to learn practical lessons in building. Dubbed as the COMMENCEMENT HOUSE by the university’s public relations department, two additional structures followed the original 1958 building in 1959 and 1965. Throughout all three moments of community engagement, the studios afforded not only the design-build opportunity but a linkage to contractors, suppliers, design professionals, and volunteers who also helped shape the house. The 1958 Commencement Home was located at 2207 North Elm Street, Greensboro. After several months of protests by residents, the neighborhood has been rezoned and the Commencement Home was demolished in 2010. The Francis and Irvin Squires Residence, aka the Commencement House, 2207 North Elm Street, taught an innovative architectural design course at NC Woman's College (now UNC-Greensboro). Twenty-three female students designed a house, oversaw its construction, and decorated the resulting structure, dubbed the Commencement House by the University's public relations office. The Greensboro Daily News proclaimed the house "as modern as tomorrow," hailing the women who designed it as pioneers, reporting that "they are the first pupils outside the schools of architecture to attempt the complete designing and building of a house." At its May 1958 dedication, covered by the newspaper and broadcast on WUNC-TV, North Carolina First Lady Mrs. Luther Hodges, herself an alumna of Woman's College, cut the ribbon on the house. Written up in the November 1958 edition of McCall's Magazine (above). Contractor: Eugene Gulledge (Superior Contracting Company of Greensboro). B/W photos from UNCG Walter Jackson Library, Department of Special Collections. Recent photos by Charles Brummitt. The 1959 Commencement Home - The Marion and Kenneth P. Hinsdale House, 612 Rockford Road, Greensboro NC. Also known as the 1959 Commencement House. Built for $24,000, the UNCG students divided the small, family-oriented, one story house into public and private zones, orienting the public but cozy dining room and theatrical living room out a large expanse of glass wall toward the wooded lot and a lake view. There are three bedrooms and two and one-half baths, including a large master suite. The house was featured in Living for Young Homemakers. Walter J. Moran was the interior designer. Contractor was Eugene Gulledge of Superior Contracting Company. Sold to Randy McManus who did a restoration. Also see https://design.uky.edu/people/patrick-lee-lucas/ https://www.academia.edu/41728252/Patrick_Lee_Lucas_Edward_Loewensteins_Midcentury_Architectural_Innovation_in_North_Carolina |
