“Blue Haven” will be open to the public for one day.
July 6, 2011 (Raleigh, NC) — The 1959 Carter Williams House Tour, designed by prolific Raleigh architect F. Carter Williams, FAIA, for his family, with landscape design by Dick Bell, FASLA, will be open for public touring on Saturday, July 23, from 10 a.m. until noon.
The tour of this classic mid-century modernist house, nicknamed “Blue Haven” for the distinctive “Carolina Blue Stone” used in its construction, is presented by the Triangle Modernist Houses and sponsored by Eidolon Design.
The two-level house is typical of mid-century modernist houses in many ways. Lower level floors are terrazzo and glass walls flood the spaces with natural light while opening the interior to the exterior. Upstairs, multi-columned stone construction visual divides the entrance hall from the great room beyond, where floor-to-ceiling glazing offers panoramic views of the landscape and forest beyond the house. Built-in casework throughout the house is walnut.
Current owner Jill Maurer has filled the Williams house with high-end mid-century
modern furnishings, including a Florence Knoll lounge, chairs and tables by Bertoia and Eero Saarinen, and an Isamu Noguchi coffee table. Her art collection, including abstract paintings by such North Carolina luminaries as Claude Howell and George Bireline, also complements the house’s architecture and ambiance.
Metro Magazine’s Diane Lea called the house “one of Raleigh’s acknowledged early Modernist jewels” in her feature on “Blue Haven” in November of 2010.
Over his 40-year span, Carter Williams and his firm designed more than 600 projects throughout the state. From 1939 to 1941, he was an assistant professor at the NCSU School of Design. The highest honor AIA North Carolina presents each year to an individual for a distinguished career or extraordinary accomplishments is named the
F. Carter Williams Gold Medal.
In the study Post-World War II and Modern Architecture in Raleigh, North Carolina, author Ruth Little writes, “It is safe to say that Williams’ elegant understated modernism had a bigger impact on Raleigh architecture than any other architect in Raleigh from 1945 to 1965.”
The Carter Williams house is located at 6612 Rest Haven Drive. Tickets are $5.95 in advance until July 16 and $8 at the door. To purchase advance tickets and get directions to the house, go to http://trianglemodernisthouses.com/tour.
For more information on Triangle Modernist Houses, visit www.trianglemodernisthouses.com.
About Triangle Modernist Houses
Triangle Modernist Houses (TMH) is a 501C3 nonprofit established in 2007 to restoring and growing modernist architecture in the Triangle. The award-winning website, now the largest educational and historical archive for modernist residential design in America, continues to catalog, preserve, and advocate for North Carolina modernism. TMH also hosts popular modernist house tours several times a year, giving the public access to the Triangle’s most exciting residential architecture, past and present. These tours raise awareness and help preserve these “livable works of art” for future generations. Visit the website at www.trianglemodernisthouses.com. TMH also has an active community on Facebook.
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