A group of North Carolina preservationists is trying to protect a local piece of modernist history from the impending wrecking ball. The News & Observer reported that a group called North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH) has started a campaign to save the former Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic building, which was designed by Raleigh architect G. Milton Small over 50 years ago.
“The building is really Raleigh’s finest example of international architecture,” said George Smart, the head of NCMH, who noted that Small studied under Mies van der Rohe at IIT.
The two-story structure is wrapped in floor-to-ceiling windows and a porch, and has a 6,000-square-foot courtyard with a 10-foot decorative brick wall. While the building does not have a national profile or an esepcially famous architect, it was noted for its “taste and design” in a 1965 New York Times cover story.
The building is currently vacant, and its owner has filed plans for a structure twice its size on the site. Construction on that project is expected to begin in a few months, but before that happens, NCMH is making its own push to find a new tenant for the building. They will be hosting an open house at the clinic building on May 7th.