April 2019—Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh is just around the corner and has a few decent examples of architecture to acknowledge.

When I pulled into the parking lot of St. James UMC I was disappointed. Apparently, it underwent major surgery in the mid-2000s which dramatically compromised the exterior of the building. If you search Google Images, you’ll see a series of six geometrical fasciae on each side of the sanctuary, whose repeating sawtooth pattern defines the period. Once I entered I was relieved to see that the stained glass was still intact.

From the exterior, Highland UMC there are few indicators of midcentury features. In the sanctuary, however, there is a beautiful plaster cross on the right chancel wall, highlighted by two spotlights which cast an atmospheric shadow. At the back of the sanctuary there was an odd, refracted stained glass cross set with epoxy. Viewed from the outside, you could see the fully-realized stained glass feature but from the sanctuary only the bottom three-quarters is visible, blocked by the ceiling. I asked facilities manager Tom Lamb why but he wasn’t privy to the architect’s reasoning.

Another classic element at Highland are the period pews. Tom said that the blue cushions were replaced, along with the carpet but that the benches are original. Gretchen Buggeln said in her essential work The Suburban Church: Modernism and Community in Postwar America that closed-ended pews fell out of popularity in the 1960s with many congregations preferring the open-ended style. Maybe people thought it was easier to slide out if the sermon was too long.

According to NCModernist, North Carolina has “the 4th largest concentration of Modernist houses in America” but I don’t know how they calculate this statistic. The Research Triangle seems to be overwhelmed by upscale apartment blight and developments scoring high on The McMansion Scale. Who knows, it may be interesting in 50 years but now it is psychologically punishing. If there is a large convergence of mid-century houses in Raleigh I sure haven’t seen them and I can’t imagine them in Charlotte.

And the region has outgrown its public transportation. I heard that the Research Triangle has one of the highest clusters of PhDs in the United States but apparently advanced degrees can’t agree upon a comprehensive light rail system which connects Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh. According to Wake County, an average of 188 people move into the region per day and 148 people move out, leaving a 40-new resident net gain. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill might be the fastest growing region without a local rail system.

I’m always on the lookout for weird attractions when I visit a city and a great resource is Roadside America. When researching the capitol of North Carolina, the most promising thing I found was a self-kicking machine at the Angus Barn Restaurant. The device is wheel with cowboy boots attached that rigorously kicks you in the behind when you pull a lever. Is that the atonement you pay for visiting Raleigh?