Preservationists find a new way to help save Charlotte culture and history. Here’s how

Two Charlotte groups are introducing a new way to preserve the city’s history and culture that goes beyond saving buildings amid burgeoning development.

By working with neighboring homeowners, the groups hope to protect properties from development that impedes distinctive properties and streetscapes throughout Mecklenburg County and surrounding communities.

Their first case involved a home in the 300 block of Ridgewood Avenue in Myers Park. It was going to go up for sale last year,and raised concerns about how it might impact the historic garden next door. If the new property owners tore down the house and built a larger one, it could block the neighboring garden’s sunlight, change the airflow, and affect water quantity and quality.

“We think history and culture and preservation is critical to growing urban areas,” Preserve Mecklenburg chairman Tommy Lee said. “It gives us flexibility and a real opportunity to keep part of the culture and beauty in the neighborhoods of Charlotte.”

Wing Haven, a nonprofit that manages the neighboring historic Elizabeth Lawrence House and Garden at 348 Ridgewood Ave., reached out to Preserve Mecklenburg Inc. for help.

Lawrence, an award-winning author and landscape architect who died in 1985, is considered a preeminent figures in the horticultural history of the Southeast, according to the garden website. Preserve Mecklenburg is a nonprofit that formed three years ago. It buys, sells, and preserves historic properties in Mecklenburg and surrounding counties.

While the garden property is protected on the National Register of Historic Places since 2006, the property next door held no historic significance, said Dan Morrill, secretary and co-founder of Preserve Mecklenburg. The garden is sensitive to light, drainage, air quality and air flow, he said.

“Sometimes preservation is also influencing the development in such a way that it does not harm the adjoining property,” Morrill said.

So the two nonprofits collaborated, launching a new model for preservation to protect properties streetscapes and distinct properties, even those with no historical significance if it impacts neighbors.

The concept also must include the seller’s cooperation and finding the right buyer.

Warren Way and Elizabeth Rogers, grew up next door to their aunt and her nationally recognized garden, inherited that neighboring house. Both live out of town and decided to sell the family home on Ridgewood.

“We were very interested in that legacy,” Way said of his aunt’s property. “We were interested in preserving the garden and reducing the effect of (a sale of the neighboring house on) the garden.”

The path to preservation

Preserve Mecklenburg marketed the the Way/Rogers Ridgewood property and created permanent preservation and conservation easements with the new buyer to “ensure the life and vitality of the garden,” Lee said.

“We found someone who shared the concern and was willing to build on the property in such a way to minimize effect on garden next door,” Way said.

It took a year for the property to sell. Way said it likely would have sold in a month without the preservation intervention, but he called it a win for himself and his sister as sellers, the new homeowner, the garden and Charlotte.

“In today’s world where we’re tearing down and rebuilding and losing a lot of history, I think it means a lot to Charlotte to preserve the history of the garden,” Way said. “My aunt’s life work has been preserved and it gives Charlotte some history.”

The 0.36-acre property next to the garden sold for $755,000 on July 1, Mecklenburg County property records show. The one-story brick home built in 1947 has been torn down.

“Preserve Mecklenburg did a really good job of taking everybody’s concerns into account with a viable solution,” Way said.

Now, that same concept can be applied to other properties, building and streetscapes in Charlotte for neighborhoods that are deemed culturally important, not just historical landmarks and properties, Lee said.

“We’re not anti-development,” he said. “We like to partner with development and figure out creative ways to maintain sensitivity and secure a piece of that culture and history that we have in Charlotte.”

Elizabeth Lawrence House and Garden

Wing Haven Foundation purchased the Elizabeth Lawrence House and Garden 13 years ago to preserve Lawrence’s legacy.

The garden is permanently conserved by a conservation easement held by The Garden Conservancy.

“Elizabeth Lawrence was a figure of national importance in the history of gardening,” Morrill said. She wrote books about gardening and gardening articles for the Charlotte Observer.

The Elizabeth Lawrence House & Garden is open to the public by tour 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, according to its website.

“I’d say it’s nationally known among people who are into the history of gardening,” Morrill said. “It’s not a show garden developed to look pretty even though it has pretty plants in it. She was about the science of gardening and writing.”

The “unique collaborative opportunity” working with Preserve Mecklenburg will help preserve the legacy of Elizabeth Lawrence, Andrea Sprott, garden curator for the Elizabeth Lawrence House and Garden, said in a new release.

About Preserve Mecklenburg

Preserve Mecklenburg works to save historic buildings in Charlotte by buying them then selling them with preservation easements so future owners cannot destroy the historic buildings.

The nonprofit also has taken on preserving other buildings and spaces in Charlotte, like the Patterson-Logan Grocery Store in the Washington Heights neighborhood.

Grocery stores are important parts of African-American history, Morrill had previously said, as one of the only options for business investment. Charlotte once had over 40 Black-owned neighborhood grocery stores.

“I think a blend of old and new is a wonderful thing. And there are plenty of neighborhoods with great culture, great history and stories that should continue to be told through their preservation,” Lee said.

This story was originally published September 29, 2021 at 7:00 AM.