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Architecture Section
Introduction
Chronology
Black Mountain and Asheville
CAMPUSES
Blue Ridge Campus
Lake Eden Campus
Guide to the Campuses
and Maps
Curriculum
Biographies
of Architects
Architecture related publications
Section Outline
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“From the
steps of Black Mountain College in North Carolina one has a view of mountains and forests which makes one dream of Asia.”
Henry Miller, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, 1945 Blue Ridge Campus
1933-41
 If
Black Mountain College was to open in September 1933, a ready-made campus
had to be located over the summer months. Robert Wunsch, a former member
of the Rollins faculty who had taught in Asheville, recommended the YMCA
Blue Ridge Assembly buildings, located seventeen miles east of Asheville,
North Carolina, and three miles south of the village of Black Mountain.
The buildings were used by the YMCA in the summer but were vacant in the
winter. Frederick Georgia, a former Rollins faculty member, had a summer
home in Highlands in western North Carolina. In June, he and John Andrew
Rice visited the site. Rice recalled: "Here was peace. Here was also
central heating against the cold of winter, blankets, sheets, dishes,
flatware, enough for a dozen colleges, all at a moderate rental." (Martin
Duberman, Black Mountain: An Exploration in Community (Dutton,
1972)). They were impressed both by the structures which
were suited
to the college’s needs and by the moderate climate and splendid mountain
setting.
The property had been purchased in 1906 as a summer assembly grounds for
the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). As the story is told, on
October 6, 1906, Willis Duke Weatherford, executive secretary of the Blue
Ridge Association, rented a horse and buggy and drove from Asheville to
Black Mountain in search of an inspirational site for the YMCA. When he
arrived at the present location, he climbed a tree and, viewing the
mountains beyond, exclaimed, “Eureka, we have found it!” The property consisted of 1619 acres including a thirty acre farm.
In 1933 Willis Weatherford was struggling to hold on to the Blue Ridge
property through the Great Depression, and a winter tenant was an
appealing solution. He asked for $7,500 for the
nine-month 1933-34 academic term. The college responded with an offer of
$4,500. Weatherford agreed and a lease was signed on August 24, only a
month before the college opened.
Unbeknownst to the college, at the time they signed the lease, foreclosure
proceedings had been initiated against the Blue Ridge Assembly, and on
October 2, 1933 at 12 o’clock noon on the steps of the Buncombe County
Court House the property was auctioned and sold for $45,000 to a party the
college felt was hostile to its existence. This sale negated the college’s
lease. The purchase would become final in ten days unless someone reopened
the bid with an offer of at least 5% more. The college, which could not
raise the funds, was relieved when Weatherford was able to regain the
property in the name of Blue Ridge College, Inc.
 The
main building, Robert E. Lee Hall, named for the Confederate general and
designed by Louis Jallade (1876-1957), a New York architect who designed
many buildings for the YMCA, was completed in 1912. The outstanding
feature of the plantation-style, neoclassical wooden structure is eight
three-story wooden columns which support a wide portico. From the porch
one enters an expansive lobby with a large stone fireplace. When Black
Mountain College was located at the site, the east end of the central
lobby was separated from the main space by a credenza on the south side
and, on the opposite side, by a banister. On either side of the lobby and
on the top two floors were rows of dormitory-style rooms.
Lee Hall both reflected and reinforced the communal ideals of the
founders. The spacious lobby with its large fireplace was used for
classes, parties, community meetings, lectures and performances. The
bulletin board where notices, ideas, lost and found items, programs for
events, complaints, and other items of interest were posted was also
located in the lobby, and it was there that students and faculty collected
their mail. There were so many rooms that it was decided the first year
that each student would have a study and that they would share rooms for
sleeping. The concept of student studies was central to the educational
experience, and when the college moved to its own property, the first
building constructed was a Studies Building. College offices and a
periodical reading room were located on the first floor. The weaving
studio, printing press, and library were in the basement as was the United
States Blue Ridge post office. Faculty without children also lived in Lee
Hall; faculty with children, in nearby cottages.
 The porch of Lee Hall with its splendid view north to the mountains was
used for classes, dances, mountain viewing, social gatherings, and
meetings. The roof of the first floor extension on the south side was a
popular gathering place for sunbathing, study, and socializing.
Of the surrounding buildings, the college used only a few cottages, the
dining hall, and the gymnasium on a regular basis, although at times other
buildings were used for music practice. The dining hall, located behind
Lee Hall, was joined by a covered walkway, a practice common at the time
to protect the main building in case of a kitchen fire. The dining hall
also was used for after dinner dances and as a performance space.
Black Mountain College was never able to obtain a secure lease, and
Weatherford was not willing to sell. An added inconvenience was the
necessity of packing all college belongings at the end of the spring term
and storing them in the attic of Lee Hall for the summer and then
unpacking them in the fall. Although the college kept an office on the
site for the summer, faculty had to find other residences for the vacation
months.
In 1937, as security against a sudden ouster, the college purchased the
Lake Eden property, which had been developed as a summer camp and resort,
north of the village of Black Mountain. The college moved there in June
1941.
2007: The YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly is a conference center owned by the
YMCAs of the ten southeastern states. It is now an all-season meeting and
conference center, and is part of Blue Ridge Assembly Historic District.
For the most part, the property remains much as it was in 1933 when Black
Mountain College rented the buildings. The Dining Hall has been demolished
and replaced by the Blue Ridge Center, located in front of Lee Hall, and
the swimming pool has been removed. In Lee Hall both the credenza and
railing setting apart sections of the central lobby have been removed.
Wooden steps on the south side have been replaced by metal fire escapes
Photographs: North Carolina
State Archives, Black Mountain College Papers.
http://www.blueridgeassembly.org/ |