Tag / Fayetteville Street

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

City Plaza is getting some work done. All the planters have been emptied and currently the fountain is being taken apart. It will be removed entirely with new pavers put in place. The existing planters are undergoing maintenance and new plants will eventually be put in.

There does seem to be a change against fountains over at the city as the fountains in front of the convention center and performing arts center have been drained and filled with plants over the past year or two. I’m not sure if it’s a cost-driven move, green approach, something else or some combination.

Not that any of them were particularly amazing but I’ve always been a fan of water features in a city. Perhaps this will allow for more diverse uses in the future.

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

224 Fayetteville Street

This is a shot of 224 (left) and 222 (right) Fayetteville Street. 224 Fayetteville Street, or the Lewis-Woodard Building, has a fresh new front door. This is a huge contrast to the white marble, colder feeling version it had before. You can see the previous version in this April 2015 Google streetview.

A little background on the building from the Fayetteville Street Historic District registration form.

Lewis-Woodard Building
224 Fayetteville Street, ca. 1883, ca. 1925, 1957, 1985, Contributing Building

The three-story, Italianate style building has a brick exterior and extends the full depth of the block from Fayetteville Street to S. Salisbury Street. The facade has a remodeled storefront with original wall treatment surviving at the upper stories and at the cornice. The ground floor has a deeply recessed entry at the south end and a similarly recessed display window at the north end. Elsewhere, the ground-floor facade is covered with large tiles of white marble. The identical second and third stories are four bays wide with one-over-one, doublehung, segmental-arched wood sash windows. Decorative metal window hoods feature keystones and corbels. The elaborate bracketed pressed metal cornice has dentil molding and scrollwork with the same lionshead elements seen in the keystones on the Briggs Building. The three-bay-wide S. Salisbury Street elevation was also remodeled in 1985, when white marble panels were applied to the brick-clad building at the storefront, rising in vertical bands on either side of the center bay, and across the top of the third-story windows. Six-oversix double-hung wood-sash windows remain at the second and third stories; the first floor windows and centered
door were replaced in 1985.

The building appears as two separate structures on the 1884 Sanborn map: a three-story hardware store and office building fronting Fayetteville Street and a two-story tin shop and warehouse fronting S. Salisbury Street. Partners Julius Lewis and Nicholas West had purchased the parcel in two transactions in 1881. Lewis and West ran a hardware store located a few parcels north and across the street at 219 Fayetteville Street that had been in business since at least 1875, according to Raleigh City directories. The business remained at that location until 1883, when it moved to the 224 address, likely into a new building that Lewis and West had erected since their purchase. Lewis became the sole owner of the property in 1894; in 1906, he sold it to Moses Woodard, a local businessman. The building briefly housed the F. M. Kirby and Company Five and Dime before the F. W. Woolworth Company established a store in the building in 1913. Woolworth’s made alterations to the S. Salisbury Street elevation around 1925 and to the storefront on Fayetteville Street in 1957, merging it with the storefront of the Lumsden-Boone Building next door at 226 Fayetteville Street. Woolworth’s moved out of the building by 1972. In 1985, more changes were made to the building to house new owner Raleigh Federal Savings and Loan and other commercial tenants.

*Fayetteville Street Historic District registration form

by Leo Suarez

Bigger, Bolder Signs In Downtown

I finally made it through the Downtown Raleigh Alliance’s analysis and strategy report on retail, read the whole thing here, and there are lots of topics to go over. I thought their recommendations on signage was something I hadn’t thought of since I can’t view downtown through a first-time visitors’ eyes. The report suggests:

If the Downtown core is to become a truly alluring and exciting visitor destination, one that, for example, beckons conventioneers to head northward on Fayetteville Street, the City Council will need to be willing to accept bolder, more dynamic signage appropriate to this goal, as recommend in the Comprehensive Plan. Indeed, this will be critical to the fate of Fayetteville Street as a retail location, which rests partly on its ability to lure conference attendees and daytime workers from its southern end.

The report mentions that the 100 block of Fayetteville Streeet is not as active as the higher ones and that signs could attract visitors from the convention center and hotels down towards it. I always thought the grand capitol building standing right at the end in plain sight was reason enough for people to walk all the way down but maybe not. On a walk yesterday I made a point to look out for the signage along Fayetteville Street to see what our current situation is like.

From a pedestrian view, Fayetteville Street does lack some signage. As you walk down the street, it is a mystery as to what the next shop may be. I think some may still like this approach, it would be like exploring the street to see what it can offer you. However, with signs coming out over the sidewalks, a pedestrian could view many options and possibly make a better decision on where to go.


A pedestrian looking down the street here can’t see much.

It’s kind of like the difference between ordering the buffet or ordering off the menu. At a buffet, most new people look around to see what is available then decide what to eat. A menu shows you everything available easily, then you decide what you want. Signs that can be easily seen by pedestrians can be the “menu” along Fayetteville Street.

But presenting this “menu” is probably the real touchy part of this conversation. They definitely don’t make signs like they used to (see the Mecca picture) and in my opinion, you’ll hear a big outcry against anything that’s too bright and bold. If left unchecked, a busy street would be overwhelmed with large, bright signs competing with each other to get your attention. So we need to reach a balance here. At the bottom of the Downtown Raleigh section of the comprehensive plan are some suggested guidelines for signage: (page 49)

Signage should be compatible in scale, style, and composition with the building or storefront design as a whole.

Diverse graphic solutions are encouraged to help create the sense of uniqueness and discovery found in an urban, mixed-use environment.

All mechanical and electrical mechanisms should be concealed.

Signs should not obscure a building’s important architectural features, particularly in the case of historic buildings.

Signs should be constructed with durable materials and quality manufacturing.

Sign bands above transom and on awnings are preferred signage locations.

Only the business name, street address, building name, and logo should be on an awning or canopy. The lettering should not exceed 40 percent of the awning area.

Illuminated signs should avoid the colors red, yellow, and green when adjacent to a signal controlled vehicular intersection.

Allowed sign types: channel letter signs, silhouette signs (reverse channel), individualized letter signs, projecting signs, canopy/marquee signs, logo signs, awning signs, and interior window signs.

Discouraged sign types: signs constructed of paper, cardboard, styrofoam-typematerials, formed plastic, injected molded plastic, or other such materials that do not provide a sense of permanence or quality; signs attached with suction cups or tape; signs constructed of luminous vacuum-formed plastic letters; signs with smoke-emitting components. Changeable copy signs are prohibited.

I’m sure these guidelines can be interpreted in many ways. Too restrictive? You be the judge.

I believe that word of mouth is still more powerful then an attractive sign that lures someone in but thinking about new visitors to downtown, proper signage is important for Fayetteville Street. New visitors may feel more comfortable knowing about all the options in downtown and it only helps to land repeat visits in the future.

by Leo Suarez

Fayetteville Street’s Road Diet

This video by Streetfilms talks about the results of New York City’s closing of parts of Broadway to vehicular traffic. Pedestrians have taken over and created a space for themselves. There is also no increase in traffic problems after two months of the streets being limited to cars.

Fayetteville Street was once a pedestrian mall from 1977 to 2006. Five blocks from the capitol to the old civic center were pedestrian only. Streetfilms brings up the term, Road Diet described as:

A road diet is a technique in transportation planning whereby a road is reduced in number of travel lanes and/or effective width in order to achieve systemic improvements.

Was the Fayetteville Street pedestrian mall too much of a diet or did it come at too early of a time for Raleigh?

If you look at a picture of Fayetteville Street before the 1977 makeover, you can see that it was much wider then it is today. Actually, the original width of all four roads leading from the capitol, those being Hillsborough, Halifax, New Bern, and Fayetteville, were at one point 99 feet wide, according to the original plan by William Christmas. I’m pretty sure Hillsborough Street still retains the original planned width so you can use it as a reference.

There are lots of factors to consider here but I’ll try and keep it simple. Currently, Fayetteville Street’s road is thinner, compared to its original layout, resulting in wider sidewalks and a more pedestrian friendly environment. The balance between cars and pedestrians seems appropriate for the way Raleigh has developed over the last 30 years. The pedestrian mall never stood a chance with the way Raleigh sprawled out and forced people to buy cars and love highways. However, with green being so hot right now, people driving less, and mass transit being pushed, a long walkable area may slowly start to seem like a good idea.

by Leo Suarez

City Plaza Work Beginning

The groundbreaking of city plaza will be very soon and there are signs of work happening just beyond the planters that dead end Fayetteville Street’s 400 block.

Construction fencing around the area

Temporary pedestrian walkways are being put in place

The plaza will finally finish off Fayetteville Street and car traffic will freely flow from Morgan to Lenoir. The plans on the city’s website do not show any parking on this block and that will help create a lively area with pedestrians. I’m hoping that the street is also flush with the sidewalks as that will also make the area feel like it is more for foot traffic.

I find it interesting that plans for street concerts are still being considered for city plaza. Is this really needed after it is completed? I propose that concerts on Fayetteville St. be moved up one more block to what is referred to as Sites 2 and 3; the parking lots between Lenoir and South St. in front of the Performing Arts Center. Are the couple hundred spaces here really needed when, upon completion, the 1500+ spaces underneath the Marriott and Charter Square will be available soon? Do not forget the convention center parking deck and Progress Energy parking deck too.

by Leo Suarez

Say Hello To The 500 Block of Fayetteville St.

This past weekend, there was a small section of sidewalk that was not blocked by the white and orange barriers on Fayetteville St. I’m not sure if that means that the sidewalk is officially open but no one stopped me from walking over and roaming around the 500 block of the street. We all know that this block is only half done as the parking deck across from the Marriott Hotel is under construction, which will then be followed by Charter Square but that is still at least a year away. Here is what to expect in the near future.

Obviously with the parking deck construction, this block is pretty one sided and is dominated by the new Marriot Hotel. There are three elements to the sidewalk; two food shops and the hotel lobby roundabout. The smaller space is occupied by a Starbucks and by the looks of it, it is pretty much ready to go. The much larger space is going to be a restaurant, named Posta, which runs almost the complete length of the hotel. Pedestrians have one access directly into Starbucks or another to the lobby and into Posta. Car access to the roundabout is by Fayetteville St. only. It appears that there is a very wide pedestrian access to Salisbury, and the convention center, between the hotel and BB&T.

Wide pedestrian walkway to the convention center. It also looks like it will be very well lit.

Lots of outdoor seating on this block

Below is the much talked about sidewalk parking deck entrance. This sits across the street from the hotel, on the corner of Lenoir and Fayetteville St. The entrance is covered and provides one elevator and one staircase to the parking below ground. For added convenience, there is also a parking pay station inside.

The streetlights are ready so as soon as Lenoir St. is converted to two-way mode, the hotel will be fully up and running. I’m still curious to know if traffic will flow through the future City Plaza while it is under construction. My instinct says ‘no’ and we will have to wait until Sept. 2009 until Fayetteville St. is drivable from one end to the other.

Sidewalk fountain?