Sunday, November 10, 2024

Wilmington’s Brookwood neighborhood earns national historic status

A brick column at the intersection of Market Street and Brookwood Avenue marks the entrance to Brookwood, once indicated by an arch. Photos by Jonathan Spiers.
A brick column at the intersection of Market Street and Brookwood Avenue marks the entrance to Brookwood, once indicated by an arch. Photos by Jonathan Spiers.

One of Wilmington’s “newer” older neighborhoods is the latest to join the ranks of historic areas in the city to earn national recognition.

The 1920s-era Brookwood neighborhood, between Carolina Place and Forest Hills, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places, which now recognizes eight historic districts consisting of more than 7,000 historic buildings in Wilmington.

Historically significant for its neighborhood layout, which reflects the country’s transition to personal automobiles, and the architecture of its bungalows, cottages and revival-style homes dating from 1920 to 1964, Brookwood encompasses 11 city blocks generally south of Market’s intersection with 23rd Street.

The neighborhood is bordered to the west by Wallace Park, which runs alongside Burnt Mill Creek, to the east by Keaton Avenue and to the south by Metts Avenue. The area is centered by Brookwood Avenue, which features a brick column at its intersection with Market that bears wooden “Brookwood” signs—a remnant of an arch that once marked the neighborhood’s entrance.

Brookwood features a diverse mix of homes with varying architecture, including bungalows, cottages and revival-style homes built between 1920 and 1964.
Brookwood features a diverse mix of homes with varying architecture, including bungalows, cottages and revival-style homes built between 1920 and 1964.

George Edwards, executive director of the Historic Wilmington Foundation, which worked with the City of Wilmington on the register application, lauded the designation as an important step in preserving the city’s history.

“It’s a great achievement for the neighborhood and the city,” Edwards said. “It’s a good validation of the historic nature of the neighborhood. But the interesting thing, I think, about Brookwood is it’s a real leap out beyond the more traditional downtown.”

Where older parts of the city to the west followed a street grid that stretches as far as Burnt Mill Creek, with Brookwood, Edwards noted, “now you’ve got this district that’s clearly moving into the 20th century.”

“The layout of the neighborhood has driveways and garages, which isn’t always something you find with the neighborhoods back to the west,” Edwards said. “And although those people could have accessed the streetcar, which would have turned down 17th Street, that’s a beginning of that 20th century recognition of the automobile.”

Edwards also noted Brookwood’s diverse group of homes, which range from bungalows and cottages to revival-style homes. One home is a 1950s Lustron house—a more modern, metal-clad, manufactured house that Edwards said is the last of only two built in Wilmington.

“So it’s a very modern district if you will,” Edwards said, “but it still is a historic district: well over 50 years old; sort of that development pattern of the early city, but now moving a little bit more into the 20th century.”

Next up in the city’s continued progression east was Forest Hills, which Edwards described as “a very different district” that could become the next to receive national recognition.

Efforts to achieve the designation for Brookwood date back to at least 2006, when construction of a modular home, on property neighbors had thought was part of the park, prompted concerns about potential redevelopment and “teardowns” of old homes. That’s according to an article in an edition of the Historic Wilmington Foundation newsletter written by Dana Sachs, a Brookwood resident.

Years later, private development ended up funding Brookwood’s register application, which Edwards noted can cost upward of $15,000 due to analysis involved. Edwards said the developer of City Block Apartments, under construction along Third Street between Brunswick and Bladen streets, contributed money to the city that ended up paying for Brookwood’s application.

The neighborhood is bordered to the west by Wallace Park, which runs alongside Burnt Mill Creek, seen here from Market Street.
The neighborhood is bordered to the west by Wallace Park, which runs alongside Burnt Mill Creek, seen here from Market Street.

Because that project is receiving federal funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, its impact on three historic homes in that area required mitigation that came in the form of a financial contribution, Edwards said.

“Mitigation can take many, many forms,” he said, “but in this case, the developer suggested that he would make a contribution toward some historic district work in the city. So that’s how Brookwood gets the grant from (the developer) and the project.”

With the historic designation, Brookwood homes would be eligible for the state’s historic preservation tax credit, thought that credit expired at the start of this year. Edwards noted he and others are pressing legislators to return the credit during this year’s session of the General Assembly.

“It’s a shame that the tax credits just ended on Dec. 31, so anyone living out there can’t take advantage of it,” he said. “But all of us, from the city to the foundation to Secretary Susan Klutz (of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources), we’re all pushing on our legislators to get them to bring that back; the governor made it a big deal in his State of the State address.

“So maybe we get the tax credits back to help people in that neighborhood and everyone else in historic districts work on their house.”

Properties included in recognized districts remain eligible for federal preservation tax credits. A notice from the city states the recognition also requires properties to be considered in the planning of state and federal projects, in an effort to protect historic resources.

Other historic districts in the city include the Wilmington Historic District, which Edwards said comprises about 3,000 buildings in the city’s downtown area, and districts for Masonboro Sound, Carolina Place, Westbrook Ardmore, Sunset Park and Carolina Heights.

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Jonathan Spiers is a reporter for Port City Daily. He can be reached at (910) 772-6313 or jonathan.s@portcitydaily.com. On Twitter: @jrspiers

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