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EXPLORE Blandwood

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Our Services

Leaf Pattern Design

Our History

Blandwood’s story begins in 1795, when Charles Bland built a four-room Federal style farm house on a wooded hill in rural Guilford County. It predates the founding of the City of Greensboro in 1808.

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The house was expanded from four rooms to six rooms in 1822-23 by subsequent owners, Letty Lindsay and Henry Humphreys. The Humphreys were merchants who operated the first steam-powered textile mill in North Carolina, the Mt. Hecla Cotton Mill.

A.J. Davis

Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1893) was a prominent architect from New York, whose influence spread throughout the East Coast of the United States with his innovative designs for Gothic Revival and Italianate buildings. Inspired by the “picturesque cottages and villas” of Europe, and the dramatic nature of the Hudson River Valley of his native New York, Davis sought to design houses that harmonized with the surrounding landscape. His “country houses” inspired the trend toward organic and irregular facades in American houses.

Architecture

Designed by Alexander Jackson Davis and completed in 1846, Blandwood is America’s oldest Italianate style building. The Italianate style reached its height of popularity between 1855 and 1870.

Gardens

The landscaped setting of Blandwood was depicted in Andrew Jackson Downing’s 1844 edition of Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening Adapted to North America. The depiction blends a casual landscape of feature trees and shrubs with carefully placed urns and sculpture. Though it is unlikely the gardens at Blandwood ever matched the woodblock print that was featured in Treatise, early photographs document the influence Downing had on the design of the urban estate, including a curvilinear drive, an arrangement of urns, and a free form placement of native (black walnut, black oak, and white oak) and exotic (crape myrtle, ginkgo, and magnolia) trees.

Portraits

Blandwood is home to ten portraits of the Morehead family members painted by William Garl Browne, a well-known nineteenth-century portraitist in North Carolina. Although the house does not have paintings of every family member, portraits of Gov. Morehead, his wife Ann Eliza, five of the children, and three of their children’s spouses hang throughout the home.

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​ABOUT US >

There are few places that evoke such a diverse sense of American history as Greensboro. The cultural center of the Society of Friends in the South gave birth to such notable personalities as the resilient First Lady Dolley Madison, the enigmatic writer O. Henry, and the fearless Greensboro Four. Greensboro was also a stage for the American Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights Movement. However, Greensboro’s historical legacy is not limited solely to personalities and pivot points. The city has long been home to a large and vibrant African American population, Southern Industrialists, and numerous institutions of higher learning have graced the city with a broad selection of architectural history, ranging from Federal and Greek Revival designs to Mid-Century Modern works, to name a few. Historic preservation is thriving our city center and surrounding neighborhoods and historic districts, as well as representation by treasured landmarks throughout the city.

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CONTACT US

Preservation Greensboro
PO Box 13136
Greensboro NC 27415
336-272-5003
Offices Located in Blandwood Mansion

Blandwood Mansion
447 West Washington Street
Greensboro NC 27401
336-272-5003

Architectural Salvage of Greensboro
1028-B Huffman Street
In East Greensboro
336-389-9118

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