A Legacy Preserved: The Fight for Raleigh's Prince Hall Historic Overlay District

– by Jenny Harper and Edna Rich-Ballentine

The Creation of Raleigh’s First Black Historic Overlay District

In 1974, the City of Raleigh designated Oakwood as the city’s first historic overlay district, also known as a “local historic district.” A historic overlay district is a collection of buildings, sites, parcels, and features that may not be individually identified as historic landmarks, but when considered together, offer an important window into historic development and cultural patterns, as well as architectural styles.

The National Register of Historic Places, which lists national historic districts, is a mostly honorary designation and does not prohibit demolition or irreversible change. In contrast, through the Certificate of Appropriateness process, a local historic district provides the only mechanism to protect and preserve historic and culturally significant neighborhoods from changes that jeopardize their special character.

Gethsemane Seventh Day Adventist Church, 501 S. Person Street, circa 1940

Early Efforts to protect Prince Hall (1980s-1990s):

In the late 1980s, longtime residents of what is now Prince Hall, James E. Williams and Edna Rich-Ballentine, led a coalition of neighbors to approach the City about historic overlay district designation; due to a lack of City resources at the time, that effort stalled. Keenly aware of the neighborhood’s immense historic significance, vulnerability, and lack of protection, Williams organized historic home tours to bring external attention to the neighborhood’s history. Conversations between residents and the City surrounding designation continued through the 1990s, but were fruitless.

Downtown East Home Tour brochure, 1988. From the collection of James E. Williams. View the full program here.

The Long Road to Designation (2000-2012)

By the start of the new millennium – nearly four decades after the first designation – the City’s historic overlay districts had grown to five: Blount Street, Boylan Heights, Capitol Square, Moore Square, and Oakwood. None of these local historic districts protected or recognized the rich Black history that built and shaped the state capital of North Carolina, a built heritage that was largely lost during ruinous, multi-decade, urban renewal efforts.

In 2000, the City of Raleigh adopted a small area plan in partnership with area property owners that included local historic district designation as a recommended action item, setting aside funding for an external study. Though it would take another decade to complete, that report detailed the area’s historic and cultural significance. The 2030 Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2009, reiterated the consideration of a historic overlay district for what was then called “South Person/South Blount.” With detailed discussions held over the course of more than a dozen meetings, a thorough 15-month process was undertaken to finally designate a long-overdue historic overlay district dedicated to Raleigh’s Black history in early 2011. Despite opposition from the development community and external naysayers, the district’s creation enjoyed robust support from residents and property owners, and was formally designated by City Council on April 3, 2012.

Preservation and Challenges (2012-2023)

Over the course of 12 years, not a single demolition has occurred within Prince Hall, despite ongoing development pressure. On the contrary, a plethora of historic rehabilitations and neighborhood-sensitive changes have given new life to old buildings. Because a number of vacant parcels exist due to afore-mentioned urban renewal policies, opportunities for creative infill have facilitated new single-family housing, the relocation and historic rehabilitation of threatened historic structures, the construction of modernist, multi-family housing, and a plethora of sensitive historic rehabilitations. These projects served to stabilize the neighborhood by sensitively filling in gaps in creative ways, encouraged economic development through private investment, and retained Prince Hall’s historic character; rather than being frozen in amber, the district is instead dynamic!

Guest House Raleigh, originally located at 112 E. Lenoir Street, relocated to 424 S. Bloodworth

In contrast, the far larger East Raleigh-South Park National Historic District (designated in 1990), much of which Prince Hall falls within, is now largely gone due to rampant demolitions and wholesale removal of historic fabric. Despite being described three decades ago as having statewide historic significance as the, “…largest historic black neighborhood in Raleigh, the state’s capital, and one of the largest and most historic, relatively intact urban black residential and cultural concentrations in North Carolina,” the staggering loss of historic resources illustrates the protective shortcomings of a national historic district.

So What’s Up With the Vacant Lots, Why is the District So Small, and What Is “Prince Hall?”

Prince Hall Masonic Lodge, 1915, courtesy State Archives of NC

Prince Hall’s boundaries were identified during the process of adopting the 500-Block S. Person/S. Blount Area Redevelopment Plan. The proposed edges included both contributing historic buildings and non-contributing, as well as vacant land to protect its historic urban context from inappropriate development. Because a local historic district is a “collection” of buildings and parcels, it is standard preservation best practices to include vacant land and non-contributing buildings to create a contiguous district. For context, Oakwood contained numerous vacant parcels when designated; today, nearly all of them have been infilled with new construction that does not diminish the neighborhood’s historic character, from traditional to very modern.

Originally, Prince Hall’s boundaries were recommended to also include the entire block encompassing the Pope House and Lincoln Theatre, as well as the lot formerly owned by Sanders Ford (now the Acorn Apartments). However, these lines were reduced following stakeholder input. The district’s name honors the Prince Hall Masonic Temple (1907), located on the corner of S. Blount and E. Cabarrus Streets, a Raleigh Historic Landmark and an anchor within the community. Prince Hall was a prominent Black Freemason who founded the country’s first Black Masonic lodge in Boston in 1787.

312 E. Cabarrus Street, circa 1926. From the collection of Golan Frazier

Why Is Prince Hall a ‘Place in Peril?’

Shortly after designation in 2012, development interests began to pick the district apart. Despite vocal opposition from the Raleigh Historic Development Commission, the Planning Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, and residents, City Council removed three contributing historic buildings from the district’s boundary to make way for a hotel (still yet to be built), creating precedence for later removals. In 2022, City Council arbitrarily removed nine parcels totaling nearly two acres without zoning conditions, leaving five contributing historic structures without protection. This included the long-time home of Haywood Funeral Home, as well as Cumbo’s Barber Shop and their adjacent family residence.

In June of 2023, City Council removed another twelve parcels containing an additional five contributing historic buildings at the request of Shaw University. With the same legal team representing each rezoning case for de-designation, these parcels were removed because a highly focused and targeted development campaign won the battle, not because they were no longer historic. These removals and boundary reductions serve to destabilize Prince Hall, each one making the case for the next. It has emboldened and accelerated speculative development, and endangers every single historic resource within the district’s remaining boundaries. Because removal has become such an assuredly easy win, developers make little attempt to seek a Certificate of Appropriateness, choosing instead to circumvent this long-established and nationally-recognized process.

223 E. Lenoir Street, courtesy Capital Area Preservation

Where Are We Now?

In 2023, City Council directed staff to undertake a review of Prince Hall, its boundaries, and to conduct a new survey of owners to determine interest in remaining, unprecedented not only within Raleigh’s other historic districts, but the State of North Carolina. As many of the long-time residents and property owners were aging more than a decade ago, some of the most stalwart champions and leaders have since passed away. While the demographics of the neighborhood look different today than in years past, the underlying history and immense cultural significance remains unchanged. Today, the district is as threatened as it’s ever been; if Prince Hall is de-designated or further diminished, an incontrovertible precedent for every other historic overlay district in the city is established, even those considered sacrosanct.

Prince Hall’s precious, necessary history – a window into Raleigh’s Black urban historic and cultural significance during the mid-19th century through the beginning of integration – will be lost forever, just as Fourth Ward was eliminated in its entirety. During their April business meeting, members of the Raleigh Historic Development Commission conducted a thoughtful, thorough discussion of potential district recommendations. With a vote of 10-1, the Commission recommended that the district not only remain as a rare treasure in need of protection and preservation, but that its existing boundaries be upheld, including vacant parcels.

Historic rehabilitations, 200 block E. South Street

A Call to Action: Securing Prince Hall’s Future

City Council’s Economic Development and Innovation Committee will meet on June 27th, 2024, at 3 pm. to discuss the future of Prince Hall. Their recommendations will be forwarded to the full Council for an eventual vote, likely in August.

Here’s how you can make a difference:

Contact your City Council members: Let them know you support upholding the 2012 designation of Prince Hall and preserving the district’s current boundaries.
Advocate for the Raleigh Historic Development Commission’s recommendation: Support the recommendation of this Council-appointed board of historic preservation advisors to leave the district and its boundaries unchanged and intact. Their expertise underscores the importance of safeguarding this irreplaceable piece of history.
Send a clear message: Raleigh’s Black history and culture matters, and Raleigh’s first Black historic overlay district will truly be preserved through their support. Protecting Prince Hall ensures these stories are not lost but celebrated for generations to come.

Your voice matters. Together, we can ensure Prince Hall remains a vibrant testament to Raleigh’s rich Black heritage.