Blandwood

Blandwood [2] was the Greensboro [3] home of North Carolina governor John Motley Morehead [4] (1841-45). The original structure consisted of a wooden dwelling that was constructed in approximately 1825. In 1844 Morehead contracted innovative architect Alexander Jackson Davis [5] to expand the residence, and Davis devised a Tuscan-style addition of four rooms centered around a tower. A kitchen and an office were connected to the main house by vaulted arches.

Upon Morehead's death in 1866, the mansion remained in the family until 1896, when a drug and alcohol rehabilitation organization known as the Keeley Institute of North Carolina [6] leased, and later purchased, Blandwood. The building served as a rehabilitation center until the 1960s, but by 1965 the property stood empty and in danger of demolition.

The trustees of Guilford College [7] acquired Blandwood in 1965 and served as a holding agency until the newly created Greensboro Preservation Society [8] could raise the funds to maintain the property. In 1968 the society purchased Blandwood from the college with the aid of a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development [9], and the next year the General Assembly appropriated money for renovation. The National Register of Historic Places [10] listed Blandwood in 1970, and by 1975 it was substantially restored, furnished with original and period items, and available for public visits. The restored carriage house serves as a gathering place for meetings and social events. The oldest example of Italian villa architecture in the United States, Blandwood is operated as a house museum by the private, nonprofit organizations Preservation Greensboro, Inc., and the Blandwood Guild [11].

Additional Resources:

Blandwood: http://www.blandwood.org/ [2]

Visit NC: http://www.visitnc.com/listings/view/43591 [12]

NCSU Digital Collections, image of Blandwood: http://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/catalog/buch0303 [13]

Act to appropatie funds for Blandwood, Sessopm Laws 1976, NCDCR Digital Collections [14] (p.1542): http://digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/p249901coll22&CISOPTR=314580&REC=8 [15]